The 2026 Texas Democratic Primaries: Part Three
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Gerrymandering in the United States
13 min read
The article repeatedly references how Republicans drew district lines to maintain advantage, mentioning 'obvious product of Republican gerrymandering' and districts drawn as 'weird strips' to keep parties in power. Understanding the history and mechanics of gerrymandering provides crucial context for why these Texas districts have the shapes and partisan leans they do.
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Sundown town
2 min read
The author casually mentions 'a few sundown towns' in East Texas when describing TX01. Many readers may not know the specific history of these communities that excluded Black Americans after dark through intimidation and violence, which directly relates to the article's discussion of Black voter turnout and Democratic organizing in East Texas.
In the Texas Congressional races, between the Democratic and Republican primaries, 249 people are seeking office in 38 seats. If you’re just joining us for this series, you can find the first two parts here:
And if you’re keeping score of the Democratic primary races we’ve already discussed:
US Senate
Governor
Lt. Governor
Attorney General
Comptroller
Land Commissioner
SBOE05, SBOE07, SBOE08, and SBOE13
SD05, SD11, and SD21
If you’re looking for websites and socials of candidates, check here:
Over the past few days, I’ve been contacted by several Independent and Green Party candidates who asked why I was only tracking the two major parties. And the reason is that the Secretary of State is only showing the two major primary elections at this time. Maybe I can find it elsewhere, but do the Green Party and Libertarians even have primary elections in Texas? No, they don’t. So, I’ll add them when the SOS adds them for the general ballot.
There are some Independents (*cough cough Mike Collier*) who are running as Independents but hoping to get Democratic voters. Of course, my feelings have always been that if you want Democratic votes, you should probably run as a Democrat. 🤷🏻♀️
Let’s talk about the Democratic Congressional primaries. (Under the 2025 map.)
TX01
We’re going to start with TX01, and I’m going to tell you it’s a long shot, but keep reading because there really aren’t too many long shots (surprisingly) for Democrats. However, this is a good opportunity for Democrats to chip away at Republican dominance in East Texas and build infrastructure.
TX01 is rural East Texas and consists of a lot of small towns, a few sundown towns, and is heavily Republican at the federal level despite a sizable Black population in some counties. Nathaniel Moran (R) is the incumbent here, and God forgive me, I have such a hard time with his name, because every time I see him, he’s speaking slowly and his mouth is hanging open.
Running for this seat are Rev. Dr. Tracy Andrus, Masika Ray, Dax Alexander, and Yolanda Prince.
This is one of the few districts that has an Anglo majority, 60%, an obvious product of Republican gerrymandering. Realistically, Democrats would have to overperform by something like +35 points to flip
...This excerpt is provided for preview purposes. Full article content is available on the original publication.