Democrats win Texas Senate and governor races and flip Kansas Senate seat

Texas Democrats win statewide races

Democrats won the Texas Senate race and the governor's race on Tuesday, 3 November, ending a 32-year stretch of Republican control over statewide offices. James Talarico beat Ken Paxton, a Republican candidate described as scandal-scarred, in the Senate contest. Gina Hinojosa defeated Governor Greg Abbott, who had appeared likely to win a fourth term, and she becomes Texas's first Hispanic governor. Texas had not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1988, and Donald Trump carried the state by nearly 14 points in 2024. Democrats also won other statewide races and fielded candidates in every statehouse and congressional district for the first time in the state's history.

Garry Mauro, who had served as Texas land commissioner, offered his verdict on the two winners:

“Talarico is a symbol. Gina is an earthquake.”

Democrats gained ground as voters troubled by the war in Iran, an intense immigration crackdown and cost-of-living concerns turned against the Trump administration. Paxton owed much of his success to his closeness to Trump, and Abbott had tied himself closely to the president's policies.

Kansas Senate seat flips

Adam Hamilton, a Democrat and Methodist pastor, defeated Republican Senator Roger Marshall, according to projections from US media and The Associated Press. Hamilton is the founding pastor of the Church of the Resurrection in the Kansas City area, which has about 25,000 members and is the largest United Methodist congregation in the United States. He becomes the first Democrat to win a Kansas Senate seat since 1932, a result that ends a 94-year losing streak for the state's Senate Democrats. El País reported vote shares of 51.3% for Hamilton and 45.7% for Marshall. Hamilton had been registered as a Republican until recently and had considered running as an independent before entering the race as a Democrat.

Adam Hamilton (Democrat)51.3%

Roger Marshall (Republican)45.7%

Adam Hamilton (Democrat)

51.3 %

Roger Marshall (Republican)

45.7 %

Data from the article text

Marshall, a retired obstetrician, was first elected to the House in 2016 and won his Senate seat in 2020. Spending on the contest reached about $110 million, the most in the state's history.

Campaign and the Trump factor

Hamilton ran as a moderate who kept his distance from national party leaders and pledged not to back Chuck Schumer as Senate majority leader. He aimed most of his attacks at Marshall and congressional Republicans rather than the president. At their final debate, he said:

“I'm not running against President Trump.”

Marshall, by contrast, told voters that supporting him meant supporting the president's agenda. The two clashed over tariffs: Hamilton called for ending Trump's tariffs and requiring congressional approval for new ones, while Marshall said they were working. Farmers already squeezed by fuel costs from the Iran war have been hit by retaliatory tariffs on soybeans and wheat. Hamilton's campaign used a New York Times report that Marshall had sued about 700 former patients for medical debt in attack ads. Trump and Vice President JD Vance held rallies across Kansas, but Hamilton outraised Marshall, and Democratic groups directed tens of millions of dollars into the state. HotNews.ro reported that Trump called Hamilton a 'woke' pastor over his support for transgender rights, and Hamilton called the attack pathetic.

Minnesota and Hamilton's victory speech

In Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan, who has served two terms as lieutenant governor, defeated former sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya. Flanagan, who has governed alongside Gov. Tim Walz since 2019, replaces retiring Senator Tina Smith and becomes the first Native American woman elected to the Senate. Her platform included Medicare for All, a sweeping overhaul of the immigration enforcement system and a $17 federal minimum wage. In his victory address at a hotel in the Kansas City area, Hamilton said:

“This is amazing. We really did make history.”

He also said that voters of both parties were unhappy with what is happening in Washington and that Kansans were fed up with politicians who divide the country.