Good morning! 

The much-hyped blue wave has crashed against the red wall of reality. Thoughts of the Democrats taking Texas were last night revealed to be pipe dreams.

Here is the after-election, sleep-deprived Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Wednesday, November 4, 2020
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• Let’s start at the top: Donald Trump won Texas!
     
• Fun fact: South Texas’ Zapata County, which hasn’t voted Republican in a century, went for President Trump by 2,032 to 1,820. 
     
• Meanwhile, John Cornyn retained a seat in the U.S. Senate.  
    
• For what it’s worth... M.J. Hegar lost a bid for the U.S. House in 2018, and has now lost a bid for the U.S. Senate this year, so she will no doubt be the Democrats’ gubernatorial candidate in 2022.
     
• The partisan makeup of Texas’ congressional delegation remains unchanged. The Democrats made a big push to unseat U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, putting national money behind Wendy Davis. Despite being in a “swing” seat, Chip Roy has nonetheless voted in Congress as a strong conservative. Voters clearly respected his stance and Roy earned re-election.

• Republicans lost a seat in the Texas Senate, though not unexpectedly. Pete Flores won in a special election runoff ahead of the 2019 legislative session in what is a Democrat-leaning district.
       
• Despite Flores’ loss last night, the Texas Senate is at 18 GOP to 13 DEM.

• The Texas House has remained firmly in GOP hands.

• As I type this just before 2 a.m., only one incumbent Republican member of the Texas House has officially lost: State Rep. Sarah Davis of Houston.
      
• It would be fair to have put quotes around Republican; there isn’t a conservative position she hasn’t fought against. She is a social and fiscal liberal, ranking below some Democrats on key conservative ratings. She even caucused with the Democrats at various times during the legislative session!
   
• Meanwhile, Republican Mike Schofield defeated an incumbent Democrat in Houston. He campaigned as a conservative, and won. Similarly, Republican Lacey Hull defeated a Democrat to keep an open GOP-held seat that many observers had written off. She also campaigned as a conservative, and won.
   
• The lesson from Harris County is this: when Republicans act like Democrats, voters will eventually vote for the Democrats. 

• In the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex... The incumbent state representatives in Dallas, Collin, Tarrant, and Denton counties kept their seats, and no open seats flipped parties.
      
• State Rep Tony Tinderholt (R-Arlington) was one of the Democrats’ top targets, yet he cruised to re-election.

• Summing it up: Texans expect Republicans to act like Republicans, not – as Sarah Davis has done – like Democrats. Tony Tinderholt and Chip Roy prove Republicans can vote as solid conservatives even if in a “swing” seat.