US midterms 2026 bring first Black, Native American and Latina governors in Georgia, Texas and New Mexico

Georgia and Texas

Keisha Lance Bottoms, a former mayor of Atlanta, won the Georgia governorship against Republican Rick Jackson and became the first Black woman to lead the state. Her win returns the office to Democrats for the first time since 1998, ending a long period of Republican control. Il Sole 24 ORE reported that Jackson put about 100 million dollars of his personal wealth into the race, while Bottoms leaned on her experience as Atlanta mayor and a message about the rising cost of living. In the final stretch she ran ads criticising Jackson over past statements backing data center construction and linked him to President Donald Trump, whose approval rating in the state is low.

In Texas, Gina Hinojosa, a state House Democrat and lawyer of Mexican descent, defeated incumbent Greg Abbott to become the first Latina governor of Texas. She is the first Democrat to win the office since Ann Richards in the early 1990s and only the third woman elected governor of the state, after Miriam Ferguson in 1924 and Richards in 1990. Her campaign promised an immediate moratorium on data center projects, more funding for public schools and a crackdown on corruption. Hinojosa had begun her career in civil rights law and first entered the Texas House of Representatives in 2017.

Senate races in Texas and beyond

In the same vote, James Talarico, a former teacher with a theology degree, beat Ken Paxton, who had been backed by Donald Trump, to win a federal Senate seat that Democrats had not won since 1988. Talarico ran on a moderate platform built on free health insurance, the cost of living, new opportunities for young people and the fight against corruption. Il Messaggero says Hispanic voters, described as a third of the Texas electorate, were decisive in both races. On the night of his victory Talarico told supporters that they had won with love and that change would not come overnight. Il Messaggero also reports that volunteers were still printing shirts reading Texas is Talarico country late into the night outside the auditorium.

Firsts in the governors' races

In New Mexico, Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo, became the first Native American woman elected governor in the United States, according to SRF News and ANSA. Florida elected Republican Byron Donalds as its first Black governor, while Democrat David Crowley won Wisconsin and became that state's first Black governor. Wes Moore was re-elected in Maryland, so four Black governors will serve at the same time for the first time, according to SRF. Before this vote, SRF notes, only three Black politicians had won a governor's race in the country's 250-year history. Amy Klobuchar won in Minnesota, Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee and Amy Acton in Ohio, where a woman has now been directly elected governor for the first time.

Senate firsts and the Congress

In the Senate, Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota's former lieutenant governor, becomes the first Native American woman in the chamber. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive physician elected in Michigan, is the first Muslim elected senator, according to ANSA. Chris Pappas, a New Hampshire Democrat and congressman, is the first openly gay man elected to the Senate, and Josh Turek in Iowa is described as the first senator with a disability caused by spina bifida. Adam Hamilton, a Methodist pastor, won a Senate seat for Democrats in Kansas for the first time since 1932. ANSA says the midterm vote overwhelmed the Republican majority in Congress, and Il Sole 24 ORE calls a first Black speaker of the House a probable outcome.

Context from the governors' vote

Il Sole 24 ORE notes that 36 of the 50 states chose governors in this round. That contest drew less attention than the House and Senate races, but the outlet argues that governors' powers steer individual states and shape the direction of the country in the short to medium term.