It wasn't all rain here in Mudville on midterm election night.
Although voters in Travis County elected tax-and-spend Democrats in races up and down the ballot on Nov. 3, 2026, a strange thing happened. One might even call it a double-standard.
Voters shot down numerous tax hike proposals while at the same time electing tax-and-spend Democrats to local boards!
According to our friends with the Travis County Taxpayers Union this was a trend that was repeated in many places across Texas during the so-called "blue tsunami:”
Around two-thirds of tax increase proposals across the state were axed on election night this November, and according to canvass reports coming out this week. It was a similar picture here in the Austin area.
The following measures were killed in Travis County on election night:
Austin Communty College Pflugerville annexation: 63-37%
Coupland ISD VATRE: 62-38%
Del Valle ISD VATRE:52-48%
Leander ISD VATRE: 55-45%
Round Rock ISD VATRE: 52-48%
Unfortunately, the City of Austin's Proposition I, for a regular, external, independent audits of all city services, failed 55-45%, but only after the City Council passed their own verison of an audit measure and falsely claimed it was superfluous. Other City of Austin propositions, as well as those in Sunset Valley, Manor, and numerous new and existing special districts, passed.
The question remains: Why did the same set of voters who overwhelmingly elected pro-tax-increase Democrat candidates to office also vote down many of these tax hikes? The answer may lie in the fact that a large number of new and infrequent voters were feeling financial pressure and turned out.
In other words, they were broke but not necessarily woke!
See analysis here:
https://thehayride.com/2026/11/how-the-blue-wave-actually-defeated-tax-hikes-all-over-this-state
Republican data analyst Derek Ryan pointed out that GOP losses were not simply a matter of Republican voters staying home, though that was a factor. About 2.7 million people voted after participating in neither the 2018 nor the 2022 midterm. They supplied 27% of the 2026 electorate.
There are many theories being posited and numerous fingers being pointed as we all analyze what happened in the November 2026 midterms — candidate quality, election irregularities, messaging, campaign strategy, national and international issues, etc., being among them. Everyone has a solution or a suggestion, and we're here to listen. The Texas GOP started a working group to study the situation. But whatever the real reason may be for massive losses, it's painfully clear that a groundswell of new voters turned to the Democrats due to their false promises of affordability and accountability.
Republicans must therefore stand firm on the "pocketbook issues" and moral integrity that has defined our party for generations, while continually working on new ways to better engage young and new voters. The voters made that mandate loud and clear.
