We Did It, Texas Dems, We Did It
Candidates in every legislative, statewide, and federal race. Now it’s time to build power where it counts.
On the ballot in 2026:
Congress:
Democrats are on 38 out of 38 seats
SBOE
Democrats are on 8 out of 8 seats
State Senate
Democrats are on 15 out of 15 seats
State House
Democrats are on 150 out of 150 seats
We did it! WE FUCKING DID IT! Step one, anyway.
This is a symbolic win. It’s also structural. Filing someone in every race forces Republicans to defend their turf instead of coasting on uncontested seats. It stretches their resources, exposes their records, and creates opportunities where the pundits swear none exist.
Ballot access is the foundation of a statewide strategy. And this year, we actually built one.
I’m still working on updating the lists, but some of these updates are coming from County Parties, Candidates, and the Texas Democratic Party, because the Secretary of State’s website is still running slow and isn’t showing all of the Democratic candidates.
Since the SOS website isn’t showing all the Democratic candidates, would it be safe to assume they aren’t showing all of the Republican ones either? One would assume so, but never put corruption past any Texas Republican.
Right now, we now for a fact we have candidates in every race, and later this week, we may learn about even more candidates. I’ll continue to update the lists until I’m sure the SOS website is up to date.
What’s step two?
If we really want to beat Republicans in Texas, we have to beat them at the precinct-chair game. Filing candidates is great, but it’s only the opening move. Precinct chairs are the ground troops of democracy, the people who actually knock doors, register voters, track down the missing Democrats in their neighborhood, and build the muscle memory of turnout. Republicans understand this. They’ve understood it for decades.
Democrats? We leave hundreds, sometimes thousands, of seats vacant across the state. We let entire neighborhoods go unorganized. We cede territory before we ever step onto the field. And then every election cycle we act shocked that Republicans keep winning close races by a few hundred votes.
Precinct chairs fill that gap. They’re how you rebuild a party from the street level up. They’re how you identify voters year-round, not just 6 weeks before Election Day.
If Democrats want real power, we need precinct chairs in every precinct, urban, rural, suburban, coastal, panhandle, border, everywhere. We cannot out-message, out-fundraise, or out-organize the GOP while leaving half the chessboard empty.
Not a precinct chair yet? Contact your local county party to become one.
My immidiate thoughts.
The Legislative races have the biggest impacts on all of our lives. Access to healthcare, clean energy, living wages, and whether our civil rights are enshrined into law. Yet, there’s only one race that everyone wants to seem to talk about.
And the truth is, if we flip the Legislature, and the Governor’s seat, we can fix Texas with or without that Senate seat.
There’s a lot of elections in Texas that matter a lot and I plan on spending the next four months covering the primaries, because WE ACTUALLY have a competitive primary season in Texas. And the truth is, I may not cover the Senate race that much. Why talk about the same thing everyone else is? No, we need coverage down-ballot.
Speaking of which, I’ve had several people reach out to me about endorsements and ‘Meet the Candidate’ articles. And if you’ve reached out and I haven’t responded yet, I’m not ignoring you, I’m just organized in a very chaotic fashion. Here is my plan:
Within the next week: Endorsements for Legislative Re-Elections
Before New Year: Endorsements for Statewide Elections
January: Endorsements for Congress, SBOE, and Texas Senate
Before Early Voting Starts: Endorsements for Texas House
County-level endorsements? I’m not sure. I’m going to fit them in there somewhere, but heads-up, so everyone knows up front, Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons has filed to run for County Judge against Tim O’Hare, and I do plan on endorsing her.
If you’re wanting me to do a Meet the Candidate article on a candidate, have the candidate contact me or I’ll try to chase them down eventually.
The Republicans.
As always, they have a whole cast of characters running for office on the other side of the aisle. There Brandon Herrera, the bomb guy, who accidently left a bomb at a campaign event in Uvalde. Of course, Valentina Gomez, and in that same race is the Shamwow guy. Remember him?
They’re both running against Congressman John Carter.
There are eight Republicans running against Greg Abbott, at least so far, with the SOS website so slow, more could pop-up later. Most of these people I never heard of, but one I only know about because I saw the Republicans talking about him in one of their Facebook groups, because he lives in his van.
Per usual, most of the Republicans have pulled in Republican primary challengers. There are at least three J-6ers running for office in Texas, that I’m aware of. Could be more.
Brian “The King of the Brainworm Brigade” Harrison has two primary challengers. Which goes to show, maybe his district isn’t in as in love with him as he with himself.
Some Republicans who have filed for office (more than a dozen), have been on the ballot before, some many times before.
Frerick Frazier, the once indicted cop, or former-cop, or pretend-cop….we never got a straight story, he’s running for his old seat in HD61 against Keresa Richardson (she is super loony). Last we heard of him, last election, he was in hot water for sign stealing. I wonder what came of that.
Jeff Leach (R-HD67) filed to run again and is really playing up the whole “six seven” bit.
The Democrats.
I don’t know what the hell they’ve been putting in the water out there in West Texas and in Lubbock, but the Democrats out there need to be commended for getting every seat filled. This is the first year since I’ve been paying attention, I’ve seen this happen.
Lubbock has had some of the lowest turnout rates in Texas, but it’s an increadibly diverse area, and they have a wonderful LGBTQ+ community there. I’d really love to see if having Democrats on the ballot up and down the ticket finally makes a difference in pushing Lubbock blue, like every other big city in this state. All it will take is turnout.
Now, Austin. That’s a different story. Because it’s going to be a bloodbath.
HD49, Gina Hinojosa’s current seat, which she is leaving to run for governor, has eight Democrats running.
HD50, James Talarico’s current seat, which he is leaving to run for Senate, has six Democrats running.
Runoffs? Expect them.
In Dallas this morning Colin Allred announced he planned on running against Julie Johnson for TX33. Which is like…. okay… they are both like two sides of the same corporate coin, and votes would align with each other. Or, there’s also Zeeshan Hafeez, who’s running a progressive campaign for TX33, but he’s not showing up on the SOS website yet (although he has filed with the county).
We’re going to see more candidates this week who we don’t know about yet, for sure.
Another thing about Dallas, is all of the progressive Legislative Democrats don’t appear to have any primary challengers. However, Venton Jones (HD101), who is not progressive, seems to have two.
Like I said, there are a lot of Democratic primary races. It’s exciting. And I plan to cover as many as them as I can (hopefully all), before the primary election date, which is March 3, 2026.
Texas Democrats did something this cycle we haven’t done in a long damn time.
We showed up everywhere. Every district. Every ballot line. Every race Republicans thought they had wrapped with a bow before the filing period even opened.
And now the work begins.
Because filing candidates is not the finish line. It’s the starting gun. If we want the next four months to matter, if we want 2026 to be the year Texas politics actually shifts, then we have to organize precinct by precinct, build a unified message voters can recognize in their sleep, and treat down-ballot races with the respect they deserve.
The Legislature is where your healthcare is decided. Your schools. Your wages. Your rights. Your safety. The Senate race will get the headlines, but the power to fix Texas sits in the offices nobody tweets about. And for the first time in years, we have competitive primaries across the state, real choices, real debates, real political energy bubbling up outside Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.
That’s the kind of ecosystem a healthy party needs. That’s how you build a bench. That’s how you build a future.
Republicans are already melting down in their own primaries, bomb guys, van guys, Shamwow guys, indicted guys, J-6 candidates, and a whole circus of extremists pretending they’re running a serious political operation. Meanwhile, Democrats are finally acting like a party preparing to govern.
We have candidates. We have momentum. We have a chance to flip seats nobody thought were flippable.
But none of it happens without turnout. None of it happens without precinct chairs. None of it happens if we keep treating local races like background noise. Texas doesn’t change because one superstar campaign wins a news cycle. Texas changes because ordinary people decide, over and over and over, to build something better in their own communities.
We’ve done step one. We’re working on step two. Step three is the part where we win.
Let’s get to it.
Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.
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WooHoo!!! Thank you for the great news & your plans, Michelle! Already shared on Bsky!
I was surprised to learn Marc Veasey filed to run as County Judge in Tarrant County. Good move I guess.