Democrats Outperform In Tarrant County Plus Local Races Shift Across The State
A strong night for progressive momentum, from school boards to Senate District 9.
Woke is back, baby. Last night, Democrats across the country saw big wins, flipping three statewide seats in Virginia, including the governor’s seat, the governor’s seat in New Jersey, two statewide seats in Georgia, and Mamdani.
Fuck you, Hakeem Jeffries. Zorhan Mamdani is the future of the Democratic Party.
And if you have been paying attention to the rise of progressive populism in Texas, you probably agree that, even here in the Lone Star State, we can see that Mamdani is the future of the Democratic Party.
And all that is good and dandy for Virginia and New York, but what about Texas?
Taylor Rehmet overperforms in this otherwise deep-red district, and SD09 advances to a runoff.
Check out the shift in this district:
This is probably the best news out of Texas this morning, for sure, 100%, hands down.
In 2022, the Democratic candidate pulled in 39.95%, and Rehmet got almost 48% of the vote last night. While he was very close to winning this seat outright, he was only a few points short, but I have total faith that the county party can close that gap in February. It should also be noted that Rehmet beat the two Republicans who raised a combined $5 million, in comparison with his $150,000.
Not only can SD09 be flipped in February, but Tarrant County, overall, is looking really good for 2026 if they can continue this momentum. Listen to what local activists Chris Tackett had to say:
I’ll leave you with this bit of hopium. SD09 is not only the reddest part of Tarrant County, but also significantly redder than much of Texas. The takeaway should be, when we show up, we win.
Menefee and Edwards go to run off.
Christian Menefee and Amanda Edwards also head for a runoff. I predicted months ago that those two would likely be the last two standing in this uber crowded race. Looks like I was right. I fully expect Christian Menefee to win this runoff election in a few months.
As a reminder, Lone Star Left endorsed Christian Menefee.
The Harris County Clerk’s Office initially announced that voters had broken the record for the highest voter turnout the county has seen on an odd-year Election Day. However, officials later clarified that the total did not surpass the 2023 odd-year election turnout, meaning no new record was set this year.
Other Democratic wins in Texas.
CyFair ISD has flipped three MAGA seats and flipped them with three progressives, normal, totally sane people who believe in literacy and inclusion.
Claudia Zapata has flipped a seat on the Kyle City Council.
In Lockhart, Taylor Burge also flipped a City Council seat.
Jonathan Coffman flips a City Council seat in Pflugerville.
Oh yeah, city council seats are supposed to be non-partisan, but you know when a city council member is MAGA. The Facebook memes. The “protect the children from books” panic. The unhinged NextDoor replies. Voters finally said, “Please go touch grass,” and replaced them with people who actually want to pave roads, fund parks, and keep libraries open. Wild concept, I know.
Then there’s the constitutional amendments.
The online discourse around the constitutional amendments this morning has me wanting to pull my hair out. A lot of people seem mad that they ALL passed; there was no democratic messaging, no organizing, etc. A lot of talk about the amendments being confusing and Texans being stupid and illiterate.
But I want to offer a different perspective.
Anyone who felt blindsided by ALL of these amendments passing makes me wonder if they are new to Texas politics. Cool, if they are, but this is precisely the same thing that happened in the last constitutional election. And the election before that. Constitutional amendments basically always pass. If we want to change this process, it needs to start in the Legislature.
Many people and groups, including elected officials, publish ballot guides. Yet, this morning I saw Democrats online talking about how they voted in favor of measures most groups recommended against, like pre-indictment detention and no capital-gains taxes.
Then I saw one influencer say we should blame House Democrats who voted for these ballot measures in the first place.
Obviously, they don’t read Lone Star Left because we talked a lot about this during the legislative session, as these bills and constitutional amendments were making their way through the legislature. And I pointed fingers and named names of Democratic House members who voted for these constitutional amendments.
But said influencer was right; they passed with bipartisan support, which is likely the reason there wasn’t an organized effort against them when it came time to vote. Some House Democrats suck. Pay attention to that and vote them out next year.
Otherwise, what happened last night is not some mystery or failure of intelligence among voters; it’s a messaging and mobilization gap. It’s not really on Texans either. It’s on the party, on the organizations, on the elected officials who didn’t make the stakes clear enough. But it’s stupid to focus on that.
Because there is good news, momentum exists. People showed up in Tarrant. They showed up in Harris. They showed up in Cy-Fair, in Lockhart, in Kyle. The map is shifting, and not by accident. By organizing. If we carry that same energy into the Legislature, into the 2026 primaries, into school board races, city council races, bond elections, neighborhood associations, then we win. Every time.
What we saw last night wasn’t a fluke.
Texas politics is not finished, and the people who have written us off don’t understand this state at all.
If Texans are given a real choice, a real message, and a real reason to vote, they show up. Not for centrism. Not for “reach across the aisle” nonsense. But for the promise of a state that actually works for the people who live here.
We are not going to outspend the GOP’s billionaire donors. We are not going to win by chasing Republican voters who have already made up their minds. We win by organizing working people, young people, renters, teachers, nurses, parents, students, and all the folks who are sick to death of being told to wait their turn.
Last night, the far right lost ground on school boards, city councils, and in a Senate district they were certain was safe. They are not unbeatable. They are not inevitable. And they sure as hell are not the future.
Texas is waking up. Progressive populism is rising. And 2026 is closer than people think. We’re just getting started.
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I actually have do work for my actual job, so haven’t been looking over the data but we know in Dallas County where the only slate cards were printed were in Farmers Branch, the North Texas Democrats endorsed candidates Lupe Gonzales won, and in Glenn Heights Sonja Brown won. The bond passed in Navarro with record turnout. If we had more support and more money we could have had the slate cards in every single precinct chair in Dallas County for free. But as it was, we paid for the ones in Farmers Branch, since that my Beltline Area Dems and we raised money for just that. Ellis paid for the Glenn Heights ones that then made it over to the Dallas side and Navarro paid for their own. Those two county parties paid for the lit and then distributed it directly to the precinct chairs free of charge. So did Tarrant County. So I will run the data to prove it works. Then start offering our Dallas Clubs the slate cards next time. If our county party won’t pay for it, then our clubs, like my Beltline Area Dems will raise the money to make sure our precinct chairs have them for free.
Thanks for the overview Michelle. I've been waiting for this. Texas results aren't as showy as NY, NJ and Virginia, but they seem every bit as encouraging for 2026. We will need to work very hard in the runoff because this is going to really get the Republicans' attention. They are no doubt hatching all kinds of nefarious plans to both destroy Taylor and work with Tim O'Hare to suppress the vote.