Talarico and Hinojosa Carried Eight Major
Counties Where Trump Won in 2024 Race
Capitol Inside
November 4, 2026
Democrats James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa - a pair of state representatives from the state's most liberal city - won on Tuesday night in eight major Texas counties that President Donald Trump carried in 2024 en route to landmark victories in bids for the U.S. Senate and governor.
Talarico beat Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton by a dozen points with 55 percent of the vote in the fight for the Senate seat that the GOP's John Cornyn held for the past 24 years. Hinojosa ousted third-term Republican Governor Greg Abbott in a fight she won by 7 points after the incumbent spent almost five times more on the contest.
Democrats will have at least 54 Senate members in 2027 after flipping seats in Ohio, Kansas, Iowa, South Carolina, Maine and the Lone Star State in Tuesday's midterm election with rides on a tsunami that was more destructive for the Republicans than anyone had anticipated or imagined before the vote. The Democrats have a shot to win a Senate seat in Mississippi where the major party contenders both finished with 49 percent of the vote.
The monstrous blue wave that Trump sparked and fueled went full-scale tsunami in Texas where Democrats ran the table on statewide races, captured a state House majority and emerged with an additional congressional district on a map the president ordered the Republicans in Austin to draw with five more seats for the GOP. Democrats flipped 21 seats in the Texas House in the 2026 midterm election.
Talarico defeated Paxton by 12 points with 55 percent of the vote on Tuesday. Hinojosa ended Abbott's long career in politics with support from almost 53 percent of the general election voters here. Democrat Vikki Goodwin beat Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick by a half-dozen points while Democrats Sarah Eckhardt and Nathan Johnson both won by 6 points in fights with Comptroller Don Huffines and Republican attorney general nominee Mayes Middleton.
Democrat Ben Flores unseated Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham in a contest he won by nearly five points, Democrat Clayton Williams defeated the GOP's Nate sheets by more than 4 points in a race for Texas agriculture commissioner. Democrat Jon Rosenthal beat Republican Bo French by six points in a race for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission.
Talarico scored 72 percent of the vote in Dallas County, 66 percent in Harris County and 67 percent in Bexar County. Hinojosa came within two to three points of the Democrat at the top of the Texas ticket in the U.S. Senate race in all but one of the state's major counties. Talarico had a winning margin that was four points higher than the incoming Texas governor in Collin County.
Talarico won in 14 of the 15 largest counties in Texas while Montgomery, which ranks 11th in the state in population. Talarico received 59 percent of the vote in Tarrant County where Hinojosa won 56 percent. Trump won in Tarrant County two years ago with more than 52 percent of the vote in his third bid for the presidency.
Talarico and Hinojosa flipped Collin and Denton counties on the northern edge of the Dallas-Fort Worth for the first time for the Democrats in three entire decades of GOP rule in the Lone Star State. Talarico garnered 55 percent of the Collin County vote on Tuesday when he had 53 percent in Denton County next door. Hinojosa scored 51 percent of the Collin vote while edging out Abbott in Denton County with 50.3 percent. Trump had 55 percent of the 2024 vote in Denton County while claiming 53 percent in Collin County.
After Trump flipped heavily-Hispanic Hidalgo and Cameron counties in the Rio Grande Valley on the Mexican border in 2024, Talarico captured 72 percent of the Hidalgo vote on Tuesday when he claimed 69 percent in neighboring Cameron County.
Talarico received 59 percent of the vote in Williamson County north of Austin where Trump won with 50 percent in 2024. Talarico and Hinojosa won in Brazoria County with 52 percent and 50 percent of the Tuesday vote respectively after Trump had 59 percent there two years ago.
Talarico had 55 percent of the vote in Nueces County where Hinojosa won 53 percent. Trump claimed 55 percent in Nueces County in 2024.
The share of the vote that Paxton and Abbott received in rural Texas was smaller than it had been when Trump was the White House nominee for the third time in a row two years ago.
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