What Will Happen In 2026?

How Texas Democrats get from here to there.

Welp, it’s that time again when everyone is reflecting on the year behind us and looking forward to the year in front of us. I’ve decided to end this year with a bang, so look out for a major endorsement coming tomorrow. And since bangs are fun, look out for another major endorsement coming on the first day of the year.

I had a schedule for endorsements, but long-time Lone Star Left readers know best, I’m not always great at keeping to schedules. But who could have foreseen that we would have had so many competitive primaries happening in Texas?

How many? We have 75 Democratic primaries throughout the state, Congress, the Legislature, and the SBOE. And we have 63 days until the primary election.

Not all of those races are competitive. Not all of those seats will be flippable. And I’m not going to be able to get to every race. However, between the Meet the Candidate articles and the Left in Texas Podcast, which returns on January 9th, I’m hoping to shed light on as many races as we can.

And the endorsements? I’ll get them out as I can squeeze them in, but if we start running short on time, y’all may get a list. I prefer to explain why I’m getting behind each candidate, but as I’m sitting here right now, 63 days doesn’t feel like a lot of time.

Lone Star Left’s Top Ten Stories of 2025.

Here were the top ten most shared, most viewed, and most viral stories from 2025 from Lone Star Left:

10. Texas Democratic Party To Decentralize To Win Texas
    The Texas Democratic Party finally did something Democrats have been begging for for years.

9. Abbott’s State Of The State: Lie, Lie, Lie, Spin
   Abbott delivered his State of the State from a private club overlooking Waco while bragging about GDP, roads, and a “perfect” power grid that millions of Texans know damn well doesn’t exist.

8. F*ck You, Ron Filipkowski!
   After twenty-eight children were killed, a national liberal (former Republican) pundit decided the moment called for smug blame instead of grief.

7. We Did It, Texas Dems, We Did It
   For once, Texas Democrats showed up everywhere. Every district, every ballot line, every race Republicans assumed they’d win by default.

6. Jilted Wife Outs Republican SBOE Member And Other Texas Election News
   Another week, another Republican meltdown, complete with “biblical” divorces, leaked secrets, and a last-minute scramble before the filing deadline.

5. Republicans Just Made It Legal to Take Homes from Legal Immigrants in Texas
   Texas Republicans quietly crossed a terrifying line with SB17. This racist, xenophobic law allows the state to seize property from legal immigrants and hands Abbott a blank check to expand it to any country he wants.

4. Texas Dems To DC: We’re Not You
   That San Antonio rally was Texas Democrats drawing a very clear line in the sand. Talarico, Castro, and Beto were openly calling out national complacency and reclaiming Texas Democrats as scrappy, working-class fighters with their own moral center.

3. Texas Runoff Results Prove The Tide Is Turning
   The far right got smacked up and down the ballot, from San Antonio to Tarrant County to Irving.

2. Abbott’s Fluffy Soldiers And The New Texas Invasion
   Texas tried to cosplay a Civil War reenactment, sent the National Guard to Illinois for an illegal PR stunt, and somehow ended up getting dragged by Reddit, blue states, and corporate America instead.

1. Maga’s Very Bad Night In Texas
   Texas voters sent a very clear message to the far right. Take your culture wars, book bans, and school board coups somewhere else.

2025 brought a lot of ups and downs for Texas Democrats. Here’s hoping that 2026 will bring us a lot more ‘ups.’

But what does the Magic 8 Ball say?

Santa left a small Magic 8 Ball keychain in my stocking this year, and before we get to the serious stuff 👎🏻, I thought we could have a little fun asking it about the fate of the entire universe.

Here are the questions I asked and the answers it gave me:

1. Will Democrats take Congress in November? It is certain.

2. Will Democrats take control of the US Senate? Ask again later.

3. Will Democrats finally flip Texas in 2026? Outlook good.

4. Will the orange one finally eat too much McDonald’s? My sources say no.

5. Are Democrats going to have a good year in 2026? As I see it, yes.

Real magic or not, it all sounds okay to me. 😁

Now for the serious stuff.

The Senate race between James Talarico and Jasmine Crockett will continue to dominate the airwaves as down-ballot races get neglected (not here).

In my opinion, I’m seeing both Talarico and Crockett make missteps in their campaign, but I don’t see a point in harping on either one of them. At the end of the day, I love both candidates. And whoever wins the primary will be our champion in November.

People who are in competitive primaries:

If you’re waiting until February to knock on doors, you’re already behind. You should have a website by now, you should be on social media, and by next week, if you want to win this race, you need to spend some time door-knocking and making phone calls.

I started to go through the lists again tonight to look for more websites, but I didn’t get far. I will continue looking for websites throughout the primary, but y’all need to help yourselves.

• Who Will Be On The 2026 State Ballot?

• Who Will Be On The 2026 Federal Ballot?

I “yelled” at Phil Prazan at NBC DFW because he was covering TX33 and only talking about the establishment candidates, and he wound up being really nice to me and talking to me about that race. But that’s the thing, the establishment media is going to cover the establishment candidates, and that hurts the progressive movement in Texas.

Progressive candidates need to get out there as much as they can, to as many people as they can, from now until March. And if they win in March, rinse and repeat until November.

Michelle’s 2026 predictions.

Texas Democrats need to see a turnout of at least 4.5 million to flip Texas in November, closer to 5 million would be “safer.” After the primaries, I’ll break down what our path is to get there.

Prediction #1: We can get 4.5-5 million voters in November easily IF we can get another 800 precinct chairs by then. (That’s more of a conditional prediction.)

Prediction #2: Democrats will finally flip the Texas House! (Ok, I know my track record on this particular prediction isn’t excellent, but this time for real.)

Prediction #3: Gina Hinojosa will cinch the Democratic nominee for Governor without a runoff. (I know I’ve been back and forth with this, but I’m sticking here.)

Prediction #4: The Democratic Attorney General’s race WILL go to a runoff.

Prediction #5: Republicans wound up dummymandering their stupid maps, and Democrats walk away with 17 Congressional wins in November.

Prediction #6: Democrats flip a few state Senate seats, but not enough to take control of the Senate.

Prediction #7: Democrats flip a few SBOE seats, but not enough to take control.

Prediction #8: Democrats will take all of the statewide Commissioner seats (Land Commissioner, Agg Commissioner, and Railroad Commissioner).

On course, none of this happens on vibes alone. It happens because people decide to show up, again and again, even when it’s boring and hard.

So that’s where we are heading into 2026.

We’ve got competitive primaries, real candidates up and down the ballot, and a party that is finally starting to understand that power in Texas is built precinct by precinct, not one superstar race at a time.

Republicans are overextended, overconfident, and fighting each other instead of us. Democrats, for once, are showing signs of learning from our past mistakes. We’re organizing earlier. We’re contesting every seat. We’re paying attention to the races that actually decide people’s lives. That doesn’t guarantee a win, but it gives us a fighting chance, and for Texas Democrats, that alone is a meaningful shift.

If we can push turnout into the 4.5–5 million range, if we can fill another thousand precinct chair seats, and if we keep treating down-ballot races like they matter, 2026 doesn’t have to be another “almost.”

Let’s get to it.

• February 2, 2026: Last Day to Register to Vote

• February 17, 2026: First Day to Early Vote

• March 3, 2026: Primary Election

• Who Will Be On The 2026 State Ballot?

• Who Will Be On The 2026 Federal Ballot?

• Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.

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