Texas state Rep. Steve Toth defeated Rep. Dan Crenshaw in a Republican primary in Texas, NBC News projects, unseating Crenshaw after a race that centered on which candidate more closely aligned with President Donald Trump.
Crenshaw becomes the first member of Congress to lose renomination in the 2026 midterm election cycle.
Toth challenged Crenshaw — the lone GOP House member running for re-election in Tuesday’s primaries who didn’t have Trump’s endorsement — from the right, arguing that his foreign policy and immigration views did not sufficiently align with those of the MAGA movement. Toth, an ordained pastor, also secured a late endorsement from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
Crenshaw, who is in his fourth term, has at times bucked his party by backing aid for Ukraine and criticizing Trump allies for their claims that the 2020 election was stolen. But he sought to tie himself closely to Trump throughout the campaign in the solidly Republican 2nd District.
“If you think I’m not MAGA enough, then you’re not following me on social media, that’s the reality,” Crenshaw said in a February interview with the Houston Chronicle’s editorial board “If you don’t think I support Trump enough, then you’re not following me, you’re not listening to a thing I say. I’m out there defending his policies pretty hard and have defended them in extremely hard places in the past.”
More recently, Crenshaw praised the United States’ recent military operation in Iran and said after the State of the Union address that he was “proud to stand unapologetically for this country with President Trump.”
On his campaign website, Crenshaw also sought to address claims that he “has abandoned President Trump and does not support his America First Agenda.”
“Pay no attention to the grifters online who lie about Dan’s record,” his website read. “They create this fake outrage for clickbait because that’s how they make their living.”
Crenshaw was first elected to Congress in 2018 after he won a crowded Republican primary. He was a Navy SEAL, and he lost his right eye during a combat tour in Afghanistan. After his injury, he deployed overseas two more times.
On the campaign trail, Toth played into his reputation as one of the state Legislature’s most conservative members and his past endorsements from Trump for his previous bids for office.
“I’ve been really consistent — I was endorsed by President Trump in 2022 and 2024. Why?” Toth said at a campaign event he posted a video of last month. “Because I really believe that we’ve gotta fight against, we’ve gotta go against the grain, which is: Republicans win elections, they take office. Democrats win elections and they wield power.”
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