In addition to claiming the Texas governor’s mansion and a U.S. Senate seat, Democrats flipped an entire slate of statewide offices and judicial posts for the first time in decades Tuesday night.
Texas elects nearly all of its statewide officials in the midterm cycle, with the exception of some judges and Texas Railroad Commission seats whose terms are staggered.
Democrats are poised to take the reins of the lieutenant governor’s office, which presides over the state Senate, and the Texas attorney general’s office, which serves as the state’s top law enforcement office — among other positions.
A number of the positions they’re filling were already destined for turnover this year either way, after Republican insurgents knocked sitting officials out in the GOP primary.
Republican Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick each chose to seek a fourth term in the state’s top leadership roles, leaving few paths for advancement among their party’s ambitious up-and-comers.
That led to the first ever primary loss for a sitting Texas senator, when Attorney General Ken Paxton challenged Sen. John Cornyn instead of seeking reelection.
Meanwhile, Comptroller Glenn Hegar took a job leading the Texas A&M University System, and two other sitting Republicans — Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright — were out after losing their primaries.
In some cases, even Republicans had trepidations about their more right-wing replacements.
Now that Democrats have won, however, officials in blue San Antonio are growing optimistic about what they can accomplish with new allies in state leadership.
“If they are doing their jobs and we’re doing our jobs, mountains can be moved,” incoming Democratic Bexar County Judge Ron Nirenberg told the San Antonio Report. ” … That’s what I’m excited about.”
They’ll have a fresh face leading the Texas General Land Office, where they’ve repeatedly butted heads with Republican Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham over the Alamo redevelopment in recent years.
They could also have more willing partners on issues like transportation and healthcare — and perhaps put an end to some of the costly legal battles they’ve been waging with the attorney general’s office.
Republicans still hold a majority in the Texas Senate, but Democrats are poised to take over the Texas House, providing some unexpected juice for their new leaders’ policy agenda.
New Democratic leaders will also have tremendous power to make appointments to state boards and commissions, where few San Antonians have served in recent years — plus Texas’ new business court, where judges are appointed by the governor.
“It’s kind of Pandora’s box in terms of people getting appointed to things and what Democrats can accomplish to actualize this platform,” said San Antonio Democratic strategist Bert Santibañez.
Here’s a look at the 18 Democrats who won Texas statewide offices in a historic Nov. 3 sweep.
U.S. Senate
Democratic state Rep. James Talarico (D-Round Rock) is taking over for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who has represented Texas in the U.S. Senate for the last 24 years.
The seat once belonged to Alamo hero Sam Houston and former president Lyndon B. Johnson, but was on track to change hands this year after Cornyn lost his primary to Paxton in a stunning 28-point defeat.
In one of his final campaign rallies at San Antonio’s Espee music venue, Talarico vowed to be a leader in Houston’s and Johnson’s image, pledging loyalty to Texas over party leaders and campaign donors.
“This Senate seat has been held by some of the finest Texans,” Talarico said. “I want to be a senator for every Texan who can’t afford one.”
Texas’ other U.S. senator, Republican Ted Cruz, is up for reelection in 2030.
Texas Democrats’ 2026 U.S. Senate nominee
Texas statewide officials
Unlike exiting Gov. Greg Abbott, Democrat Hinojosa comes to the governor’s mansion with experience in the Texas Legislature.
The Democratic Party nominated a slate of statewide candidates who’ve been serving there together for years, and will now be navigating a Republican-controlled Senate and Democrat-led House.
“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 after the election.
Still, it’s more power than Democrats have had in 30 years, and far more than they were expecting headed into election night.
“The new lieutenant governor will have a lot of power at her disposal to run the Senate, and the leverage just changes,” Fischer said. “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.”
Texas Democrats recruited a candidate for every office on the ballot this year in preparation for a potential blue wave. Some of those are sincere newcomers, including their candidate for agriculture commissioner, Clayton Tucker.
Top party leaders say Texas Democrats have been down-and-out for so long, it will take time to fill all of the roles in a new blue state governenment.
“The largest struggle is probably going to be, how do all of these statewide Democrats have staff to be able to operate this state?” Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder said on Wednesday.
“Democrats don’t have that kind of operation … so there will be some things like that that we’ll need to grow on.”
Democrats elected to Texas’ top statewide offices in 2026
Texas Railroad Commission
The three-member Texas Railroad Commission regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, and its elections receive little attention.
This year that changed when Republican Bo French grabbed national headlines for a viral social media post after a University of Texas football game.
French became the GOP nominee after defeating incumbent Jim Wright in the primary, but fellow Republicans started abandoned him after the social media incident. Longtime GOP strategist Karl Rove even penned a Wall Street Journal opinion saying he’d vote for the Democrat over such “raw, uncut bigotry.”
This week French lost to state Rep. Jon Rosenthal (D-Houston), who will be the lone Democrat on the commission.
Rosenthal is an engineer who worked in the oil and gas industry most of his career, but founded a liberal grassroots group after President Donald Trump’s first election, and later unseated an incumbent Republican to win a seat in the Texas House.
Members of the Texas Railroad Commission serve staggered six-year terms, and Wright’s seat is the only one up for reelection in 2026.
The two other members, Christie Craddick and Wayne Christian, will soon be among the last GOP statewide officials in the Texas.
Democrats elected to the Texas Railroad Commission in 2026
Judicial races
Texas Supreme Court
The nine-member Texas Supreme Court is going from solid Republican control to four Democrats and five Republicans. Its members are elected on a statewide basis, serving staggered six-year terms.
Four seats were on the ballot this year, and Democrats swept every race, including the chief justice position.
Three of the remaining Republicans, Debra Lehrmann, Rebeca Huddle and Evan Young, are up in 2028. The other two, John Devine and Jimmy Blacklock, are up in 2030.
Democrats elected to the Texas Supreme Court in 2026
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
The nine-member Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is the highest appellate court for criminal cases in Texas.
Its solidly Republican membership experienced major turnover in recent years, as Attorney General Ken Paxton campaigned against long-serving GOP judges who ruled that he didn’t have broad authority to prosecute election fraud.
Republicans were on track to continue installing Paxton allies after their primary this year, but all three seats on the ballot were carried by Democrats.
Members are elected on a statewide basis and serve staggered six-year terms.
The two remaining GOP judges who ruled against Paxton, Bert Richardson and David Newell, retired instead of seeking reelection.
Democrats won their seats and defeated a third Republican justice, Kevin Patrick Yeary, who was seeking a third term.
Richardson sought a position on a lower court this year, the San Antonio-based Fourth Court of Appeals, but lost to Democrat Antonia “Toni” Arteaga.
The remaining six Republicans are up for reelection in 2028 and 2030.
Democrats elected to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2026
Texas’ 15th Court of Appeals
The 15th Court of Appeals was created during the 2023 legislative session and has jurisdiction over cases involving the state, state leaders, challenges to state law, and cases from the state’s new business court.
Its members are elected statewide and appeared on the ballot for the first time in 2026.
Three inaugural justices, all Republicans, were appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott and were seeking their first full term. All of them fell to Democrats in one of the most unexpected shifts of power of the election cycle.
Two years ago tech billionaire Elon Musk helped fund a political effort to reshape the state’s court system, including creating a Texas business court with appointed judges to hear complex, high-dollar legal disputes.
What is the new 15th Court of Appeals in Texas?
In the process, state GOP leaders decided to create a statewide appellate court to hear appeals to the business court rulings — which they gave immediate appellate jurisdiction over cases against themselves and challenges to state law.
“They would have never done it if they had had a crystal ball and seen this election,” said Dallas County Commissioner Andy Sommerman, a Democrat who challenged the new court’s authority and lost.
Now, the incoming Democratic governor will have appointment power for the business court, while the elected 15th Court of Appeals will be in the hands of Democrats.
