The fourth-term congressman, who lost decisively to state Rep. Steve Toth, said baseless attacks about his alleged insider trading and gun stances fueled the upset.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw blamed unfounded attacks and a culture of misinformation for his primary loss to state Rep. Steve Toth, saying in an interview that the “power of clickbait” proved too much to overcome.
Crenshaw, a fourth-term congressman from Atascosita, lost to Toth, one of the most conservative members of the Texas Legislature, by a decisive 15-point margin, according to unofficial returns.
His district, which includes Kingwood, Lake Houston and The Woodlands, is split between Harris County and Montgomery County, a hotbed of conservative activism where Attorney General Ken Paxton received twice as many votes as incumbent John Cornyn in the Senate Republican primary.
Crenshaw acknowledged that the “telling the truth thing” is viewed as “a real crime” among some voters. But he heaped most of the blame for his loss on what he said were baseless attacks over his alleged insider trading and stance on red flag laws — leaving Crenshaw, in his eyes, to fend off talking points that twisted the truth.
My experience is that the more leftist voters will sit it out unless they have someone they want to vote for, while the more rightward voters are very excited to go and vote against someone. We saw in 2024 that the Uncommitted vote has power. More people should show up in the primaries like that. It tells the nominee and the campaign strategists that there are active voters in that district who’s votes need to be earned still. And it’s public record that they voted in the primary so those voters can expect to be canvased to give their feedback on the issues.