James Talarico Becomes First Democratic Senator in Texas in 33 Years

James Talarico has officially turned Texas blue for the first time in 33 years. Talarico beat embattled former Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton 58–40 with 68 percent of the vote counted, the Decision Desk HQ reported.Talarico thus wins a state that President Trump won by 56 percent just two years ago. The Presbyterian former House member ran on a progressive populist platform consisting of affordability, economic inequality, political corruption, and healthcare reform. Paxton did just about everything he could to lose this race. From his indictment and suspension to his alleged affair and subsequent divorce, his misuse of taxpayer funds for vacations, to his controversial, leak-filled Senate campaign, Trump could not have picked a more vulnerable candidate to loosen the GOP’s grip on the Lone Star state. South Carolinian voters weren’t in the mood for groundless nepotism this election season.Acting South Carolina Senator Darline Graham, the younger sister of the late Lindsey Graham, lost to Democrat Annie Andrews Tuesday.Andrews beat Graham 51.1–47 percent, Decision Desk HQ projected. The junior Graham took the reins of her sibling’s powerful office in July, days after the 71-year-old suddenly passed away from an aortic dissection. Despite having zero relevant experience or qualifications, Graham gained the president’s endorsement and was subsequently appointed by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster. She then defied Republican strategists by throwing her hat in the GOP primary the following month, besting Representative Ralph Norman, a five-term lawmaker who has represented the Palmetto State in various legislative capacities since 2005.But voters were apparently unimpressed by Graham’s four-month tenure in office. At the onset, Graham promised to follow in her brother’s footsteps, aligning herself with the MAGA movement and its various policy points. But her ignorance quickly shone through.During her primary debates, Graham flopped on a softball debate question regarding Taiwan, confessing that “national security is not my thing.” In the same debate, she forgot the population of her own state, falsely claiming that South Carolina’s population is 50 million people—more than New York and Florida combined. Fact check: the state population is less than six million people.Andrews’s win marks the first time since 2005 that a Democrat has represented South Carolina in the Senate, and the first time that a woman earned the electorate’s vote for the coveted position.Read more about the race:It looks like Republicans have just played themselves in Florida. As midterm election results rolled in Tuesday night, it quickly became clear that GOP gerrymandering in the Sunshine State had seriously backfiredDemocrat Kathy Castor held onto her seat in Florida’s 14th congressional district, fending off a challenge from Republican Mike Beltran. Republicans purposefully redrew that district to get rid of Castor, by including a lot less of Tampa and a lot more of its outlying rural counties. In 2024, President Donald Trump won the areas making up this new district by 11 points. In Florida’s 22nd congressional district, Democrat Pia Dandiya defeated Republican Casey Askar, after Governor Ron DeSantis’s gerrymandering efforts created an open seat for the Republicans to steal. The state’s current 22nd district is represented by Democrat Lois Frankel, who is now running in Florida’s 23rd district. In the race for Florida’s Senate seat, Democratic socialist Angie Nixon was defeated by Republican incumbent Ashley Moody—but when the race was called at 84.3 percent of the vote reported, Moody led Nixon by only 0.7 percentage points. The Republican won, but not by nearly as much as expected for a historically red state. Democrats are projected to retake control of the House of Representatives for the first time in four years.Decision Desk HQ projected Democrats will seize the chamber from Republicans. It is not yet clear which party has taken control of the Senate.Republicans gained control of the House two years ago during the 2022 midterm elections. While there was no “red wave” as widely predicted, Republicans were able to flip 19 districts from blue to red. Ahead of the midterm elections Tuesday, Republicans held only a slim four-seat majority over Democrats. The latest polls had heavily indicated that Democrats would retake control of the House. While America’s authoritarian era likely won’t end in a day, the results of the House midterm elections are a searing indictment on Republicans’ rule and the first two years of Trump’s second term.Read more about the House:Midterm election predictions are not looking good for Republicans in battleground states.Garrett Archer, a data analyst for an Arizona ABC News affiliate, shared messages Tuesday from an unnamed GOP analyst that don’t bode well for their party.“God all my models are already projecting doom. And it’s 8am,” the text messages read.ScreenshotConservative campaigns around the country are feeling similar pressure as their candidates were forced to thread the needle between kowtowing to the president’s fragile ego and distancing themselves from his wildly unpopular military and economic policies.Politico reported Friday that some Republicans are bracing for “a brutal evening,” expecting major losses in both chambers of Congress.“Once the dominoes start falling it becomes hard to stop them,” a senior GOP strategist told the newsroom.Donald Trump has already started surveying the landscape of his Cabinet for potential fall guys should the elections go south. Last month, Trump reportedly called several close confidants to assess the job performance of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, his former campaign manager and famed “Ice Maiden,” as a potential scapegoat for a major midterm bust. He’s also made the rounds to assess current attitudes about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine as the Iran war drags on into its eighth month.Republicans, meanwhile, know exactly where to point their fingers. “We all know who the problem is. It’s Trump,” a GOP strategist involved in midterm races across the country told Politico Monday.That same strategist was unsure about how the Republican Party might reform itself if the party sustains major losses on Tuesday.“Look, a lot of Republicans have held their tongues. A lot of Republicans who have real problems with the way things have gone the last two years have been good soldiers,” they said. “But what happens if we lose 35 House seats and six Senate seats?”