Lily Huynh/The Cougar
The evening of Nov. 3 marked a historic night for both United Stated of America and the state of Texas.
Former Democratic Texas State Representative James Talarico defeated Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in the U.S. Senate race. This is the first time Texas has elected a Democrat to Senate since 1988.
Previous Democratic Texas State Representative Gina Hinojosa also won the race for governor against Republican incumbent of 12 years Greg Abbott. Hinojosa is Texas’ first Latina governor and the first Democratic governor of Texas in over 30 years.
Nationally, Democrats won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. In the Senate, Democrats gained seven seats for a total of 54 as of Wednesday morning. In the House, Democrats gained 25 seats for a total of 228, well past the 218-seat threshold for a majority.
In Texas, other state-level races have also seen Democrats emerge victorious: Democrat Jon Rosenthal defeated Republican Bo French in the race for Texas Railroad Commissioner, Democrat Vikki Goodwin won the race for Texas lieutenant governor against Republican incumbent Dan Patrick and Democrat Nathan Johnson claimed victory in the Texas attorney general race against Republican Mayes Middleton.
No projected winner has been called yet for the Texas comptroller, land commissioner or agriculture commissioner.
Harris County races
Democratic candidate Letitia Plummer won the Harris County Judge election with 61% against Republican Orlando Sanchez with 39%.
Democratic incumbent Lizzie Fletcher won the U.S. House race in congressional district 7 with 72% of the vote over Republican Alexander Hale.
In district 9, Democrat Leticia Gutierrez emerged victorious with 57% of the vote against Republican Alex Mealer and in district 18, Christian Menfee won by a landslide 75 points with 87% of the vote against Republican Ronald Whitfield.
As for the rest of the election, the County Clerk and County Treasurer Democratic incumbents Teneshia Hudspeth and Carla L. Wyatt maintained office with 63% and 60% of the vote, respectively, against Republicans Mike Wolfe and Marc Cowart.
County Attorney and District Clerk elections gained Democratic wins from Abbie Kamin and Darrell Jordan Jr. with 62% and 61% of the vote, respectively, against Republicans Jacqueline Lucci Smith and Chris Daniel.
Nationwide blue wave
Apart from Texas, multiple previously red states flipped in this year’s midterm elections, including Republican strongholds from the 2024 presidential election.
Notably, Kansas, a historically red state, elected Democrat Adam Hamilton to the Senate. Hamilton is the first Democrat elected into the Senate by Kansas in nearly a century.
Other states with Republican Senate seats that flipped blue last night are North and South Carolina, Maine, Ohio and Iowa.
Additionally, Chris Pappas has become the first openly gay senator and defeated former Republican Senator John E. Sununu in New Hampshire and Abdul El-Sayed becomes the first muslim senator defeating Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan.
Minnesota elected Peggy Flanagan, who has now become the first Native American woman Senator. She is a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe.
Hakeen Jeffries was re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from New York’s 8th Congressional District. He has announced his candidacy for the Speaker of the House. If elected, Jeffries will become the first Black Speaker of the House in the country’s history.
Results for the remaining House, Senate and governor races in the rest of the nation are expected to be released within the coming days.
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