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The ruby red of Texas turned so blue in the Republican Party’s crushing midterm defeat that Democrat James Talarico received more early votes than Republican Ken Paxton received in total.
Talarico defeated Paxton by more than 5.4 million votes in a blue tsunami that hit their state and other reliably Republican states such as Iowa and Kansas.
Paxton received 4,249,373 total votes, including 3,232,667 early votes, according to data from Texas Secretary of State Robert S. Howden’s office last updated Thursday afternoon.
Talarico received nearly 150,000 more votes from Texans who voted before Election Day than Paxton’s vote total. The Democrat received a total of 5,444,982 votes, including 4,397,474 early votes.
Nearly 66 million Americans voted by mail or in person as the midterm elections began, according to an NBC News tally. That includes a record 7.7 million early voters in Texas, KHOU 11 reported.
Even Trump, once skeptical of mail-in voting, has encouraged his supporters to vote early for Republican candidates.
“If your state is holding early voting, don’t wait. Get out and vote,” he said in a video shared on social media.
Trump traveled to Texas four times to support Paxton during his flash rallies last month to build support ahead of the midterm elections.
The president, who is facing record approval ratings of his own, has failed to convince enough Texans to vote for the unfavorable candidate. It also didn’t help that Trump repeatedly mocked Paxton’s fashion sense until the Republican started dressing in a navy suit and red tie like the president.
Forty-six percent of Texans disapproved of Paxton’s position as state attorney general in October, compared to 35 percent who approved, according to a poll from the University of Texas and the Texas Politics Project. The number of Texans disapproving of Paxton’s work has increased by 10% since April 2021.
Paxton was impeached in 2023 as the Texas House of Representatives accused him of abusing his office’s powers to help donor Nate Paul, an Austin businessman under federal investigation. He was later acquitted by the Texas Senate.
Republican strategist Karl Rove said on Fox News Radio The Brian Kilmeade Show On Wednesday, Paxton “brought down the entire Republican ticket” in Texas.
Republican incumbent Greg Abbott was also defeated by Democrat Gina Hinojosa in the gubernatorial race. Hinojosa will be the first Democrat to be sworn in as Texas governor in more than 30 years and the first Latina in state history.
Trump, who gushed Tuesday morning about the “strong and well-respected” Republican governor, made an about-face a few hours later, angrily on Truth Social: “If Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, had not become a RINO (Republican in name only) during the last six months of his political life, he would not have lost. He reverted to his original formula, and it wasn’t pretty!
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