School Vouchers. “Sharia Law.” Corruption. Book Bans In School. ICE.

On the one hand, I think you’re just being a tendentious dipshit asking a question this fucking stupid. On the other hand, I know you’re a tendentious dipshit for asking a question this fucking stupid.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) November 5, 2026

Oh, and data centers. That did a lot of it.

I’m currently in the Davis Mountains, just north of Big Bend. If you look at the area southeast of El Paso on that map, I’m in the biggest county there. Big Bend is at the bottom of the county, on the Rio Grande. As far east as Del Rio (also on the river, roughly southwest of San Antonio), I was seeing printed posters protesting the wall through Big Bend National Park.  I see the signs everywhere in the communities here (Marfa, Alpine, Ft. Davis). The pundits haven’t noticed, but it’s a flashpoint issue here. I’ve seen a lot of signs for Talarico and Hinojosa, too. The latter because of a huge data center proposed outside Alpine (the biggest city in the county, and the county seat). Those two issues are a flashpoint in this region, and I guarantee it brought out a majority vote for Democrats. Even the State Board of Education, which picks school textbooks, is now controlled by Democrats. That’s not just because Talarico had coattails. Straight party voting is now longer allowed in Texas (gone are the days when I could tick one box). People had to choose the Democratic candidates, one by one. I’m pretty sure they chose party rather than knowing every candidate on the ballot.

This was a cleansing of the Augean stables election. I suspect the other “secret” is that urban Democrats (who outnumber rural Republican voters, but don’t vote) turned out in big numbers, and the border communities voted on ICE and the border wall and data centers. And I think they voted against the hegemony of GOP, which is increasingly driven by the crackpot Texas base who preferred Paxton over Cornyn. I think the people have had enough of that, too, and have shaken them off. I hoped Hinojosa would win, I was sure Talarico would. I had no idea Texas government from the governor down to the Texas House would flip.

Now they gotta do right by it. 😸