What Texas midterm results mean Elections set stage for next two years of state policy

By Zoya Haq | Jade Editor

Following the Texas midterms on Nov. 8, student groups have been hosting conversations surrounding the political implications of the midterm elections. The race saw the Republican party secure control of the Texas State Legislature and the office of the Texas Governor.

In the contested gubernatorial race, incumbent governor Greg Abbott surpassed Democrat challenger Beto O’Rourke by about 10 percentage points, securing a third term as Texas Governor.

“Together, we will keep Texas the greatest state in the greatest country and the history of the world,” Abbott said after his win.

of the world and end easy bail policies.”

Across the state, over 8 million voters cast ballots for Texas Governor and for other races like Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor from Oct. 24 through Nov. 8.

About 30% of Dallas County voters voted early, as compared to about 40% in the last midterm election. This downward trend continued in other major counties like Collin and Denton, where early vote numbers dropped by about 10 percentage points, as well.

Students across Upper School participated in the elections in various ways, serving as poll workers, working as political interns and volunteering for campaigns.

On campus, groups like Young Democrats and Young Republicans held special meetings before and after the midterm elections to discuss projections, debrief results and promote action.

Diya Hegde, secretary of the Young Democrats Club, said the club had been working to support members’ goals of engaging politically before the elections.

In his third term, Abbott said in a victory speech in South Texas, he intends to “keep Texas, Texas” as well as to “keep Texas No. 1 for oil and gas production in the U.S., teach students how the United States began with literally nothing and went on to become the best country in the history

“A lot of Young Dems, even outside of the club like myself, were involved in a lot of political campaigns,” Hegde said. “I know some people who would write letters for Beto for Texas campaign and get involved with phone banking and door to door knocking for candidates.”

Hegde said the club has been working to expand its programming this year to include more conversations surrounding political reflection and action.

“We had our first meeting recently, where we discussed the outcomes of the midterm election, and we also took a political ideology test to help our members better understand their political stances,” Hegde said.

Alexa Welch, president of Young Republicans, said the group has been encouraging members to consider candidate’s stances critically both before and after the midterms.

“Instead of doing a meeting in our group, we sent a link to our GroupMe about all the different candidates that were running and then a blurb about each among Hispanics — did not end up being a reality. Only one victorious U.S. House candidate in South Texas, Monica de la Cruz, was a Republican.

This unexpected upset paralleled other midterm surprises across the country.

Contrary to nearly all predictions, Democrats won a seat in the U.S. Senate, marking the first time since 2002 that a president’s party has not lost any Senate seats during their firstterm midterm election.

Hegde said she thinks this win marks a historic shift in voter alignment nationwide.

“It’s very significant that there’s a new Democratic seat in the Senate, especially after Biden’s presidency, because we’ve seen in the context of the past that the president’s party tends to lose control of the House and the Senate,” Hegde said. “I think that that’s saying a little bit about how it might not be so much of a divided government or divided population as we may think.”

Welch agreed people are voting differently than they have in the past.

“I think it’s just going to be interesting for the future of what’s going to happen for, for example, the