Talarico Wins Texas Senate Race, Breaking Decades of Republican Dominance in the State

In a Houston ballroom on Tuesday night, a crowd watching returns learned that James Talarico had won the United States Senate race in Texas. It is the first time a Democrat has won statewide office in the state since 1994.

The result upends a state that has long served as a standard-bearer for the Republican Party's staunchly conservative policies. It also follows a decisive intervention by President Donald Trump in the Republican primary, where he endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a figure dogged by scandal, over the Republican Senate candidate John Cornyn.

Paxton, by the account of this report, never generated much enthusiasm, even within his own party. That was true despite record-breaking spending on the race, which topped more than half a billion dollars. The largest share came from billionaire donor Elon Musk, who spent at least $212m backing Paxton. Musk's company SpaceX is based in Texas, and he has spent heavily in races across the country. Democrats are expected to investigate his role as head of the federal cost-cutting panel DOGE if they take control of Congress.

At the Houston watch party, Taylor Bell, a 27-year-old law student, called the result historic. She said she hoped to see money come back to the people of Texas rather than more of what she has seen her whole life. Congressman Christian Menefee, the Democrat who represents Houston, told the room that Texas had restored the hope of a nation, and that people could accomplish anything if they stood together and fought back against hate and bigotry. Yvonne Nunga, a 29-year-old IT worker, said younger voters and people who want a better future had made themselves heard. In her view the fight is not left versus right but top versus bottom, and she said the current administration's politics serve billionaires rather than ordinary people.

The Senate race was not the only upset. Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa won the governor's race, a contest considered a long shot even in its final days. She becomes the first Latino governor in Texas history, in a state where Latinos make up 40 percent of the population.

Alejandra Peimbert, a regional communications director for Hinojosa's campaign, told Al Jazeera the result should be read as a rebuke of the hardline immigration policies of outgoing Governor Greg Abbott, who served 10 years. Abbott worked closely with the Trump administration on its mass deportation campaign and led policies that had local law enforcement officials carrying out immigration enforcement. Peimbert said politicians have constantly underestimated the Latino vote, pointing to a bad economy and what she called the horrendous actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in tearing apart families. She added that Trump would no longer have a puppet in the governor's mansion.

Abbott's tenure was marked by a harder conservative turn, not only on immigration but on social welfare programmes, abortion rights, education and religious freedom. His supporters credit tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks with rapid economic growth in recent years. Critics argue that growth mainly rewards corporations and the wealthy while middle- and lower-income Texans see little of it. The state's poverty rate sits above the national average, and its social safety nets are thin.

Dylan Sutter, 21, said the night was among the biggest Texas had ever experienced, crediting both Talarico and Hinojosa with focusing on every community in the state. He said it felt as though the ballot itself had been painted blue.

This is a breaking story, and the details may shift. What to watch: how the Republican Party responds to losing the seat despite the money and endorsement behind Paxton, how Hinojosa governs after Abbott, and whether Democrats win Congress and open the promised inquiry into Musk's DOGE role.