Democrats won the U.S. Senate race and the governor's mansion in the same night, ending decades of Republican control in the Lone Star State, on the same night Florida stayed red.
Texas did what Florida wouldn't.
Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday to win the U.S. Senate seat held by retiring Sen. John Cornyn, NBC News and Decision Desk HQ project. He's the first Democrat Texas has sent to the Senate since Lloyd Bentsen won his last term in 1988, and his win gives Democrats their first statewide victory in Texas since 1994.
Then Texas did it again. Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, the Washington Post projects. Abbott conceded Tuesday night, calling Hinojosa to concede and then confirming it in public remarks, NBC DFW reports. Hinojosa will be the state's first Democratic governor in more than 30 years.
With about two-thirds of the expected vote counted, both Democrats led by double digits, according to NBC News.
The Senate race
Who he is. Talarico, 37, is an eighth-generation Texan, a former public school teacher, a Presbyterian seminarian and a four-term state representative from the Austin area. He beat U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the March Democratic primary and built his campaign around his Christian faith, pitching himself to Democrats, independents and Republicans alike.
Who he beat. Paxton, endorsed by President Trump, knocked off Cornyn in the GOP primary. He was impeached by the Republican-controlled Texas House in 2023 on bribery and corruption allegations and acquitted by the state Senate. He also filed the lawsuit challenging the 2020 presidential election results.
The money. It became one of the most expensive Senate races in the country. Elon Musk put $158 million into a super PAC backing Paxton, and Trump's MAGA Inc. added $10 million. Talarico accused Musk of trying to buy himself a senator. Talarico outraised Paxton $64 million to $18 million in the third quarter alone.
The attacks. Paxton went after Talarico's manhood, calling him "low-T." White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called him the "first transgender Senate candidate." Talarico is cisgender and in a relationship with a woman. Republicans crossed over anyway: George W. Bush's brother Neil and daughter Barbara backed Talarico, as did a former Paxton donor.
The governor's race
Who she is. Hinojosa is a state House member from Austin. She won the Democratic primary in March with about 60% of the vote.
Who she beat. Abbott, governor since 2015, was seeking a fourth term. He won re-election by 13 points in 2018 and 11 in 2022, and started 2026 with a $105.7 million war chest. From July to late September he outspent Hinojosa $74.1 million to $12.1 million. Polls had him ahead by a few points going into Election Day.
What it means
Republicans started the night with a 53-47 Senate majority, and Democrats needed to flip four seats. Texas was their third flip of the night, after Roy Cooper in North Carolina and Annie Andrews in South Carolina. Ohio, Kansas and Iowa followed, and NBC News now projects Democrats have won the Senate, giving them full control of Congress in January along with the House.
In Austin, a Democratic governor means a veto over a Republican Legislature for the first time in a generation.
The Florida angle. Texas has long been the state Democrats talked about flipping "someday." Florida used to be the state they actually won. Tonight it ran the other way: Texas elected a Democratic senator and a Democratic governor, and Florida re-elected Republicans up and down the ballot, by about a point and a half at the top. Florida Democrats can study what Texas Democrats did: campaign everywhere, including the red counties, and give crossover Republicans a reason to come over.
Sources
- NBC News: Democrat James Talarico turns Texas Senate seat blue
- Washington Post: Democrat Gina Hinojosa wins Texas governor's race
- NBC DFW: Abbott concedes governor's race
- MultiState: Texas governor race, spending and polling
- NBC Washington: Live updates, Senate and House control
- The 19th: Talarico wins in race focused on masculinity and anti-trans attacks
- The Hill via KTLA: Talarico flips Texas Senate seat
- The Hill: Talarico turns Texas blue in historic win
- GV Wire: Talarico ends Democrats' 38-year drought
- Newsmax via Yahoo News: Talarico wins in stunning upset