UTSA professor breaks down what drove Texas’ historic Democratic sweep in midterm elections
From the Latino vote to public education concerns and data center issues.
This drove Texas’ historic Democratic sweep in Tuesday’s midterm elections, according to Jon Taylor, a University of Texas at San Antonio political science professor.
A day after Election night, Taylor joined KSAT’s RJ Marquez early Wednesday at Patty’s Taco House on South Hackberry to analyze the results.
The Latino vote
Taylor said the results may signal a turning point for Latino voters in Texas.
“This is perhaps what we might call now the year of the Latino voter in Texas,” Taylor said. “Latinos who in the past did not vote the same levels as Black or white voters have finally come home.”
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Taylor said immigration enforcement, including ICE raids, played a significant role in driving Latino turnout, particularly in South Texas and along the Interstate 35 corridor.
“A number of people living in South Texas, living in San Antonio, who had family, friends, somebody they knew who got picked up in an ICE raid. It had a profound impact on voting,” Taylor said.
The governor’s race
Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa ran a “brilliant race” despite being significantly outspent by incumbent Greg Abbott, Taylor said.
“This is somebody who was way outspent by almost eight, nine to one and she used her resources properly,” he said.
Taylor also noted that Hinojosa and U.S. Senator-elect James Talarico campaigned together effectively.
“This time it was the best organized I’ve ever seen them, at least since the 1980s,” Taylor said.
Public education
Taylor said public education was one of the key issues that drove voters to the polls.
Hinojosa, a former school board member herself, talked at length about public education and the impact of vouchers, according to Taylor.
“The voucher program has had a devastating impact on public education for small school districts — not even not-so-small school districts — across Texas,” he said
Taylor said he expects Hinojosa to push for major revisions to the school voucher program, if not scrap it entirely.
Data centers and affordability
Taylor said data centers and water concerns also played a role in the results, particularly in West Texas and rural communities.
“It’s an issue that kind of just bubbled up, and a lot of it had to do not necessarily with AI and all that to begin with but about water and water scarcity and water concerns and with the drought we’ve had for years here in San Antonio,” Taylor said. “South Texas all of a sudden that popped up as an issue, and Gov. Abbott was unable to pivot because he had had so many contributions from these big data center people.”
On affordability, Taylor said rising costs were the primary driver of Democratic gains nationwide.
“The affordability issue was the primary issue across the country that drove voters to vote Democratic last night,” he said.
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