Steve Toth, a hard-line conservative Texas state representative, defeated Representative Dan Crenshaw in a close-fought Republican primary on Tuesday that will sweep from the House a former Navy SEAL who has occasionally broken with fellow Republicans, according to The Associated Press.
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 Mr. Crenshaw could still have a place in the party.
Mr. 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.
Mr. Toth has been among the most conservative members of the Texas House, often clashing with the chamber’s Republican leadership over legislation. Many members of the party’s far right in Texas threw their support behind Mr. Toth, as did the influential conservative podcast host Tucker Carlson, who had feuded with Mr. Crenshaw and called for his ouster.
Last month, after early voting had already begun, Ted Cruz, the state’s junior Republican senator, also announced his backing of Mr. Toth.
Mr. Toth, 65, said in an interview before the election that he decided to challenge Mr. Crenshaw after watching him work with Democrats on a failed bipartisan immigration enforcement deal in 2024, during the waning months of the Biden administration.
But some of Mr. Crenshaw’s troubles could be traced to his break with the president over his efforts to reverse the result of the 2020 election.
Mr. Toth said that Mr. Crenshaw had lost many Republican primary voters in the deeply conservative district, Texas’s Second Congressional, by attacking fellow Republicans who questioned the 2020 results.
Mr. Crenshaw, 41, has been a regular on cable news, offering praise to Mr. Trump in his second term. He has explained his “gruff” demeanor and breaks with fellow Republicans as deriving from his combat experience in Afghanistan, during which he lost an eye.
“In the end, I’m doing the job I’m supposed to be doing,” he said in an interview before the vote. “I’m telling you the truth.”
J. David Goodman is the Texas bureau chief for The Times, based in Houston.
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