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● InformationalElections / Campaigns

Who is Steve Toth, the outspoken state House hardliner who wiped out incumbent Dan Crenshaw?

Crenshaw lost his party’s primary after Toth challenged his conservative credentials and criticized his positions.

Who is Steve Toth, the outspoken state House hardliner who wiped out incumbent Dan Crenshaw?
Image · Yahoo News

SOURCE CHECK

TAP FOR WHY
Host credibilityYahoo News75/100 HIGH
This article1 analysis · Oct 9, 2026

Credibility rates Yahoo News, which republished this story. The other scores rate the article itself.

Republished

Republished from Texas Tribune. The relationship between the two publishers has not been determined.

Texas Tribune80/100 HIGH

68 stories · 79–81 · updated Oct 9, 2026

This is Texas Tribune's own score, and this article is credited to Texas Tribune. The host score in the Source Check is Yahoo News's.

Yahoo Newsvia Texas Tribune
Mar 5, 2026
tl;dr

Steve Toth defeated incumbent Dan Crenshaw in the Republican primary for Texas’s 2nd Congressional District. The article profiles Toth’s rise in Texas politics and the conservative positions and campaign attacks that shaped the contest.

Community verdict

VOTING CLOSED
How does this story look for
Dan Crenshaw R · TX-2
NOT RATEDCLOSED

No good or bad look here

This story reports what happened without casting Crenshaw in a good or bad light, so readers don’t rate it and it doesn’t count toward Crenshaw’s record.

● INFORMATIONAL

People in this story

SWIPE →
Dan Crenshaw
R · TX-2

Incumbent U.S. representative defeated by Toth in the Republican primary

PRIMARY SUBJECT
Steve Toth
R · TX

Republican House candidate who defeated Dan Crenshaw in the primary

Toth's version of this story ↗

Texas state senator whose seat Toth sought in 2014

Democratic House candidate who will face Toth in the general election

Democratic Senate nominee criticized by Toth

Donald Trump
R · President of the United States

President and influential figure in the Republican Party during Crenshaw’s political rise

President-elect whose 2020 victory Crenshaw later acknowledged

Kevin Brady
Former U.S. Representative (R-TX)

Former U.S. representative whom Toth challenged in a Republican primary

U.S. representative cited as a comparison for Crenshaw’s early national profile

Ted Cruz
R · TX · SEN

U.S. senator cited as a comparison for Crenshaw’s former conservative standing

ALSO MENTIONED  Barack Obama, Former president whose administration was invoked in Toth’s criticism of Kevin Brady; Brandon Creighton, Toth’s opponent in the 2014 Texas Senate runoff; Dan Patrick, Texas lieutenant governor who criticized Toth during a dispute over legislation; Greg Abbott, Texas governor during the COVID-19 business-reopening dispute

Part of a bigger story

26 OUTLETS
Steve Toth Defeats Dan Crenshaw in Texas Republican Primary

Outlets agree that state Rep. Steve Toth defeated incumbent Dan Crenshaw in the Texas 2nd District Republican primary. Center outlets describe the upset and include perspectives from both camps, while right-leaning outlets frame the loss more explicitly as a message from the MAGA wing.

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