Reviews Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary? Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Reviews Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary? Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

“Uncharted territory”: Two months from Election Day, Democrats in Texas are truly competitive

Democrat James Talarico is consistently leading in the polls over Ken Paxton, which is unheard of in recent decades

Published September 18, 2026 6:00AM (EDT)

This article originally appeared on The Texas Tribune.

After the routing they delivered in the 2024 election, Texas Republicans were on a roll, pushing through conservative priorities, drawing redder congressional maps and excising Democrats from legislative leadership positions.

What a difference 18 months can make.

With November fast approaching, Texas Republicans are in their weakest position in a generation, facing voter revolt over data centers, transmission lines and a faltering economy tied to the party’s standardbearer, President Donald Trump. Scandal-plagued Senate nominee Ken Paxton is polling several points behind Democrat James Talarico, and once-untouchable GOP incumbents have started slinging mud at opponents who are creeping up in the polls.

Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat statewide since 1994. Republicans have controlled the Texas House since 2002. But this year, the perennially disappointed Democrats see their best shot at breaking through the GOP’s political monopoly, as they aim to capture independents and disaffected moderate Republicans.

Certainly, they’ve said that before: every cycle, Democrats promise this will be the time they eke back into power. But this year, it’s Republicans who are warning about the threat Democrats pose as polls, fundraising and public sentiment show an unprecedented level of enthusiasm for the blue team — and anger at the red one.

“We’re in a little bit of uncharted territory here,” said Matt Mackowiak, a Republican consultant who led Sen. John Cornyn’s unsuccessful primary bid against Paxton. “In GOP........

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