Republicans won big in Abilene and surrounding areas Tuesday night, but the party was stunned by the force of the blue wave that hit the rest of Texas.
“I feel like Republicans turned out in a big way in Taylor County, and that’s because of your efforts,” Jay Hardaway told supporters at the Taylor County Republican headquarters, minutes after winning the Texas House seat in District 71. “Once again, West Texas does it like we’re supposed to.”
On most election nights, that would be the whole story in Abilene. But as the room celebrated, the rest of the state delivered a very different verdict. Democrat Gina Hinojosa unseated Gov. Greg Abbott, who conceded Tuesday night. Democrat James Talarico beat Attorney General Ken Paxton for the U.S. Senate seat Republicans have long held. Taylor County Republicans spent the night swinging between celebrating local wins and absorbing statewide losses.
“On a night which is certainly not shaping up to be a great one for Texas, we have a lot to be proud of in Taylor County,” Hardaway said.
Hardaway says his victory was no cakewalk. Taylor County hasn’t had truly contested local races between the parties since 2002, maybe longer, he told supporters. His predecessor, Stan Lambert, took about 80 percent of the vote in 2024. Hardaway figured he’d land in the high 50s, but he ended up with 70 percent. He credited the local party’s work for the difference.
He also sees the statewide picture shaping what he walks into at the Capitol.
“A lot of the statewide Republican candidates’ races aren’t looking very good right now,” Hardaway said. “So it could be that I’m coming into Austin in a very different set of circumstances than Representative Lambert did when he was elected in 2016.”
For longtime Republicans, the statewide results hit harder. Dan Pickens, a precinct chair for 44 years, says he knows Paxton well. He says none of it surprised him, and none of it made him happy.
“Am I disappointed? Very disappointed, because the governor is the key to a lot of what goes on,” Pickens said. “When the governor gets beat, those statewides will get beat.”
Ryan Goodwin, chair of the Taylor County Republican Party, says the local numbers show part of the problem. By his count, about 10,000 fewer people voted in this midterm than in the last one. He points to frustration over data centers and among teachers, and to a belief that Texas is a safe red state.
“Everybody thinks Texas is a given. It’s not gonna go blue, and a lot of people stay at home because of that,” Goodwin said.
He says the party’s first job now is getting its own voters back to the polls.
“The turnout could have been much better, so we’ve got some work to do as the Republican Party and local here,” Goodwin said. “Getting out more votes, knocking on more doors.”
Hardaway is taking a lesson from how Democrats ran this year.
“Those Democrats that ran talked a lot publicly about issues that Republican primary voters are very concerned about also,” he said. “So there’s a lesson there.”
He says data centers, the biggest economic change in the Big Country in his lifetime, are where Democrats gained traction locally. They are also his first priority in Austin.
Pickens already has a prediction for what comes next.
“I suspect in two years you’re gonna see a lot more political movement,” he said. “Back to the right.”
In the meantime, Hardaway heads to a very different Austin than Lambert has known for the last decade.
