Every election season, Texas political pundits debate whether Democrats will be able to win a statewide seat, which they haven't done since 1994 when Democratic Gov. Ann Richards lost her reelection bid to George W. Bush.
Democrats have been trying to find the magical formula to help them get back in power ever since.
During a panel at KUT Festival on Saturday, Democratic state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, who's running for comptroller, and state Sen. Nathan Johnson, a Democratic candidate for attorney general, talked about why the recipe might be just right this election cycle.
Johnson pointed to the special election in February in Tarrant County, when Democrat Sen. Taylor Rehmet beat Leigh Wambsganss, a Trump-backed candidate, by 14 percentage points. Rehmet's win was especially notable given that Trump won the same district by 17 points in 2024.
"Taylor Rehmet, guy's never run for office, [and] he just won a 40-year Republican seat," Johnson told the crowd. "It's already different on the ground right now."
Polls show state Rep. James Talarico — a Democrat running to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate — could win his race. While his opponent for the general election hasn't been chosen, a Texas Public Opinion Research survey shows he is ahead of the two Republicans vying for the seat: incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Eckhardt attributed the outcome of the poll to the Republican Party "going too far even for its own party frankly."
Texas Democrats are also trying something new this year: fielding candidates in every election, from races for the state House and Senate to Congress, statewide judges, and the State Board of Education. That could push more Democrats, in even the most conservative districts, to get out and vote.
"It's a compounding effect with Talarico, and [Democratic gubernatorial candidate] Gina Hinojosa, and Nathan Johnson, and me, and everybody else on the statewide ticket," Eckhardt said at KUT Festival. "We will be working as a team, going all across the state in order to run up the score and win in this wave."
Another part of the formula involves something Democrats can't quite control: Trump's approval rating, which ranges from 33% to 40%, depending on the poll. The low rating is mostly due to economic uncertainty and high gas prices Americans have been seeing since the start of the war in Iran and Trump's immigration agenda.
"The inhumanity of ICE has flipped the entire issue on them, and they've awakened a sympathy from people that wasn't there," Johnson said.
In April, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the GOP could have a "tough time" maintaining its majority in the Texas House and U.S. Senate due to party infighting between Cornyn and Paxton.
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