For the first time in decades, Texas Democrats have candidates in every state House, state Senate, congressional and State Board of Education race, marking a historic shift for the Lone Star State’s underdog party.
Texas Democrats touted the accomplishment with a Wednesday morning Facebook post trumpeting the dawn of a new era.
“Since 1994, Texas Democrats have allowed on average about 50 of these seats to go uncontested, leaving millions of Texans without the option to vote for Democrats below the top of the ticket,” the post read. “That ends now.”
It’s also been over a decade since Texas Republicans ran a candidate in every race in the state, their last full docket being recorded in 2014.
Though running a Democrat in every race is a huge milestone, Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson says it’s just the first step to seeing a strong Democratic Party in the state of Texas.
“I think it’s a good start,” Jillson said. “There’s just a lot more required to start winning important races in Texas.”
Namely, providing the key party infrastructure that can actually win races.
“What has limited the Democrats over the last quarter century or so is that their party infrastructure has eroded,” Jillson says. That includes “the support that they can give to potential candidates as they seek to prepare to run for office, fundraise for their campaigns and then develop themes on which to campaign.”
The last Democrats to actually win statewide office, Ann Richards at the top of the ticket for Governor and Dan Morales as Texas Attorney General, also did so in 1994, the last time the party had a full ticket in the state.
A major hurdle since then has come down to a huge gap in resources between the parties, according to Jillson.
For example, in 2024, Republicans raked in more than $11 million in one month across a dozen of the most competitive Texas House races, compared to the nearly $3.5 million raised by their Democratic counterparts, the Texas Tribune reports.
Part of that disparity in fundraising, Jillson argues, is that major Democratic fundraisers grew tired of throwing their money behind losing candidates. That, in turn, hampered the party’s ability to provide the aforementioned support services.
“The Republican Party has been much bigger, much better funded, much more capable in helping their candidates do all those things in recent decades,” Jillson says. “And so the Democrats have to rebuild their infrastructure, their party apparatus and its abilities to support candidates.”
New blood in the party might also be contributing to this sea change, under the leadership of Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder.
Scudder was defiant in his statement in Wednesday’s Facebook post, making it clear that he plans to bring the fight to Texas Republicans.
“No Republican gets a free pass in Texas,” said Scudder. “I don’t care where they live, or how long they’ve been in office — if they want to hold office in Texas, they’re gonna have to fight us for it,” he said.
Scudder replaced Gilberto Hinojosa as party chairman only a few months ago. After assuming office on March 29, Scudder seemed to hit the ground running, implementing a more aggressive ground game that targets parts of the state often neglected by the party.
In contrast, Hinojosa lost ground under his 13-year tenure, including in his home turf of South Texas.
Still, many Democrats questioned Scudder’s early decision to move the party headquarters from Austin, the seat of the state government, to his hometown of Dallas. The change prompted a mass staff exodus, as reported by Texas Tribune. However, Scudder argued that it was part of his plan to deemphasize Austin and invest more party attention in the rest of the state.
Aside from a change in leadership, the full docket also could be attributed to individual candidates seeing a major pickup opportunity in the projected blue wave of 2026 — much like the midterm referendum on the last Trump administration.
“Turning out candidates in every major race is absolutely critical, particularly in what is shaping up to be a good Democrat year, much like 2018 was,” Jillson added.
However, Jillson noted that part of that momentum might be attributed to the excitement generated by then-U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke. The professor questions whether this election’s top-billed Democrats, Texas Rep. James Talarico and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, can carry the downballot races by rising to the Beto-mania level seen in 2018.
While some of those variables have yet to play out, the fact remains that a party can’t win if it doesn’t show up in the first place.
“If you don’t have people in races, there’s no chance of winning,” Jillson added. “Even in a really good Democrat year, if you don’t have Democrat candidates, you’re not going to make much progress. So, this is a good thing, and it is evidence that the party is trying to stitch itself back together.”
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