Texas Democrats' midterm wins spark GOP strategy shakeup and 2028 election questions
Texas Democrats stunned Republicans with sweeping midterm victories. Now, both parties are reassessing their strategies as the results raise major questions about Texas' political future and the 2028 presidential election.
"It's not enough just to win an election," said Kendall Scudder, the chair of the Texas Democratic Party.
Scudder said after their historic victories Tuesday night, Texas Democrats will need to deliver for their voters after they enter office. He credits not only the candidates at the top of their ticket, Senator-elect James Talarico, governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, and Lt. Governor-elect Vikki Goodwin, but also their decision to recruit candidates in every federal and state race on the ballot.
They also shared data to save limited resources.
"We also had just fantastic partners in James Talarico, Gina Hinojosa, Texas Majority PAC, Powered by People, all of us deciding, we're not here to win a bunch of arguments, we're here to win some elections," said Scudder.
Scudder also said they identified voters who don't often cast their ballots or haven't voted at all.
"One was a relational organizing program that we ran to do civics classes to low-propensity voters, folks who didn't vote in the last election or didn't vote in the '22 election, to help educate them on why their cost of living is high, what they could do to get involved to help fix it," Scudder said.
Texas Republican Party Chair D'rinda Randall said she's already assembled a team to diagnose what went wrong for Republicans.
Policies and messaging, she said, are key.
"So, we've got to make sure that we are right there to show that our policies are what's better for Texas, that's why we've been the job creator in this country for so long, and so what we've got to do is just make sure that we connect with people when it comes to that issue and all issues," said Randall.
Even as the dust settles from the midterm election, the Democrats' victories here could have Texas-sized implications for the 2028 presidential election.
