Democrats said Wednesday morning that they’ve flipped enough state legislative seats to carry the Texas House — something that appeared out of reach headed into election night.
That means the incoming Democratic governor, Gina Hinojosa, will have some policy-making partners in the state capitol, though Republicans will retain a majority in the state Senate.
“We got pretty darn close to a trifecta, but I guess you can’t win literally everything in one night,” Texas Majority PAC Executive Director Katherine Fischer said on a press call.
“Obviously it’s going to take some time to figure out how governance like this will work, but we have significantly more leverage on our side than they do now for the first time in more than 30 years.”
Democrats thought they laid out ambitious goals targeting 12 Texas House seats this year, though winning all of them still wouldn’t have been enough to an 88–62 seat majority.
But top party strategists said Wednesday that they were on track to net closer to 20 seats — thanks to overwhelming statewide victories that carried candidates over the line.
“Some of the largest over-performances that have helped produce the state House flips were in the suburbs and in some of the exurban parts of the state,” Fischer said.
“We fully expected that James [Talarico] and Gina [Hinojosa] would do well in suburban counties like Collin, Denton, Williamson, Hayes, Fort Bend … but what we saw last night is that all the statewide candidates won in those counties flipping Collin and Denton, and then some other counties that we would have never thought.”
Top targets in San Antonio
Bexar County is represented by a total of 10 Texas House seats.
Going into the night, three were held by Republicans and seven were held by Democrats.
Democrats considered the Southside seat represented by state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio) among their ripest targets, and their candidate Kristian Carranza carried by a wide margin.
They also easily carried Northside Texas House 121 — a wealthier suburban district that was on their target list, but hadn’t elected a Democrat in 45 years.
A third GOP-held seat, Texas House District 122, represented by state Rep. Mark Dorazio (R-San Antonio), was separated by about 1,700 votes as of Wednesday morning.
Texas Republicans spent more than a half a million dollars on Dorazio’s behalf in the final month, while his little-known Democratic opponent, Shelly Nickels, spent just $5,600.
The Texas Senate was a more uphill challenge, but Democrat Vikki Goodwin defeated Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, taking on a role that oversees that chamber.
“That’s the challenge,” Fischer said. “[But] the new lieutenant governor will have a lot of power at her disposal to run the Senate, and the leverage just changes.”
She said a Democrat-led Texas House was likely to revisit the state’s controversial school voucher program approved last session, and place a major emphasis on healthcare.
This story first appeared in the San Antonio Report.
