In effort to turn Texas blue, Democratic nominees for statewide office are holding joint rallies

With President Trump’s approval rating underwater and the chance of scandal-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton to be the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, Texas Democrats feel that the 2026 midterms present their best chance to win a statewide election in years.

It has been 32 years since a Democrat won statewide office. The last time they came close was in 2018, when Beto O’Rourke lost the U.S. Senate race to Sen. Ted Cruz by just 2.6 percentage points.

In an effort to boost their chances in 2026, Texas Democrats have launched Texas Together, a series of joint rallies supporting multiple statewide candidates.

The first one took place earlier this month in Fort Worth. State Rep. James Talarico, the nominee for U.S. Senate, and state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, the nominee for governor, were among those who addressed hundreds of supporters.

Before the event, Hinojosa spoke with CBS News Texas political reporter Jack Fink and explained why she felt it was important to rally with the party’s other nominees.

“We have great candidates running in Texas this midterm election, and everybody has a different message. Everybody has a different appeal, different style attracts different, constituencies. And so, I’m proud to be part of this big slate to get this, these leaders who are fighting to change Texas in this midterm election. And so we, I think we’ll all come together when there’s an opportunity to appeal to more people and get our message through,” Hinojosa said.

SMU political science professor Matthew Wilson said in an interview that he also thinks the joint rallies are a good idea.

“I think Democrats sense a real opportunity, and if, in fact, this is the perfect alignment of the stars, or the perfect storm in 2026. They want to take advantage of that up and down the ballot, not just picking off a single prize, like maybe the Senate seat, but making comprehensive gains up and down the ballot,” Wilson said.

“That is, for Democrats, the best-case scenario, not perhaps the most likely scenario, but not one that’s outside the realm of possibility is a real blue tsunami, where people wake up after Election Day and say, ‘Oh my gosh, Democrats won all kinds of stuff, throughout the state. Legislative seats, county commission seats, multiple statewide offices.’ That’s something that they are trying to organize into reality, and I think they want to make sure all their candidates are on the same page,” he said.

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