UPDATE: Sunday, Feb 8, 2026 · 8:16:20 AM +00:00
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bilboteach
Leander, Texas is a moderate to conservative suburb in Williamson County. That’s in the orbit of Austin. Trump won 51% of the vote here in 2024. Last night, this happened for the mayoral race:
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Late result for anyone still awake: Na’Cole Thompson, the Democratic candidate in the mayoral race today in Leander, Texas, has won the election.
She got 57% and won’t need a runoff, with two Republicans adding up to 43%.
— Taniel (@taniel.bsky.social) February 8, 2026 at 2:54 AM
UPDATE: Sunday, Feb 8, 2026 · 7:24:06 AM +00:00
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bilboteach
I’m getting ahead of the inevitable pushback I expect tomorrow about her Democratic credentials.
Chasity Martinez is downright small c-conservative on some issues — especially cultural and 2A ones. She’s a LOT like former Gov. Jon Bel Edwards in that regard. Other than in the big cities, this is what is practically required to hold office in Louisiana.
My food for thought for you is this:
Doesn’t EVERYONE deserve good schools? Decent health care? A better future?
If your answer is YES to the above, be pragmatic about it and don’t let a progressive litmus test cause you to not help people. People are who they are and no amount of sanctimonious finger wagging will force change on people. People have to want it for themselves.
So celebrate the victory and what it means for the people of this district and the Democratic Party of Louisiana who have had a rough time in recent elections.
The Democratic Party has flipped 26 seats in state legislatures across the nation since the Trump regime was voted into power a second time in 2024. The GOP has had no chance to flip a seat to their control as most of the contested races were on turf that was either very blue or very red.
That is until tonight.
Louisiana HD-60 was seriously contested. This district in the Acadiana region has sharply trended away from the Democratic Party — at least federally. It went from Obama +2 in 2008 to Trump +13 in 2024. Not exactly inviting turf for us.
Yet Democrats still have local strength in some parishes of the state such as this area. Thus, despite no buzz about the race and margins that would make it difficult to hold… we managed to win in a landslide.
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Congratulations to Chasity Verret Martinez on her election to represent House District 60.
She was outspent 3-to-1 and still won. This is what happens when grassroots Democrats show up and organize.
Proud of this win and excited to keep building power together. #LaDemos
— Louisiana Democrats (@lademos.bsky.social) February 7, 2026 at 10:38 PM
Here’s why some were pessimistic about this race given the background:
Louisiana Democrats are defending a state House seat that Donald Trump carried by 13 points in a challenging, but still competitive, special election on Saturday.
Democrat Chasity Martinez, a member of the Iberville Parish Council, is facing off against Republican Brad Daigle, an insurance agent, in the 60th District, which is based in Acadiana in the southern part of the state.
After a second Democrat dropped out in late December, Martinez and Daigle are the only candidates on the ballot, so it’s all but certain one will secure the requisite majority needed to avert a March 14 runoff.
This district, which includes part of Assumption and Iberville parishes (Louisiana’s equivalent of counties), was last won in 2023 by Democratic state Rep. Chad Brown, who secured his third and final term without opposition.
But while voters in this constituency have remained open to voting for Louisiana Democrats like Brown and former Gov. John Bel Edwards, who carried the district in 2019 when he narrowly won a second term, they haven’t been so friendly to their national counterparts. Donald Trump won the 60th by a 56-43 margin in 2024, according to calculations by The Downballot.
Democrats, however, didn’t think they’d have to defend this seat again until 2027, when Brown would have been prohibited from seeking a fourth four-year term. The incumbent, though, surprised his party in November by resigning to accept a post in Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration. Martinez and Daigle are now competing in the special election for the final two years left of his term.
We won by a 62-38 margin:
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The GOP just had its best chance to finally flip a legislative seat in Trump 2.0. Democrats had other ideas.
Chasity Martinez just won a rural Trump+13 in the Louisiana House in a 24-point landslide—an overperformance of 37 points.
Our complete writeup on this remarkable outcome –>
— The Downballot (@the-downballot.com) February 7, 2026 at 10:16 PM
This overperformance was around a 37-POINT ONE. That’s amazing!
There are some caveats of course. Turnout as usual was low for the special election. Louisiana politics can be idiosyncratic at times as evidenced by the fact that this seat has NEVER fallen to the GOP. It is an ancestrally Democratic district the GOP hasn’t seriously contested very often. Yet it is clear that our voters are motivated *and* we are persuading people who are not Democrats to pull the lever for us.
The question of course is if we can replicate these special election performances across the nation. I am skeptical we will win by 20+ point overperformances everywhere but high single digits is possible. That would easily flip the House of Representatives and make us competitive in the Senate.
Here’s how you can help: by donating anything you can spare to these 15 House challengers and the 9 critical Senate races.
We’re not a PAC so no scams. We turned off sharing your info with campaigns so less spamming begging texts. The Good News Roundup team has already raised over $48,000 for Democratic candidates in 2026. Let’s work to stymie the Trump regime and build a brick wall in Congress to end implementation of his cruel agenda!