Crenshaw Blames Primary Loss on Stock Trading Misinformation

Outgoing U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican, attributed his unexpected primary election defeat on March 3 to widespread online misinformation about his stock trading activities, which he said influenced voters despite repeated debunkings. Crenshaw, a four-term congressman from the Houston suburbs, lost to state Rep. Steve Toth by 15 percentage points in the 2nd Congressional District, a deeply Republican area that supported Donald Trump by 23 points in the 2024 presidential election. The result stunned observers, as pre-election polling and betting markets had favored the incumbent heavily.

In an interview on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, Crenshaw told host Margaret Brennan that his loss stemmed from a combination of low voter turnout and unchecked digital falsehoods. "First of all, you have about 20 percent of Republican voters bothering to even vote in a primary, and then you have dozens of online smears and conspiracies that people were going into the voting booth actually believing," Crenshaw said. He specifically highlighted false claims that he had amassed millions through insider trading, noting that he had not made a stock trade in three years and had earned...