Texas has a Democratic senator-elect and a Democratic governor-elect for the first time in a generation, and Black voters gave both of them close to nine in ten of their votes.
James Talarico beat Republican Ken Paxton for the U.S. Senate. Gina Hinojosa beat Gov. Greg Abbott, a three-term incumbent who conceded. With about two-thirds of the expected vote counted, NBC News had Talarico at 58.9% to Paxton’s 39.5%, and Hinojosa at 56.7% to Abbott’s 42.0%. The count is not final. Hinojosa is the first Democratic governor since Ann Richards left office in 1995, as CBS News reported, and the first Latina to hold it.
The exit poll shows who carried them. Black women, 7% of Senate voters, went 92% for Talarico. Black men, 5%, went 88%. In the governor’s race, Black women chose Hinojosa 90% to 9% and Black men 87% to 11%. Black voters were roughly one in eight Texans who voted, and nearly all of them went one way.
It was not a given. Talarico beat Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the March primary, 52.5% to 46.2%, and Crockett won Harris and Dallas counties, where Black voters are concentrated. A Texas Southern University poll taken July 27 to Aug. 2 found 77% of 500 Black voters said the Democratic Party takes Black voters “for granted” (margin of error 4.4 points). Even so, 79% of them told that pollster they would vote for Talarico over Paxton, and on Tuesday they did.
Abbott said he called Hinojosa after “looking at all the details of every county in the entire state.” Sen. John Cornyn, whom Paxton forced into a runoff earlier this year, said: “The voters have spoken, and I want to extend my congratulations to James Talarico on his election to the U.S. Senate.” One Republican strategist told CBS News the night “looks biblically bad.” Democrats also took control of the U.S. House.
The turnout was large. More than 7.7 million Texans voted early, and the Senate race was the most expensive non-presidential contest on record, with $544.5 million in advertising.
Black Texans have heard this song. They are the most loyal bloc the party has, and they delivered again in a state whose maps, voting rules and school budgets have been written against them for years. A win built on 90% support is a debt. The test comes in January: whether Talarico and Hinojosa put Black Texans’ priorities, from voting access to maternal health to the schools their children attend, ahead of the swing voters they also needed. The 77% who said Democrats take them for granted will be watching which way it goes.
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