The Night Texas Turned Blue
A special-edition look at the 2026 midterms: the statewide sweep, Travis County’s landslide, the fall of Prop I, and the collapse of the GOP’s hard-right bets
Published Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. Results are unofficial and still being counted and canvassed. Races described as “leading” or “on track” had not been formally called at the time of writing. Travis County figures come from the county’s unofficial results summary file and cover Travis County only.
The short version
For the first time in more than three decades, Democrats won statewide in Texas, and they did it at the very top of the ticket.
- James Talarico defeated Attorney General Ken Paxton for the U.S. Senate seat held by John Cornyn. Democrats had not won a Senate race in Texas since 1988.
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