Dan Crenshaw lost MAGA voters a long time ago

Rep. Dan Crenshaw's decisive defeat in Texas on Tuesday is already being spun by the media as proof that the GOP is just a bloodthirsty Trump cult. This is an unhelpful narrative because what voters rejected in Crenshaw went much deeper.

A Daily Beast headline on Wednesday blared, "GOP Star Kicked Out of Congress Due to MAGA's Desperate Midterm Push". MAGA, for its part, was happy to take credit for the loss, with pundits noting on X that Crenshaw was the only House GOP incumbent without a primary endorsement from Trump this cycle.

In Texas's second congressional district, just north of Houston, Crenshaw got pummeled by Steve Toth, who ran to his Right. With most of the votes counted, Toth appears to have upset Crenshaw by a gargantuan and unexpected 15-point margin. After a decorated career as a Navy SEAL, voters first elected the congressman in 2018 — and he immediately became recognized as a rising star in the party.