Quick and dirty thoughts from Texas and beyond about the 2026 midterms

OK, we’ll start in Texas.

Although not all Republicans have conceded yet, it looks like Democrats have swept every statewide office.

To add to this, as of the time of writing, in an even bigger shocker to me, Democrats were within five seats of claiming a majority in the Texas House.

Republicans will still control the Texas Senate, but that will now be run by a Democrat, Vikki Goodwin, and not Dannie Goeb, aka Dan Patrick.

Speaking of, to extend a quote from “somebody” during the COVID years?

“Old Republican politicians have a duty to die.”

With that, this is an edited version of selected small bits from what will be my editorial column in my newspapers next week along with additional commentary.. Per part of what I said about Suzanne Bellsnyder yesterday, it, for reasons of journalistic ethics, will not be a straight-up run of that column. That column is essentially an open letter to both duopoly parties in Texas and nationally.

First, Dems winning the state House may be one of those “could be good, good be bad” things of that old pseudo-Chinese proverb.

The good is that she can now put forth a full agenda, rather than rounding up coalitions of the moment on individual issues and otherwise playing defense.

The bad is that if House Dems have a majority, they’re going to want stuff and it will be like herding cats. Senior House Dem Senfronia Thompson has already thrown her hat in the Speakership ring. Given previous speaker races, some young buck or doe may challenge her within the Dem caucus but will likely get nuked in a floor vote, as most Democrats will accept having a pair of stable hands at the tiller.

The good is that, on matters that are not of actual social principle, (whether real social principle or fake/but are overstated by Texas Rethuglicans anyway) Hinojosa will be able to put the screws to Senate Republicans.

For fellow Texas denizens, “data centers” to me is shorthand for “local control,” and ultimately the 2023 “Death Star” bill. Half the Senate is up for election in two years; Republicans in that half, per the likes of Bellsnyder, can either listen to their actual consultants or pricey self-proclaimed anti-RINO consultants. Your choice.

The bad? Hinojosa is the most ConservaDem of the statewide Dems. Per her one campaign ad, she’s not going to attempt to even modestly modify the state’s draconian laws on reproductive choice. She likely won’t back anything close to Lite Guv-elect Vikki Goodwin’s push to legalize marijuana. Structural changes be Strangeabbott, like the 15th Appeals Court, may stay in place, too.

Downballot? Per the Trib link on statewide races, the biggie is Nathan Johnson winning the state AG race to replace Kenny Boy Paxton. No more suing the feds to back Trump’s agenda, especially via court-shopping. This was one race I actually voted in and for the D. Nothing objectionable about Johnson re what he wants to actually do.

Will either he or Comptroller-elect Sarah Eckhardt undo the state’s official anti-BDS and anti-ESG stances? Will Hinojosa take any lead on this? Sadly, probably not. What happens if, say, a pro-Palestine group has a lawsuit against the state? How vigorously will Johnson defend the state? Still unknown.

Next?

Will Rethugs in Texas and beyond finally realize that, while words like sticks and stones can hurt, at the same time, vapid repetition of some words eventually make them empty?

Probably not.

“Socialist” had diminishing returns, so “communist” was unveiled. But, despite Elmo Musk’s direct mail fliers, no, Karl Marx was not hiding behind every tree and under every bush.

And, as Bo French showed, straight-out Islamophobia had him running no better than any other Rethuglican. It also didn’t help Haley Stevens block Abdul El-Sayed’s Senate run in Michigan. For whatever reasons, some conservative Muslims here in Texas still want to vote Rethuglican even as you slapped them in the face.

Republican Party of Texas chairwoman D’rinda Randall said last night:

[T]onight, we accept the results. Tomorrow, we begin rebuilding.

Will you learn WHY those results happened, and accept that, in the first step of rebuilding? Not just on bigotry, but on the local control issue and more? Color me skeptical until I see it happen.

Now, one other word.

An hour after Strangeabbott conceded, Trump called him a RINO. Let’s tackle that first.

Those consultants I mentioned above, versus constituents, will see dollar signs still looming if they double down on RINO in 2028 primaries. Overton Window shifting is a thing within political parties, too, and these people will push it one last time.

Beyond that?

I mentioned the magic name: Donald John Trump.

He may be feared inside Republican elected and infrastructure circles, but I certainly don’t picture him as liked the way Ronald Reagan was, or even George W. Bush. He’s already older now than Reagan was when he left the presidency.

Once the fear subsides, to riff on an old saying Lyndon B. Johnson reportedly had as president about his vice president, Hubert Humphrey:

I want his pecker to be in my pocket.

Or the longer version about staff assistants:

I don't want loyalty. I want loyalty. I want him to kiss my ass in Macy's window at high noon and tell me it smells like roses. I want his pecker in my pocket.

Republicans can either decide to reclaim their body parts — or not. This seems less true nationally, but even there, not totally untrue, versus Texas.

As for national Democrats?

To riff on Dan Boguslaw, new Church Committees, but broader focused ones, on things like ICE/DHS, will be nice.

But, on what caused Trump to lose?

It’s called the War Powers Resolution. But?

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and presumable new Speaker of the House Hakeem Jeffries are both Zionist. They may well do their best to neuter such resolutions, let alone kill attempts to block Trump shifing Merikkka’s $4 billion in aid to the Zionist genocidalists running Tel Aviv into indirect dark money channels.

As I said to fellow leftists on Shitter last night? Beyond those two, there’s a lot of ConservaDems who will need their feet held to the fire, including holding their feet to the non-duopoly fire.