from WNYC Studios. I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my daily politics podcast. It's Wednesday,

March 4th. Well, the first results of this midterm election year are in. They are from Texas and North Carolina, two states where

Democrats are hoping to flip Senate seats vital in their quest to take back the majorities in Congress.

Texas is the big story where Democratic State Representative James Teller Rico has beaten

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, while two Republicans are heading to a runoff.

What can we learn from the primary about how things might go nationally in November?

That's really the big question for today.

On the Democratic side, the New York Times described Jasmine Crockett as a liberal firebrand.

They described Tala Rico as trying to court moderates

and as campaigning on a vision of progressive Christianity.

The coalition he lays claim to here is a big part of what we'll talk about.

The number of young people who showed up to vote in this election is unprecedented.

The number of Texans who have never voted before but showed up in this election is

unprecedented. The number of independents and Republicans who voted in this Democratic primary is unprecedented.

This is proof that there is something happening in Texas.

Democrat James Tala Rico, the winner of the Texas Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat,

now held by John Cornyn.

And that result became official a few moments ago

when Jasmine Crockett conceded. So let's talk about all the results, including how the new war

against Iran may have played as a last-minute wildcard with New York Times national political

reporter Lisa Lairor, no relation, different spelling.

Lisa Lairor reports on the intersection of campaigns, elections, and political power for the

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