Texas Is Still Red (But Not Quite As Red As It Was)

This is no real surprise to most of us, but Texas still remains a pretty red state. But Democrats can be proud of their effort in that state, because they narrowed the gap that is usual in statewide races.

The biggest disappointment, of course, is the Senate race. Many of us had thought that Beto O'Rourke might pull off a minor miracle and unseat Ted Cruz. He came very close, but wasn't able to quite pull it off.

Democrats were able to unseat a couple of Republicans in U.S. House districts. Colin Allred beat Pete Sessions in District 32 (51.90% to 46.27%), and Lizzie Pannill Fletcher beat John Culberson in District 7 (51.74% to 48.25%). That will give Democrats 13 of the 36 House members from Texas.

Republicans did sweep all of the statewide races, but most of them were much closer than in the past. Here are the results in the statewide races:

U.S. SENATE

Ted Cruz (R).....51.49%
Beto O'Rourke (D).....47.74%

GOVERNOR

Greg Abbott (R).....56.01%
Lupe Valdez (D).....42.31%

LT. GOVERNOR

Dan Patrick (R).....51.81%
Mike Collier (D).....46.01%

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Ken Paxton (R).....51.10%
Justin Nelson (D).....46.51%

COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

Glenn Hegar (R).....53.73%
Joi Chevalier (D).....42.93%

LAND COMMISSIONER

George P. Bush (R).....54.18%
Miguel Suazo (D).....42.69%

COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE

Sid Miller (R).....51.80%
Kim Olson (D).....45.91%

RAILROAD COMMISSIONER

Christi Craddick (R).....53.74%
Roman McAllen (D).....43.43%