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.
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?
A reader asks: I am following the State election site that is updated every 5 minutes. Why are the numbers on that “official” site so different than numbers being shown on media sites?
Our election results page is powered by the Associated Press, which combines official Texas Secretary of State results with numbers pulled directly from certain counties. Counties are the ones that actually do the vote tallying, and the state compiles the totals from around the state. So in some cases our numbers — and other outlets’ — will be a little ahead of the state’s.
A few Republican incumbents in the U.S. House are probably sweating right now. Keep an eye on Lance Gooden, Craig Goldman and Pete Sessions. And the 32nd Congressional District, which was the safest of the seats Republicans redrew last summer, also looks to be in danger.
With the early vote in in Bexar County, we've got some results in the competitive 23rd and 35th Congressional Districts. In 35, Democrat Johnny Garcia won the early drop by 32%. In 23, Democrat Katy Padilla Stout won the Bexar early vote by 15%. Still lots of vote in the red counties of both districts outstanding.
What’s brewing in Texas right now is almost hard to fathom: In counties across the state, Talarico is leading by margins that, if they hold, would be historic for a Democrat in modern-day Texas. And the rest of Dems’ statewide ticket is running close enough to Talarico that each of their GOP opponents, from Gov. Greg Abbott down to the state courts, appears to be in danger. Republicans will be looking for an epic showing on Election Day to blunt the worst effects of the blue wave, which is looking like a tsunami at the moment.
Early vote tallies from Montgomery County are in. Paxton and other statewide Republicans are up. Again this is a GOP stronghold. Would spell big trouble if Republicans were down.
Hi there! I am at the Ken Paxton election watch party in Dallas, where there’s an actual cannon representing the Battle of Gonzales — a symbol Paxton used to represent himself as a defender of traditional Texan culture. The polls have closed and reporters and videographers from national, regional and local media outlets are still outnumbering guests. Those who are in attendance are closely watching a big projector screen while munching on popcorn. The mood has dipped a little as early results trickle in showing Talarico leads in Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties — places that are up for grabs in the U.S. Senate race.
Now that we have somewhat of an idea about how EV returns for Railroad Commissioner are shaking out in counties the GOP has handily won for multiple election cycles, we can turn our attention to the Rio Grande Valley.
Why? In 2022, Luke Warford swept several border counties — Hidalgo, Zapata and Webb, where Democrat Jon Rosenthal held his first public campaign event.
The Associated Press has called the Texas State Board of Education District 13 race in favor of Democrat Tiffany Clark, the incumbent.
Clark, an educator, currently leads Republican Carlos “Charlie” Garza 81% to 19% — with 67% of votes counted. The seat covers large portions of Dallas and Tarrant counties.
Early voting results show Democrat candidate Clayton Tucker has the lead in the race for Agriculture Commissioner over Republican candidate Nate Sheets. Tucker currently has 58%. About 18% of the votes have been counted, so it’s still too early to call.
Early votes in Nueces County show that Dems have a lead on all federal and state races (except in the race for HD 32). Here, so far, Talarico has 55% of the vote, Hinojosa has 54%, Goodwin has 52%, and Johnson has 54%. Both U.S. House reps are at risk of losing their seats — Cloud has just 31% of the early vote, and Flores has 46%.
