The Texas Tribune newsroom has reporters across the state tracking the election results. They’ll be posting their observations and analysis below all night.
Here’s are the top things you need to know:
- Gov. Greg Abbott conceded to Gina Hinojosa, in a stunning upset. Hinojosa, a state representative from Austin, will be the first Democratic governor since Ann Richards lost her reelection bid in 1994. She will become Texas’ first Latina governor.
- James Talarico won Texas’ U.S. Senate seat. The Democrat defeated Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican.
- You can see vote totals for all statewide and legislative races here.
Free on Election Day. Free every day.
The Texas Tribune is an independent nonprofit newsroom funded by readers. If today’s coverage is useful to you, chip in any amount.
Coverage of “Election night 2026” has concluded and this feed is now archived.
In his first apparent social media post since returns started coming in, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn posted a picture of the Texas Capitol with no comment.
A brief cheer erupted among attendees as Florida’s governor’s race was called for the Republican candidate, but the excitement was short-lived. At the Paxton watch party, the mood quickly shifted back to uncertainty as Talarico continued to hold the lead on Fox News, which was projected on a large screen for the crowd to watch.
Meanwhile, Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” blared through the speakers, with the lyrics, “I still have a little fight left in me,” seemingly intended to energize and rally the crowd. Despite the song's message, the atmosphere remained uninspired.
Democratic consultant weighs in on the Railroad Commission race: The mood is hope. Democrat Jon Rosenthal could bring balance to the Republican-controlled, oil-and-gas-regulating agency. “Turns out candidate quality does matter,” they said.
Democrats are clearly having a great night across the U.S. I'm curious what the effect will be in the Texas House and Senate.
There is some notable silence as we start seeing results pour in from Texas counties, and across the country. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who spent almost $200 million to boost Paxton, has not said much all night. His last post on X, which he owns, appears to have been at 2:56 p.m.
Our election map shows that a lot of rural counties still need to be counted. Those are traditionally red areas. But, of course, they have smaller populations and Republicans have a lot of ground to make up.
Interesting context as we wait for more returns out of Harris County: Gov. Greg Abbott vowed to spend $25 million to turn Harris County dark red. As of yesterday he had invested some $21 million on ads in Houston, per AdImpact. Part of the thinking was to increase GOP turnout that can help offset any margins. The county, where one in six Texans live, is crucial to both parties’ statewide ambitions.
Over at the Gina Hinojosa watch party in East Austin, the mood is jubilant. The blue LED-lit room is filled with cocktail tables with veladoras, prayer candles, with lotería (a Mexican game similar to bingo) icons for “Gobierna,” the feminine form of governor in Spanish. CNN is playing on two big projector screens, flanking a Texas flag at center stage. When the Texas governor’s race shows up on screen with Hinojosa up by double-digits, the crowd electrifies. They cheer, whistle and whoop. “Go Gina!” a supporter shouts. Later, “Freedom! '90” by George Michael plays. Fitting because if Hinojosa wins she’d be the first Democrat elected to statewide office since almost that long ago — 1994!
One of the questions for Houston Democrat and Railroad Commission candidate Jon Rosenthal in May, following Jim Wright’s defeat against Bo French, was whether he could pick up where Wright managed to make gains.
EV returns in South Texas show he’s certainly made inroads. Look at Nueces (75% of EV returns) and Cameron (70% of EV returns), counties Wright led that Rosenthal has now picked up. In counties neighboring the DFW area, Wood, Smith and Parker counties, French is up by wide margins. French has also an overwhelming EV lead in Midland County, where he’s from.
Scrolling through congressional race results and CD 23, which stretches across West Texas from San Antonio, Brandon Herrera is lagging behind with nearly 60% of the vote counted. The seat was held by Tony Gonzales before he resigned. Thinking about this article Carlos wrote from the field earlier this year amid Gonzales' scandals. texastribune.org/2026/02/27/tony-gonzales-west-texas-election-2026
The Harris County early vote is strongly Democratic. Talarico won 66.3% to Paxton's 32.3%. Just two years ago, Colin Allred won the early vote here by 10%. Democrats have long dreamed of hitting the elusive 60% overall margin in Harris.
And in TX-09, which Republicans redrew to be safely Republican, their candidate, Alex Mealer, is down by 24 percentage points in the early vote to Democrat Leticia Gutierrez.
There's a real possibility Republicans lose all five of the seats they redrew.
The mood at Talarico HQ is electric. No Democratic early vote lead shown on the big screen is too small — though they’ve been staggering so far — to cheer. I feel bad for the band that’s performing behind the crowd, which is glued to the screen.
Our Rio Grande Valley reporter Berenice Garcia just pointed out that Cameron County just posted results. Talarico is winning the county, the most southern in Texas, with 70% of the vote.
Stunning early vote totals in Cameron County. Talarico with a 40-point lead from the early vote. Hinojosa with a 37-point lead. Trump won the Rio Grande Valley County by nearly six points.
"Losing my mind." "I'm stunned." "Did not see the size of this wave coming." Political consultants from both sides of the aisle say the early vote results have blown out whatever they were expecting. A lot more results to come, of course, but safe to say this is not going the way Rs hoped
Speaking of county results, we are still waiting on Harris and Travis, home to Houston and Austin, respectively.
Our full team of Texas journalists is all across the state right now, talking to candidates, voters and election officials to get you the information you want. Your donation tonight supports independent political reporting for Texans. Will you join us?
