“Gina and Talarico are ahead,” she announced after our professor stepped out of the class. The no-phone policy left my fingers itching as seven o’clock rolled around. Normally, at this time, I would be hunkered down in front of my television. Local news on my TV, my laptop opened to AP News, my tablet on Reuters. Watching livestreams from MSNBC (now MSNOW) on my phone. Anxiety building up in crescendo. Sleep tapping on my shoulder. My eyes begging for me to take on its invitation as the hours roll one by one.
Yesterday, however, I sat in class fighting the urge to look at my phone. Until our professor stepped out, anyway.
I glanced at my NY Times app. We hadn’t broken a quarter of the votes yet, but yes. Gina and Talarico were ahead in the polls. My heart sank. I’ve had this enthusiasm before.
“It’s still too early,” I said. “I’ve lived in this state long enough to know that I don’t bet on a win this early. Voters usually wind up disappointing me.”
The professor returned, graded tests in hand. I passed. Maybe that was a sign.
Eight years ago, I sat inside Popeye’s with my library coworkers. The television aired the election results. Ted Cruz defeated Beto O’Rourke. While my colleagues were disappointed, I couldn’t shake the feeling of hope still surging in my veins. Beto O’Rourke lost, sure. But the margin. The margin of loss was phenomenal. 2.6 percentage points. That was a narrow loss.
In the 2012 general election, Ted Cruz won by 15.84 percentage points. In 2014, John Cornyn won by 27.2 percentage points. Despite their best efforts, Texas Democrats were flailing in the wind. But to win by 2.6 percent? That felt more like the beginning of the end.
“Democrats don’t lose by the single digits. Not in Texas,” I told them. “This is different. The politics aren’t behaving like they should.”
Walking home last night, I kept checking the NY Times app. The results refreshed. We weren’t at fifty percent, but Talarico and Hinojosa were still in the lead. Could Texas go blue? We hadn’t been blue since the late, great Ann Richards resided in the governor’s mansion. Maybe my joshing Republicans online held a merit of truth. Maybe they were afraid of losing and that’s why they kept throwing every insult they could at Talarico—”Talafreako” who had a favorite drag queen. Talarico who wanted gender reassignment surgery for children. Talarico who didn’t eat meat and spent some time in the “loonie bin.”
Talarico who, last night, mopped the floor with Ken Paxton’s affair scandals. Ken Paxton, the attorney general who offered a one-day sentence to Adam Hoffman, the lawyer who sexually abused his son’s friend for years.
At 10:06 PM, my phone buzzed. I paused Batman Begins and opened my messages.
Monica: NBC said Abbott just conceded.
This came minutes after NBC called it for Talarico. Texas flipped. Texas was blue again. I let out the breath I had been holding since November 5, 2024.
The politics aren’t behaving like they should. No. The politics are behaving as they should.
And it’s about damn time.
We came out for you in numbers, Democrats. We rallied behind you. Now fucking do something!
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