TRI-COUNTY — Tuesday’s election was a stunning turnaround for Democrats in Texas as every statewide office went to their party — what is widely seen as a repudiation of President Donald Trump and his policies. The last time a Democrat was elected to a statewide office was 32 years ago.

While Presidio County has traditionally been a Far West Texas outlier of sorts by solidly voting Democratic, Brewster County drifted away from solidly red to blue by voting to elect every Democratic statewide candidate. In Jeff Davis County, Republicans still came out on top in statewide races, but results were closer than in past elections.

In Brewster County, gubernatorial Democratic candidate Gina Hinojosa won 2017-1710 (54.12% to 45.88%) over Republican incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott. Those results somewhat mirror the statewide totals favoring Hinojosa 52.8% to 45.67%, but the additional points to Democrats was common across the entire Texas border. (All tallies are unofficial until local government entities canvas votes.) It’s a turnaround from the 2024 presidential election when several Lower Rio Grande counties turned red.

Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico received even more support in the county, beating Republican nominee Attorney General Ken Paxton 55.82% to 44.18%.

The county’s red/blue votes essentially flipped from 2022 when Abbott defeated Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke 54.8% to 43.9%. In 2024, the county had creeped up in support for Trump by rising from 51% support in 2020 to 55.54%. Those results indicated an increasing support for Republicans, a trend that was turned on its head Tuesday.

Red Jeff Davis County, which cast 60.8% of its votes for Trump in 2024, saw a different result — statewide Republicans winning every statewide race. Abbott topped Hinojosa by 55.29% to 44.71%. But in 2022, Abbott defeated O’Rourke 63.18% to 36.82%  — almost 16 more points going to the Democrat on Tuesday.

In Jeff Davis County, Paxton defeated Talarico 52.52% to 47.48% — only a 5-point margin.

For Presidio County, Hinojosa defeated Abbott 77.33% to 22.67%, and Talarico bested Paxton by 77.90% to 22.10%

In other races related to the tri-county area, state Rep. Eddie Morales bested Republican opponent 64.6% to 35.4% to keep his seat. And for the District 23 congressional race, Democrat Katy Padilla Stout handily defeated Republican Brandon Herrera 52.1% to 44% for the seat held by Tony Gonzalez, until he resigned in April this year.

While official voter turnout is not yet available, The Texas Tribune reported that it rose on average 8.2% from 2022 for border areas. While statewide turnout at 51.6% did not reach a midterm record (it was 53.01% in 2018), it has risen considerably from the 33% to 37% rates from 2002 to 2014.

You can see the complete totals for all races by county at bigbendsentinel.com/election2026. Results statewide are posted at texastribune.org.