Headline Roundup • March 10th, 2026
TX GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw Loses in Primary. What's to Blame?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) lost his bid for reelection on March 3rd in the primary, and media sources have offered commentary on what's to blame for the loss.
For Context: Texas State Representative Steve Toth beat Crenshaw in the primary 55% to 40%. President Donald Trump did not make an endorsement in the race.
From the Left: Steve Benen of MS Now (Left bias) said that Crenshaw made some enemies within the Republican party. He had mocked members of the House Freedom Caucus, calling them "grifters" and "performance artists," and distanced himself from Trump's denial of the 2020 presidential election results. Crenshaw also made no secret of his disagreements with conservative media personality Tucker Carlson. In the end, Benen argued Crenshaw lost because he wasn't MAGA.
From the Right: Emily Jashinsky (Lean Right) of Unherd (Center) also agreed that Crenshaw lost because he wasn't MAGA and noted that he had threatened to "kill" Carlson on a GB News (Lean Right) hot mic in 2025. She also noted that Crenshaw was engaged in a feud with fellow Navy SEAL Shaw Ryan, whose podcast is popular on the right. Ryan had disagreed with Crenshaw's defense of congressional stock trading, and in response, Crenshaw had threatened to sue him and posted their private communications. Jashinsky surmised that while voters might forgive some intra-party drama, they perhaps are less willing to "tolerate repeated defections" from others in the party.
Outside Influence: Axios (Lean Left) reported Crenshaw's defeat was partially due to a feud with billionaire donor Robert Marling Jr. The feud reportedly began several years ago when Crenshaw was invited to speak at a conservative youth summit but declined when Marling did not agree to requiring everyone present to wear a mask. Crenshaw denies this, and a source close to him says the "bad blood" has to do with the 2nd district of Texas, where Marling resides in the Montgomery County portion while Crenshaw represents the Harris County portion of the district. When it came time for the primary, Marling donated $675,000 for mailers and TV ads criticizing Crenshaw.
Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Suggest an improvement to this summary.
Featured Coverage of this Story
The vast majority of members of Congress will learn in November whether they've been re-elected, but some won't have to wait quite that long. The Texas Tribune reported:
State Rep. Steve Toth beat incumbent U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw for the Republican nomination in Texas' 2nd Congressional District, coming one step closer to representing the Houston-area seat.
Toth opened a wide lead in the Republican primary on Tuesday as results came in and declared victory hours before The Associated Press called the race in his favor.
When Crenshaw arrived on Capitol...
Getty
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...
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