By Hien An Ngo, The Texas TribuneAugust 7, 2026Texas’s candidates in this year’s U.S. Senate race remain neck and neck, according to recent polling. After the runoff election on May 26, Democratic nominee James Talarico has performed slightly better than Ken Paxton. While nonpartisan polling organizations typically release all of their polling results regardless of who is ahead, candidate-sponsored or party-affiliated surveys can choose to only release results that benefit their campaigns. Sample size: In general, the more people an election poll surveys the more reliable its results are. Methodology for our trackerWhere the polls come fromThe New York Times collects polls and manages a database of election polling.