Early voting is underway in Texas, a key state this year in the battle for control of the U.S. House and Senate.

One of the leading Democrats in the Senate primary in the state, State rep James Tolariko,

announced that his campaign raised $2.5 million in the last day.

After late-night host, Stephen Colbert said CBS blocked him from airing an interview with

Tolariko on his broadcast, which was later shared on YouTube. Tala Rico is one of a handful of

Democrats running to flip the state's Senate seat blue this fall as longtime Republican

Senator John Cornyn faces a challenging primary to remain the Republican candidate on the ballot.

For more on the political battle gearing up in the Lone Star State.

We're joined now by Ashley Lopez. She covers politics for NPR.

Thanks for being here.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

So as we mentioned, James Telerico has raised millions in this race.

He's still facing this primary challenge from Democratic Congresswoman

Jasmine Crockett. How is this contest shaping up and what does it reveal about the direction

of the Democratic Party in Texas? The race initially was not quite as contentious. This wasn't,

these weren't like two candidates who are very dissimilar. There's not a lot to fight about sort of substantively.

But I think as more money is pouring in, you know, Democrats are looking at the Republican side,

you know, that primary, how that's shaping up.

And I think they smell some blood in the water.

And so there's a lot more attention.

It's getting more contentious.

And I mean, like I said, substantively speaking,

...