Incumbent John Cornyn crushed tea party-backed U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman and six lesser-known primary challengers to win Texas' Republican nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday.
As party whip, Cornyn is second in the GOP Senate leadership. He is the overwhelming favorite to win his third term in office during November's general election.
Cornyn has been dubbed too moderate by a small group of tea party activists. He faced a last-minute challenge from the right by Stockman, a fierce conservative and House renegade.
But Stockman struggled to raise money. He did little organized campaigning, ignoring the media and alienating many top Texas grass-roots organizers.
Stockman even dropped completely out of sight for nearly three weeks in January -- though it turned out he'd been part of an official overseas delegation.
Dallas dental mogul David Alameel and frequent candidate Kesha Rogers have advanced to a runoff to decide the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.
They were the top-two vote-getters in Tuesday's five-candidate field. The runoff is May 27.