Texas’ March 2026 primaries were extraordinarily contentious and costly, and many of the biggest battles are going into overtime, teeing up another 12 weeks of bruising attacks and high-dollar spending ahead of the May 26 runoff.The state’s two blockbuster Senate primaries dominated the airwaves. After a record-setting advertising blitz, GOP incumbent Sen. John Cornyn is facing a runoff with Attorney General Ken Paxton, while Austin state Rep. James Talarico defeated U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett for the Democratic nomination. Further down the ballot, chaos reigned, as big money shifted several races in the final weeks; President Donald Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott lined up behind opposing candidates, with mixed results; and several longtime incumbents were unseated or forced into career-threatening runoffs. The lack of decisive outcomes Tuesday night, for individual races and for dueling wings of the Texas GOP, promises an equally intense runoff season — and a long, expensive eight months until the general. Here are some top takeaways from an action-packed primary election night.Money talksThe 2026 March primary will go down as the most expensive in Texas history, setting spending records for several different offices, from comptroller to attorney general, led by a colossal advertising blitz behind Cornyn that set the national high-water mark for a Senate primary.As Tuesday night’s results showed, money moves the needle. The GOP Senate brawl was the most expensive primary for the upper chamber in history, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact, which tallied nearly $100 million in ad buys, much of it in support of Cornyn. The fourth-term senator far outraised his opponents and benefited from tens of millions from groups aligned with Senate GOP leadership, who felt the longtime incumbent would be a stronger candidate in a general election than Paxton. More than $71 million was spent in ad buys to support his candidacy, more than any other incumbent in a primary race on record, according to AdImpact. While Paxton, a favorite of the party’s grassroots, had expressed confidence that he might avoid a runoff, Cornyn not only forced him into an overtime round, but narrowly led the field. In a speech to supporters, Paxton acknowledged the impact of Cornyn’s spending. “Here’s what we learned tonight: While the money may be on his side, the people are on our side, and in Texas, the people always win,” said Paxton, who benefited from less than $5 million in ad spending between his campaign and a supportive super PAC. Big money, and big ad buys, also shaped the Democratic Senate primary. Talarico spent over $17 million on ads through his campaign alone, while a pro-Talarico super PAC dropped another $8 million, giving him a nearly five-to-one spending advantage over Crockett. Despite having a lower national profile at the start of the race, Talarico was in position to secure the nomination early Wednesday morning, though the Associated Press had yet to formally call the race in his favor. Down the ballot, state Sen. Mayes Middleton overperformed expectations in the GOP attorney general race after giving close to $12 million of his oil and gas fortune to his own campaign. The Galveston lawmaker entered the race at a significant name recognition disadvantage next to the frontrunner, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Austin, who has made a national name for himself as a conservative rabble-rouser in Congress. But Middleton’s money bought him a flood of mailers, television and radio ads and text messages, allowing him to get his “MAGA Mayes” messaging in front of voters in the final weeks of the campaign.He came in first Tuesday night, with Roy in a distant second, teeing up what promises to be a costly runoff for the most important red-state attorney general office in the country. In the comptroller race, former state senator and businessman Don Huffines won outright after loaning his campaign $10 million to buy mailers and air time. The race was expected to go to a runoff, but Huffines easily cleared the field of acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock and Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick. Cornyn lives to see another dayIn the final days of the race, Paxton repeatedly suggested he could win the primary outright.That didn’t happen. Cornyn finished narrowly ahead of Paxton, giving him a stronger than expected stature heading into a runoff against the attorney general. Cornyn disproved a spate of recent polls that put him in second place. And he did surprisingly well in some key parts of the state, nearly beating Paxton in his longtime home base of Collin County.