WASHINGTON — Rep. Dan Crenshaw blamed unfounded attacks and a culture of misinformation for his primary loss to state Rep. Steve Toth, saying in an interview that the “power of clickbait” proved too much to overcome.

Crenshaw, a fourth-term congressman from Atascosita, lost to Toth, one of the most conservative members of the Texas Legislature, by a decisive 15-point margin, according to unofficial returns.

His district, which includes Kingwood, Lake Houston and The Woodlands, is split between Harris County and Montgomery County, a hotbed of conservative activism where Attorney General Ken Paxton received twice as many votes as incumbent John Cornyn in the Senate Republican primary.

One of the more prominent Republicans in Congress, Crenshaw has received outsized attention — and criticism — as a frequent media presence and national security hawk who has sparred with a handful of influencers and podcasters in the MAGA-sphere.

He’s had a target on his back for years from some of the most hardline conservatives in Congress, including in the House Freedom Caucus, for calling out their legislative tactics and referring to some members of his party as “grifters.”

Columns in the Houston Chronicle and the Wall Street Journal this week lamented Crenshaw’s loss, arguing that his true sin was a willingness to tell base voters hard truths, including that Trump lost the 2020 election and speaking out against the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Crenshaw acknowledged that the “telling the truth thing” is viewed as “a real crime” among some voters. But he heaped most of the blame for his loss on what he said were baseless attacks over his alleged insider trading and stance on red flag laws — leaving Crenshaw, in his eyes, to fend off talking points that twisted the truth.

”It’s not like anyone was going to the polls saying, ‘I don’t like that you said that. I disagree with it.’ Because at least then, they would be debating with me on something that I actually said,” Crenshaw told The Texas Tribune. “I could deal with that. … But that’s never what came up in people’s minds and out of their mouths.”

Toth and right-wing host Tucker Carlson had criticized Crenshaw for allegedly profiting on insider trading through the stock market. Crenshaw hasn’t made any stock trades since March 2023, and said in the entirety of his congressional career, he made under $50,000 on the stock market.

In 2019, meanwhile, Crenshaw said state legislators — not Congress — should have a conversation about red flag laws, a mechanism opposed by gun rights absolutists that allows for the temporary seizure of firearms from people deemed to pose a risk to themselves or others. Crenshaw caught flak for the comment among conservatives, who saw it as tantamount to a show of support for the policy. He noted on his campaign website that he regrets jumping into the discussion, and that he has introduced a bill prohibiting the use of federal funds for red flag laws each term he has been in Congress.

Still, Toth reshared snippets of Crenshaw’s 2019 video, calling him “Red Flag Law Crenshaw.”

But as the adage goes in politics, if you’re explaining, you’re losing. And Crenshaw said his campaign was unable to counter the narratives, in part because they caught fire among conservative influencers who seized on them as an easy way to generate attention, the currency of the internet.

“A large part of this election was about the power of clickbait,” Crenshaw said. “Memes became truth. Too many people are not discerning through the clickbait. People voting — one after the other — literally thought I was making millions in the stock market doing inside trading. Even though I haven’t made a trade in three years. I’ve made under $46,000 over my entire seven years in office. The truth didn’t matter to people.”

Supporters and critics alike had varying explanations for Crenshaw’s loss.

Freedom Caucus Fund, the political arm of the House Freedom Caucus, endorsed Toth. Allison Weisenberger, the fund’s executive director, said Crenshaw “found out the final consequence for being a RINO” — a Republican in Name Only — and bad-mouthing members of the hard-right caucus.

Crenshaw, for his part, said his recognizability also contributed to the result, as it made him an attractive target for influencers who saw there were more clicks to be had for those bringing up his name — rather than others facing a “real scandal,” he said, like Reps. Tony Gonzales and Cory Mills.

“Their name just doesn’t make the internet excited like Dan Crenshaw’s does,” Crenshaw said. “I don’t have a mistress who set herself on fire. I don’t have a mistress who reported me to D.C. Metro Police for domestic violence, like Cory Mills.”

Crenshaw also pointed to the influence of Robert Marling, a billionaire GOP donor in The Woodlands who seeded a pro-Toth super PAC with $675,000.

Marling has donated large sums to Sen. Ted Cruz in the past. Cruz endorsed Toth during the early voting period; CNN reported that he and Crenshaw have a long-standing feud.

Political influencers and podcasters in the online chattering class played key roles in both parties’ primaries this year, a new trend that Crenshaw said is exacerbated in the Houston area by conservative hosts who put out full endorsement slates that voters follow.

The result, Crenshaw said, is voters getting their information from “people who have no allegiance to the truth.”

“It’s troubling for the future,” he said. “Only voters can stop it.”

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