Democrats flip governorships in Texas, Georgia, Nevada, Ohio and Iowa; in Texas they win every statewide race on the ballot
NBC's tracker has every governor call; CBS has Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa's first press conference and Ted Cruz's unsparing verdict.
Democrats flipped governorships in Texas, Georgia, Nevada, Ohio and Iowa, NBC News projects. In Texas, Gina Hinojosa defeated Gov. Greg Abbott, and CBS reports every statewide seat on the ballot flipped to Democrats: NBC projects wins for lieutenant governor (Vikki Goodwin over Dan Patrick), attorney general (Nathan Johnson) and railroad commissioner (Jon Rosenthal, over Republican Bo French, who faced backlash in his own party for anti-immigrant, Islamophobic and antisemitic comments). Hinojosa named a bipartisan transition team and said she will be "the governor for all the people of Texas"; she called Abbott "gracious."
Elsewhere, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford beat Gov. Joe Lombardo, Amy Acton beat Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio (Reason), and Rob Sand will be Iowa's governor (CBS). Democrats held Michigan (Jocelyn Benson), Arizona (Katie Hobbs) and Oregon (Tina Kotek). Republicans held Florida, where Byron Donalds becomes the state's first Black governor, plus New Hampshire, Nebraska, Idaho, Alabama and Tennessee.
Sen. Ted Cruz called the night "a blue tsunami" and "a Watergate-level repudiation." Data centers were a campaign issue in several of these races; see our separate story.
Across the spectrum 3
Democrat
Gina Hinojosa, Texas governor-elect: At her first press conference, Hinojosa said: "This is not about being a Democratic administration, I'm not going to be the governor just for Democrats, I'm going to be the governor for all the people of Texas," and, asked about Republicans who may try to undermine her, "the people of Texas have spoken."
CBS News ↗Libertarian
Liz Wolfe, Reason: Writing from Texas, Wolfe says that with so many down-ballot Democratic wins, "it's also possible Republican leadership just didn't do much good here, that both gerrymandering and Musk money backfired in a major way."
Reason ↗Republican
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas): On his podcast, Cruz said "2026 was not simply a blue wave. It was a blue tsunami," a "Watergate-level repudiation," and that Republican, libertarian and independent voters "showed up and voted, and rejected our candidates." He said he called Senator-elect Talarico to congratulate him.
CBS News ↗-
Lame duck
After exploring Midterms 2026 highlights: Democrats win control of Congress, for what the next two months look like for the outgoing governors, read up on the Lame duck.
A lame duck is an outgoing official whose successor has been or soon will be elected; such officials are often seen as having less influence, but are also freer to act.
Wikipedia · Wade · 5 min
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