Texas elected far-left leaders, but they cant actually turn the state blue

Progressives who swept Texas’ statewide offices Tuesday may have grand, far-left-leaning plans for their state, but they’ll have no picnic fulfilling their agenda.Democrats have long yearned for a gubernatorial candidate who could break the state open.After years of relying on media-darling candidates, Gina Hinojosa, a formerly little-known Texas state representative, took the governor’s office from Greg Abbott by a resounding seven points.Not because she had a compelling story or presence, but merely because of a nationwide blue wave that caught Texas in its wake.The wave also gave Democrats the powerful office of lieutenant governor and control of the state House of Representatives for the first time since 2002.Texas’ new Democratic leaders have received shockingly little attention compared with their predecessor candidates.They’re also more left-leaning than anyone elected to statewide office in modern memory.Yet they’ll probably change Texas far less than either the left hopes — or the right fears.Democratic Party primary voters didn’t pick Gov.-elect Hinojosa because they thought she was a moderate.She is a proud member of the Texas Legislative Progressive Caucus.In 2019, she introduced a bill to provide “every Texas resident [with] comprehensive healthcare services” — a state version of Bernie Sanders’s Medicare for All proposal.The “resident” language was not unintentional, because she wanted illegal immigrants to get coverage, too.By some reckonings, the Texas lieutenant governor, who presides over the state senate, is more powerful than the governor.Vikki Goodwin, another formerly little-known state representative who just bested Texas powerbroker Dan Patrick, will inherit this chair and, unless the Republican Senate thwarts her, its powers.Goodwin is no moderate either: Her voting record in 2025 made her the sixth most liberal of Texas’ 150 House members, slightly more liberal than Hinojosa.Given these offices, a newly Democra...