The Borderlands
Texas swung 26 points in two years and every one of its 254 counties moved the same way. The border moved furthest.
By the politic.design data desk · 5 Nov 2026, updated 6 Nov 2026 · Preliminary counts
Trump won Texas by 13.7 points in 2024. On Tuesday James Talarico won its Senate seat by 12.1, by Decision Desk HQ's count, the first Democratic Senate win there since 1988. All 254 counties moved towards the Democrats. In Starr County the margin went from Trump +16 to Talarico +56, a 72-point swing. The four Rio Grande Valley counties went from R+4 to D+44 between them, and cast 41% more ballots than in the 2022 midterm.
It wasn't only the border. Twenty-eight counties flipped from Trump to Talarico, including Tarrant, Collin and Denton in the Dallas–Fort Worth suburbs and Brazoria and Jefferson on the Gulf coast. The smallest swings, six to eight points, came in the Panhandle. The open question is durability: the same valley swung hard the other way in 2024. With certified files we'll extend the relief back to 2016, so readers see a cycle rather than a single turn.
Texas, raised by its swing
In shortEach county is lifted by how far it moved toward Democrats between the 2024 presidential vote and this week's Senate vote. Taller means a bigger swing; colour shows who won it this time. Every county rose. Drag to turn; hover or tap a county.
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