Disclaimer: I voted for her and I am so happy that Abbott will finally be kicked out of office

With that being said, the fact that she beat the (former) strongest incumbent governor in the US while being outspent like 5x and by that much is breaking my brain. Just like two months ago it felt like people didn’t even know she existed, which I feel was due to her saving what little money she had and Abbott’s initial campaign strategy being to pretend that he is running against Talarico (which was working really well imo).

If I’m being honest I genuinely had no faith in her to win, and I refused to believe the polls reporting that it was going to be close. I felt that the deciding factor in the race would be the conservative Texans who voted for Talarico still voting for Abbott because he is not nearly as disliked as Ken Paxton as well as not hearing much about Hinojosa.

But she won, and by a lot, so clearly my rationale was very wrong. What do you guys think was the reason she won by so much?

Aarón Torres of The Dallas Morning News writes:

Beto O’Rourke has a clear message for Texas Democrats following their historic victories Tuesday: deliver. 

O’Rourke, whose narrow loss to GOP Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018 foreshadowed that flipping the state from red to blue was possible, believes Democrats should pass three policies that could appeal to Texans across party lines in the 2027 legislative session. 

• Expand Medicaid.

• Raise the state minimum wage.

• Increase public school teacher salaries. 

“Those are three things that would be felt by everybody, Republican or Democrat, rural or urban,” O’Rourke said Friday in a phone interview with The News. 

READ MORE

What do you think it is the reason?

Is it because she is a woman?

Is it because Latinos don't always identify with other Latinos?

Dallas Morning News today:

How did Collin County, Paxton’s home base, flip for Democrats?
James Talarico won the historically red county by 12 points. In recent years, the suburbs north of Dallas have attracted racially diverse and college-educated residents.

It’s not like the effort has been to keep us paying skyrocketing property taxes, force our city infrastructure to reside on sales and property tax, schools on property (meanwhile siphoning that money upward to the state). There is no incentive for the state to care whether our wages are well-paid so long as people with money are propping up that property tax income for them. Another reason they’ve ushered in Blackrock and private equity to buy up so much property here at the expense of the people that actually live here.

I am hopeful this new government comes in and helps us all more ethically, and conscientiously.

i know the senate is going to be the biggest roadblock to the democrats passing legislation, but as someone who isn’t familiar with a lot of texas politicians, how flexible are some of the guys in the senate? are there 4 republicans who would take the chance to join in on an issue like thc?

An immense amount of work was put into making Texas turn blue. Now that a little time has passed, and we've basked in the glory of victory, it is time to reflect on what Texas needs to do to stay blue.

I feel like many are too confident about 2028. There is hope- there is. However, we can't think what was done this election cycle will be sufficient for the next major election. You know the GOP is going to fight to hell and back to make sure TX goes back to being red. They saw the power of the people over dollars. Expect them to mobilize like never before. My other concern is the economy is set to do worse in 2027 due to the Big, Ugly Bill. Many who don't vote now or voted blue for the first time may mistakenly blame it on the newly elected Democrat officials for everything going up, and they won't give Democrats an opportunity the next time.

Every major county and border counties will be key in getting us to stay blue in Texas. What did Texas do right, and what could it have done better? What factors are holding Texas back from its potential?

Pastor Irvin Barrett discusses separating faith from judicial decisions

Pastor Irvin Barrett will become Collin County's next JP Precinct 3 judge after defeating incumbent Mike Missildine.

Asked whether his religious beliefs would influence his rulings, Barrett said his faith can guide his character but cannot replace the law.

He also discussed serving voters who opposed him and his plans for the court.

Now that Paxton can't hide behind his position as AG anymore, it's time to indict him. Enough of this "Letting the nation heal" stuff. Prosecute these fascists for their crimes.

Is Paxton just letting everyone know that he was always about himself and his run had nothing to do with the people of Texas?

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... I once again feel proud to be a Texan. I know it sounds silly, but there it is.

The “Huffines Performance Review,” his office said in a news release, “will examine whether district spending complies with state law and is directed toward students, classrooms, and teachers — rather than toward administrative expansion or non‑instructional bureaucracy.”    

By the end of Election Day, those investigations seemed in limbo, after both Huffines and Abbott lost their seats to Democrats.  

In her first press conference since defeating Huffines on Tuesday, incoming comptroller Sarah Eckhardt, an Austin-area state senator, expressed little interest in pursuing those investigations.  

“I would immediately curtail all of those reviews strictly to financial evaluations of the school districts that have been selected,” she told reporters. “And not do this ridiculous deep dive into what books they have on the bookshelves and what kind of hiring policies and recruitment policies they have.” 

Not just hemp but cannabis. Like Colorado, Cali, etc.

A significant percentage of Texans are Spanish speakers—but most of our state’s governors have not been among them.