Talarico Flips U.S. Senate Seat as Dems
Post Gains in Texas House and Congress
Texas General Election Polls
General Election Rankings
Capitol Inside
November 3, 2026
Texas appeared to be on the verge of going blue with a vengeance on Tuesday night when Democrats had a shot to run the table in all eight statewide races, to post significant gains on the Texas House battlefield and to come out ahead on gerrymandered congressional map that was drawn to yield five more seats for the GOP.
Democrats James Talarico led the charge that sent Ken Paxton to the unemployment line with a historic victory in the U.S. Senate race in the Lone Star State. Gina Hinojosa looked like a winner in the making as well with a lead of almost 6 points over Governor Greg Abbott with 83 percent of the ballots counted.
Democrat Vikki Goodwin had a 5-point lead on Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick with 83 percent of the returns tallied. The election tracking app projected Goodwin to be the eventual winner by a margin of 4 points. Democrat Nathan Johnson was in front of the GOP's Mayes Middleton by 6 points in a fight for attorney general with 52 percent of the vote.
Democratic nominee Jon Rosental led Republican Bo French by almost six points in the race for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission. Democrats Sarah Eckhardt and Ben Flores were ahead of Comptroller Don Huffines and Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham by similar margins while Democratic candidate Clayton Tucker was up by 5 points on GOP foe Nate Sheets in the state agriculture commissioner's race. Buckingham and Huffines had the best chances to come from behind with a surge on the election day tally.
The Democrats haven't won statewide in Texas in 32 years. Democrats hadn't captured a U.S. Senate seat in the nation's second largest state since 1988. Barring dramatic come-from-behind victories in the election day tally, the Democrats will have a monopoly on statewide posts at the state level while U.S. Senator Ted Cruz remains the only Republican in a position that's elected statewide.
Democrats, who needed a net-gain of 14 seats to reclaim control in the Texas House, had the leads in at least 14 contests in districts that are red now. But Republicans were behind by two points or less in three of those while trailing between 4 points and 8 points in four or five House races for seats the GOP has been trying to defend.
But Democrats had double-digit leads in fights for state House seats that GOP State Reps. Angie Chen Button of Garland, Denise Villalobos of Corpus Christi, Janie Lopez of San Benito, Caroline Harris Davila of Round Rock and Marc LaHood of San Antonio were fighting to keep. Democrat Kristin Carranza of San Antonio crushed GOP foe Jorge Borrego in an open race in a House district that Republicans contol now.
Republican State Reps. Lacey Hull of Houston, Keresa Richardson of McKinney, Ben Bumgarner of Flower Mound, John McQueeney of Fort Worth and Mark Dorazio of San Antonio were trailing Democrats by smaller amounts with hopes of closing deficits in the count of ballots cast at the polls on Tuesday.
Democrats were on track to flip the Congressional District 23 seat with a victory by Katy Padilla Stout over Brandon Herrera. Democrats led Republicans by one or two points in congressional districts where GOP U.S. Reps. Steve Toth, Keith Self, Pat Fallon and Jake Ellzey were at threat of losing seats.
Democrats also had a shot to pick up a seat in the Texas Capitol's east wing with Democrat Keenen Colbert up on GOP State Senator Bob Hall by 2 points with 80 percent of the ballots counted. Republican State Senator Charles Schwertner led Democrat Paul Thomasson by 2 points. Republican Dennis Paul was up on Democrat Shannon Dicely in an open race for Senate District 11.
more to come ...
| 
