From The New Yorker · Rachel Monroe · · 2m
Texas flips Democratic in stunning statewide sweep
For the first time in thirty-two years, Texas elected Democrats to nearly every statewide office, ending Republican dominance that felt permanent.
In brief
For the first time in thirty-two years, Texas elected Democrats to nearly every statewide office, ending Republican dominance that felt permanent. Texas elected Democrats to nearly every statewide office for the first time in thirty-two years, ending three decades of Republican control. Originally reported by The New…
A ranger's quiet smile
At Big Bend National Park, a motorcyclist refused a parks pass featuring Donald Trump's face, saying he would not pay four dollars a gallon for gas while Trump put his face on everything.
“It's ridiculous that I'm paying four dollars a gallon for gas and he's still putting his face all over everything.”
Hope and disappointment
In 2014, Wendy Davis lost the governor's race to Greg Abbott by twenty points. In 2018, Beto O'Rourke lost to Ted Cruz despite articles predicting demographic destiny would turn Texas blue.
Republican permanence
Republicans acted as though they were a permanent fixture of Texas, despite the state producing Lyndon B.Johnson, Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards, and Molly Ivins.Their dominance persisted through school shootings, electrical grid failures, and preventable deaths.
Texas as MAGA laboratory
Before Trump's second term, Texas investigated gender-affirming care for minors as child abuse, banned D.E.I. in public higher education, and cracked down on immigration. People wore shirts saying Make America Like Texas.
Discontent emerges
Texans grew unhappy with the war in Iran, high gas prices, ICE raids, data centers, Flock cameras, and the federal government bulldozing through Big Bend to build a wall even many Republicans opposed.
Polls shift dramatically
James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for Senate, began to lead in poll after poll. Then Gina Hinojosa, Abbott's challenger, was suddenly ahead too. The author began saying Ken Paxton would lose.
The statewide sweep
Ken Paxton, Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, Don Huffines, and Bo French all lost. The entire statewide Republican apparatus, which felt so secure in power, was teetering on the brink of collapse.
Thirty-two years broken
Before yesterday, Texas had not elected a Democrat to statewide office in thirty-two years. Now, nearly every key position will be held by a Democrat.
Permanence was always a pose
The author woke with a familiar feeling from 2020, when Confederate statues came down. Their air of permanence was always a pose. Something built up can always be taken down.
“Their air of permanence was always a pose. Something built up can always be taken down.”
In short
Texas elected Democrats to nearly every statewide office for the first time in thirty-two years, ending three decades of Republican control.
