Outgoing Texas Congressman Dan Crenshaw says his massive reelection defeat on March 3 wasn’t about his record, but rather a tidal wave of online misinformation that voters couldn’t see through.
In a sit-down with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation this Sunday, the former Navy SEAL tried to make sense of how he lost his seat to State Rep. Steve Toth by 15 points—a result that stunned a political world that had him as the heavy favorite.
“I’m a unique Republican,” Crenshaw said with a brief laugh before getting serious. “I’ve been the target of online smears and conspiracies for a very long time. My election was basically a product of that.”
He pointed to the low turnout in GOP primaries—around 20%—and argued that those who did show up were fed a steady diet of lies. Specifically, he called out rumors that he had made millions through insider trading.
“Doesn’t matter how many times we thought we had debunked that,” Crenshaw added. “People still went in believing it.”
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The four-term congressman didn’t just blame the internet; he took aim at the other side of the aisle, too. He claimed Democrats dropped nearly a million dollars to push those same narratives on TV. “Republican voters are going to the voting booth believing what a Democrat told them on TV based on a smear headline written by a liberal reporter in D.C.,” he told Brennan.
While it’s true that Democrats sometimes spend money to influence GOP primaries, Crenshaw’s district is deep red—it went for Donald Trump by 23 points in 2024. Interestingly, Crenshaw was the only one of 19 Texas GOP incumbents that Trump didn’t endorse before the primary. Toth, meanwhile, had the backing of Senator Ted Cruz.
The bad blood between the “America First” wing of the party and Crenshaw has been brewing for a while. Back in October 2025, Toth sat down for a viral interview with Tucker Carlson, where the two hammered Crenshaw for his hawkish stance on Ukraine and his “suspicious skills” in the stock market. That video racked up over 700,000 views in just five months.
The beef got personal, too. A video surfaced in February 2025 showing Crenshaw saying he’d “fucking kill” Carlson if they ever met, calling him the “worst person I’ve ever met.” Carlson later shot back during his interview with Toth, saying he felt sorry for the congressman and calling him a “very troubled guy.”
As he prepares to leave office, Crenshaw says the takeaway isn’t just for politicians, but for the people at the ballot box.
“This is a question for the American people,” he said. “Are you going to believe everything you read online or that’s sent to you in your mail?”
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