Texas
Texas Democrats underperformed yet again. Now what?
:focal(0x0:3000x2000)/static.texastribune.org/media/files/6f32d66e87ab02683334d91174473138/1105%20Election%20Day%20Permian%20Basin%20EH%20TT%2053.jpg?ssl=1 "Texas Democrats underperformed yet again. Now what?")
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Texas Democrats are starting to sound like the little boy who cried “battleground state,” after yet another election cycle where they shouted from the rooftops that Texas should be viewed as capable of going blue and then drastically underperformed expectations.
President-elect Donald Trump won Texas by 14 percentage points over Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday — a surprisingly wide margin that bested his 2020 and 2016 performances in the state. Texas has for decades reliably gone for the Republican presidential nominee, but Democrats have been heartened that for the past several election cycles, the margin had been steadily narrowing.
The party’s Senate candidate, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas, out performed Harris but still lost to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz by 9 percentage points, according to unofficial results published by The Associated Press. That’s more than three times the margin that Beto O’Rourke lost to Cruz six years ago, and a wider loss margin than a majority of polls put the race in recent months. It also came after Senate Democrats and other national party officials visited Texas and invested in Allred’s race, citing him as one of the best chances to flip a seat in the upper chamber to protect their majority — which they lost on Tuesday.
The minority party also lost ground in the Legislature where Republicans now control 88 seats in the House and 20 in the Senate. And in South Texas, Republicans made historic gains in the predominantly Hispanic region that has reliably supported Democrats, and they lost their challenge to retake a South Texas congressional seat the GOP had won in 2022.
“This to me is a complete disaster. They underperformed everywhere,” said Jon Taylor, a political science professor at the University of Texas San Antonio. “They are disorganized. They are a party in the wilderness.”
State Democrats have been especially hopeful since 2018 — after they rode a blue wave down the ballot off of O’Rourke’s history-making Senate run. That year they flipped Texas House districts, local government seats and state appellate courts. Republicans still controlled the Legislature and occupied every statewide office, but Democrats saw that year as the beginning of a new era.
It led to high hopes in 2020, when Democrats fell far short of their goal of flipping the Texas House blue. And then again in 2022, when O’Rourke ran for governor and lost by double-digit margins to Gov. Greg Abbott. That was a midterm election where Republicans underperformed nationwide — everywhere, that is, except for Texas and Florida.
Republicans on Tuesday night relished running up the score against their political foes. Gov. Greg Abbott’s top political adviser pointed at a potentially larger problem for Democrats going forward: How will they get donors to continue funding their campaigns after losing again?
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“So do you think national Democratic donors will ever believe these Texas Democrat grifters again?” Dave Carney said on social media.
Soul searching
Democratic operatives were left licking their wounds Wednesday morning on numerous debriefing calls to figure out what had gone wrong Tuesday.
Among the issues they identified: a national red wave that delivered massive wins for Trump as well as GOP control of the U.S. Senate; a lack of infrastructure and coordination between federal and local campaigns across the state that left Democrats underperforming at every level; and a refusal to acknowledge the increasing realignment of parts of the electorate that were previously the core of the Democratic base, namely working class voters and Latinos.
Ali Zaidi, a Democratic political operative who ran Mike Collier’s campaign for lieutenant governor in 2022 said many in the party are rooted in a “pre-2012” belief that an increasingly diverse Texas would lead automatically to Democratic gains. But many voters of color this cycle cast their ballots for Republicans, like Latinos in South Texas.
Zaidi said Democrats need to either adjust how they connect with Latino voters in the state or look for votes in other places.
“Campaigns are not magical things that change how people feel about the world,” he said, adding that campaigns need to meet people where they are. “If an electorate is no longer a reliable electorate for you the answer as a campaign is to find a new electorate that works for you.”
Several Democrats said the catastrophic election, not only in the state but around the country, should compel the party to do some serious soul searching on what their message should be. Matt Angle, a veteran Texas Democratic operative and director of the Lone Star Project, expressed frustration that the party focused more on what drove the base than kitchen-table issues that were actually on the minds of many voters, such as the economy.
“One of the things that annoys me a lot of times about Democrats as progressives [is] that they say we need to decide what we stand for, and we need to then go push that on voters,” Angle said. But “we need to find out where voters are and meet them where they are.”
Chad Wilbanks, a Republican strategist and former Texas GOP executive director, said the Democratic party is out of touch with the state because they care more about “political correctness” than what voters are telling them.
“They have lost the battle of ideas,” he said. “In Texas, we want a secure border, we want to feel safe in our homes and in our schools. That’s important. [And] inflation plays a major role.”
But even if Democrats were to coalesce behind a persuasive message, the state party faces the challenge of not having the long-term infrastructure to support their candidates running for statewide office. Years of neglect in the decades since the party lost control has left much of its functions outsourced to outside groups, including activist organizations and super PACs, Angle said.
Without a leader Angle said there needed to be an “alpha” elected official to lead the effort as Democratic Sen. Lloyd Bentsen did when he was in office, to coordinate the disparate efforts working to elect Democrats. Allred began to fill that role during the campaign, heading the first Senate-led coordinated campaign in Texas in decades, which consolidated resources up and down the ticket.
The Texas Majority PAC, which is backed by billionaire George Soros, was among the groups that also tried to fill in this cycle and help coordinate Democratic efforts. The group spent more than $600,000 in Cameron County and $700,000 in Hidalgo County – both of which are located in the Rio Grande Valley and were flipped by Trump at the top of the ticket in a stunning upset.
Katherine Fischer, the group’s deputy executive director, said Tuesday’s results were “devastating” and not the results Democrats had wanted. But she found a silver lining in the party’s ability to hold on to the seat of U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, in Hidalgo County, through coordination with the congressman’s campaign and the local party operations.
Fischer said her group will pick apart the election and issue a report but given the margin of victory for Republicans, it’s hard to pinpoint what Democrats could have done to change the outcomes.
“You lose by 10 or 15 points or something shifts by 20 points, [and] there’s no amount of strategy that can combat that,” Fischer said. “There’s some major issues within the Democrat party writ large that we need to reckon with like how voters perceive the Democratic party and how that perception has come to differ so wildly from reality and what we do to recover that.”
Fischer said her group always envisioned its project being one dependent on multiple cycles. The PAC is focused on continuing to build out sorely needed Democratic infrastructure for years to come, she said, acknowledging there are no easy answers from this cycle.
Democrats in Texas often bemoan the lack of investment from the top of the ticket in the state, which is largely written off as unwinnable by national groups. Tides changed this cycle, as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Senate Majority PAC invested over $15 million in Allred’s Senate race as election day approached. National Democratic groups also invested over $1 million in protecting Vicente’s congressional seat.
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, said it’s not enough to plead for a massive influx of cash at the last minute.
“Texas needs long-term paid organizing efforts like in other battleground states, where we communicate those everyday, working people issues to disaffected voters, and I think it gives us a lot to learn from this election,” Casar said. “Because a strategy where we’re just trying to persuade a small number of voters on television cannot compete with the kind of on-the-ground organizing efforts that Republicans have put in.”
Luke Warford, a former strategist for the Texas Democrats who now runs a fund to create party infrastructure, said the party needs to invest in candidate recruitment, staff training, communications and how to successfully target voters — all things the Texas GOP excel at.
“If we do that and still lose, then we need to go back to the drawing board,” he said.
Fischer said Democrats needed to be honest with donors about the election’s results but also communicate a long-term plan.
“I hope donors who gave to the Allred campaign or to any other project in Texas understand their dollars were not wasted and most states don’t flip over night,” she said. “They don’t flip in one cycle or two cycles, it takes time.”
Texas Democrats aren’t counting themselves out yet. They plan to be back in the spotlight in 2026 when Sen. John Cornyn’s seat is up for reelection, along with statewide elected seats like governor. “If history is right, Trump will have done enough to upset enough people,” Angle said. “You know we shouldn’t look forward with dread. We need to have real clear eyes and really accurately assess what happened this election, but to be hopeful moving forward.”
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TEXAS (KTRK) — The State Comptroller’s Office has released guidelines for the Texas Education Freedom Accounts. This program is also referred to as school choice or school vouchers, and has stirred up controversy.
It’s funded through $1B taxpayer dollars, and while proponents say it gives families the choice to pick the best education for their child, critics have said it takes money away from already underfunded and struggling public school systems.
This program is open to students in pre-K through high school. Standard students who wish to attend a state-approved private school can receive approximately $10,800 per child, per year.
Students with disabilities or additional learning needs must have their individual education program, or IEP, on file with the school district to be eligible for up to $30,000 per student, per year
And homeschooled children can get up to $2,000 per child, per year.
SEE ALSO: Private school vouchers are now law in Texas. Here’s how they will work
State law dictates that priority will be given to children who have siblings already in the program and based on income and the federal poverty line. If more students enroll than funding allows, a lottery will be instituted.
Eyewitness News previously reported that the funds would probably fund around 90,000 students, even though the Texas Education Agency estimated in 2024 that over 5 million school-aged children live in Texas.
The first important enrollment date comes for private schools and vendors who want to accept voucher students, and is part of the one billion dollars the state is pouring into it. The State Comptroller’s office says schools and vendors can start signing on through Odyssey on Dec. 9. Odyssey is the company the state selected to run the voucher lottery and operate a platform that allows families to spend the money awarded to them by the state.
The second important date comes for families, which is Feb. 4. That’s when families can start signing up students. The State Comptroller said this gives the state and families ample time to make decisions ahead of the 2026-27 school year
The State Comptroller said schools that wish to apply for the program must have a Texas location and have been accredited for at least two years, but this applies to schools both in and outside of Texas, so in theory, a program accredited outside of Texas could build a campus in the state this year and still be eligible.
SEE ALSO: ABC13 obtains exclusive HISD student enrollment records for 2025-26 school year
The state is also dictating that private schools wishing to be a part of the program will have to administer an assessment to voucher students in grades 3 through 12
The program will be monitored by the State Comptroller’s office, which will partner with a private group to audit the program at least once a year.
State education groups pushed the state to be more transparent about how families were spending money and where, though our partners at the Houston Chronicle note the state rejected those ideas.
For more news updates, follow Lileana Pearson on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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The Longhorns hit 16 three-pointers, shooting 50 percent from long-range for the game. The 16 three-pointers tie for the most ever made by an NC State opponent.
The first 12 minutes of the game featured the two teams going back and forth, but with Texas holding a 25-23 the Longhorns went on an extended 20-7 run to take its largest lead of the game, 45-30, with 1:33 to play.
The Pack ended the half on a mini 7-2 run to go into the locker room down 10, 47-37.
NC State opened the second half on a 16-7 run to get within one on a Paul McNeil three-pointer with 15:09 to play.
Texas stayed in front though until Alyn Breed drove past the Longhorn defense to lay it in and give the Pack a 71-70 lead with 7:51 to go.
The lead was short-lived though as Texas immediately responded with a 10-0 spurt to retake the lead and the Pack was never able to get closer than five points the rest of the way.
Quadir Copeland led NC State with a career-high 28 points. He finished the game 10-of-14 from the field and also had a team-high six assists.
Ven-Allen Lubin finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 23 points and nine rebounds while Paul McNeil finished with 20 points.
It’s the first time NC State has had three players all score 20 or more points in the same game in more than 20 years.
NC State ended the game with a 46-20 advantage in points in the paint, but Texas had a 24-7 advantage in fast break points and the Longhorns shot 55.8 percent from the field and made 28 of its 34 free throw attempts.
NC State is back in action next Wednesday when it plays at Auburn as part of the ACC-SEC Challenge. Tipoff at Auburn is scheduled for 9:15 p.m. ET and the game will be televised on ESPN.
No. 3 Texas A&M walks into Austin with everything still on the table, while No. 17 Texas is clinging to the final thread of a postseason dream that’s been unraveling since the team was ranked preseason No. 1 for the first time in their history.
One side is chasing a conference title, and the other is trying to keep its season from folding in its own backyard. The matchup has urgency, consequence and an energy that guarantees excitement, twists and everything in between, but the reasons why sit beneath the surface.
Saddle up … Aggies versus Longhorns is about who can handle the ride.
All odds by ESPN BET
No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies at No. 17 Texas Longhorns
Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC
Line: Texas A&M -2.5
Money line: Texas A&M (-120), Texas (Even)
Over/Under: 51.5 (O -110, U -110)
Texas: a team that lives in between potential and production
This Texas team can be so much more and maybe in 2026 they can be. They have the quarterback talent, the receiver room and the pass-rush ceiling, and the solid markers to build a base that can go toe to toe with any team in the country.
Unfortunately, we’ve been seeing the same story unfold since the start of the season, even a continuation of last year. Texas moves through games with volatility instead of a steady foundation. When Arch Manning has time, the Longhorns can hit explosives in a way that genuinely scares opponents. He’s thrown 23 touchdowns and is throwing 8.1 yards per pass, which shows that the ability is there, the firepower is there.
The catch is how often the Longhorns offense is forced into that mode. The run game is nearly non-existent, hovering near 3.7 yards per carry, outside of the top 100 in the country, which means they aren’t consistently living in second-and-4 or even third and manageable. This can make such a difference. Instead, we see Texas always one negative play away from giving possessions back. It means Manning is having to manufacture answers to predicaments that shouldn’t exist. The offense isn’t giving him the framework, so he’s sticking it together on the fly.
On the fly doesn’t work in competitive football unless you’re Johnny Manziel.
Defensively, the effort is there and the pressure numbers are real, generating over 200 pressures, but the coverage isn’t airtight enough to hide the moments where the pass rush doesn’t immediately hit.
When Texas wins, the question is always, “is Texas good?” And when they lose, it’s always “oh, right, that’s more like it.” The Longhorns are talented, explosive, and competitive, but Texas is also dependent on conditions, timing, rhythm, and quarterback brilliance. That’s the space they operate in and why their path to winning requires chaos, which means a lot of things have to go right, far more than it should.
Texas A&M: a team with a fully formed identity and multiple ways to win
The Aggies are built with an offense that doesn’t lean on one player or one phase, it’s the product of balance. Texas A&M has a run game that actually shifts the way defenses behave, averaging 5 yards per carry, top 30 in the FBS, giving them a kind of control most teams never find. The Aggies playcalling can stay patient. It means comebacks can happen, it means Marcel Reed can operate a system designed for efficiency, not heroism.
Reed’s 9.0 yards per pass is happening because the offense is forcing defenses into conflict on every snap. The scoring outputs back it up: 54 total touchdowns on the season is a clear sign that the Aggies can finish drives and don’t waste possessions. The red zone efficiency tells the same story. A&M plays football with the understanding that momentum is built, stacked and maintained.
Defensively, tackling has been a weak point but it hasn’t derailed their ability to dictate games or control pace. The Aggies play inside their identity every week, an advantage that shows up when the games get tight.
Betting consideration: Texas A&M -2.5
The Aggies are the more complete team so this is a wager that backs up the side that holds up under pressure. In KC Concepcion and Mario Craver, they have a WR duo that is a matchup nightmare for a Texas secondary that sits out of the top 50 in coverage grade, and has been vulnerable anytime the pass rush doesn’t close.
Concepcion’s ability to separate underneath and Craver’s vertical range stretch the defense horizontally and vertically at the same time, forcing Texas into coverage trade-offs they haven’t solved all year.
Then there’s the Aggies defense, which plays aggressively with over 200 pressures on the season, but aren’t reckless. They’ll heat up Manning without exposing themselves behind it. That kind of balance matters against a Texas offense that’s built on volatility. Texas needs pop-offs to survive, which becomes harder when the opposing front dictates and the back end holds up well enough to avoid collapse.
If the Aggies play balanced and are able to attack the exact weak points Texas can’t hide, then laying a short number on the road is justified, and possibly even a few points short.
Betting trends
Courtesy of ESPN Research
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Texas is 0-4 ATS against AP Top-5 teams since the start of last season, worst in FBS.
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The Aggies are 7-15 ATS as a favorite since the start of last season, T-worst among Power 4 schools with UGA (min. 20 games).
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Texas is 5-1-1 ATS as a home underdog over the last 10 years, T-best in FBS with Notre Dame/App State (min. 5 games).
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Texas A&M is 3-7-2 ATS when the spread is between a FG (+3 to -3) since 2022, worst among power conference teams (min. 10 games as Power 4 team in span).
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