Republicans are brawling, Democrats are dreaming of being competitive and money is pouring in.

It must be election season in Texas.

Indeed, we are now less than two weeks out from the first major Senate primary contests of the year. In recent days, both the Republican and Democratic Senate primaries in Texas have kicked into high gear, so it seems like a good moment to take stock of the races as early voting gets underway.

Let’s start with the Democrats, who have spent the last three decades losing at the statewide level — but who can’t help hoping that this year, in this environment, against the right Republican opponent, could be different.

State Representative James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for Senate, made national headlines this week thanks to Stephen Colbert.

Colbert said on his late-night show that his network, CBS, stopped him from airing an interview with Talarico because of Trump administration guidance about equal airtime for political candidates. CBS contested this account.

But one thing is indisputable: The dust-up turned Talarico into a national Trump foil at a critical moment in the race — and Democratic activists love nothing more than a candidate at odds with the president.