Representative Dan Crenshaw has been defeated by Steve Toth, a hardline conservative Texas state representative, in a close-fought Republican primary on Tuesday that will sweep the former Navy SEAL from the House.
The race, in a strongly Republican district in the Houston area, was a referendum on the candidates’ fidelity to President Trump and his agenda, and whether a conservative with an independent streak like Dan Crenshaw could still have a place in the party.
Donald Trump did not endorse either candidate, a notable blow to Mr Crenshaw, who found himself the only House Republican in Texas running for re-election without the president’s backing.
Steve Toth has been among the most conservative members of the Texas House, often clashing with the chamber’s Republican leadership over legislation. He said in an interview before the election that he decided to challenge Dan Crenshaw after watching him work with Democrats on a failed bipartisan immigration enforcement deal in 2024, during the waning months of the Biden administration.
Toth said that Dan Crenshaw had lost many Republican primary voters in the deeply conservative Second Congressional District of Texas by attacking fellow Republicans who questioned the 2020 results.
