Texas state Rep. Steve Toth defeated Rep. Dan Crenshaw in a Republican primary in Texas, NBC News projects, unseating the incumbent after a contest that centered on which candidate most closely aligned with President Donald Trump.
Crenshaw becomes the first incumbent member of Congress to lose re-election in the 2026 midterm election cycle.
Toth challenged Crenshaw, the only Republican congressman running for re-election in Tuesday’s primary who was not endorsed by Trump, from the right, arguing that the congressman’s views on foreign policy and immigration did not align sufficiently with the MAGA movement. Toth, an ordained pastor, also earned a late endorsement from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
Crenshaw has at times bucked his party by supporting aid to Ukraine and criticizing Trump allies over their claims that the 2020 election was stolen. But the four-term congressman sought to bond closely with the president 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 editorial board. “If you don’t think I support Trump enough, then you’re not following me, you’re not listening to anything I say. I’m out there defending his policies pretty harshly and I’ve defended them in extremely difficult places in the past.”
More recently, Crenshaw praised the recent U.S. military operation in Iran and said after the State of the Union address that he was “proud to unapologetically defend this country alongside 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.”
“Don’t pay attention to online scammers who lie about Dan’s history,” his website said. “They create this false outrage over clickbait because that’s how they make a living.”
Crenshaw was first elected to Congress in 2018 after winning a crowded Republican primary. He previously served as a Navy SEAL and lost his right eye during a combat tour in Afghanistan. After his injury, he was sent abroad two more times.
On the campaign trail, Toth leveraged his reputation as one of the most conservative members of the state Legislature and Trump’s past endorsement of his previous runs for office.
“I have been very consistent: I received President Trump’s endorsement in 2022 and 2024. Why?” Toth said at a campaign event that he posted a video from last month. “Because I really believe that we have to fight, we have to go against the grain, which is: Republicans win elections, take office. Democrats win elections and exercise power.”
