U.S. Democratic Sweep Lifts Houston, Fort Bend Candidates
By Pramod Kulkarni
HOUSTON: After decades in the political wilderness, the Democrats swept the U.S. Midterm elections on November 3, 2026. Disenchanted with inflation and endless wars, voters decisively turned their back on the Trump administration and Republican officerholders to provide majorities to the Democrats in the House as
well as the Senate.
Democrats’ success in the Midterm elections could redraw the political map across the nation as well as the formerly red state of Texas. Among the prominent crests in
the blue Democratic wave were the Texas victories of James Talarico to the U.S. Senate and Gina Hinojosa to Austin as the first Democratic woman governor since Ann Richards in 1994. Talarico beat Ken Paxton by 55.1% to 43.0%. Hinojosa defeated three-time Republican Governor Greg Abbott by 52.8% to 45.7%. Vikki Goodwin beat Lt. Governor Dan Patrick by 51.7% to 45.6%. Talarico and Hinojosa won despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent by the Republican national party as well as wealthy donors such as Elon Musk.
In other Texas races, Rep. Lizzie Fletcher won reelection to the U.S. House decisively against Alexander Hale for the District 7 congressional seat. Leticia Gutierrez beat Alex Mealer in gerrymandered District 9. Christian Menefee easily defeated Ronald Whitfield in District 18. The few Republican wins included Trevor Nehls in District 22.
Jon Rosenthal beat Bo French for Railroad Commissioner by 52.5% to 45.6%. French gained notoriety by criticising the presence of South Asian fans at a UT football game. He has also spoken out against the Muslim community in Texas.
Prominent winners in the Texas House include Ron Reynolds for District 27, Gene Wu in District 137, Dr. Suleman Lalani in District 76. Pooja Sethi was the winner of District 47 and Salman Bhojani in District 92.
On the national scene, Vivek Ramaswamy lost the race for Governor in Ohio to Dr. Amy Acton by 44.4% to 52.3%. In Michigan, for the U.S. Senate Abdul El-Sayed beat Mike Rogers 52.5% to 45.5%.
In Harris County, Letitia Plummer defeated Orlando Sanchez to succeed Lina Hidalgo as the County Judge. Adrian Garcia won as Commissioner of Precinct 2 by 65.5% to 34.5% against Richard Vega 34.5%, and Lesley Briones won reelection as Precinct 4 Commissioner
by 62.3% against Steve Radack 37.3%.
In the Harris County Civil Court at Law No.4, Monica Singh won against John Donovan by 63% to 37%. Republican Mark Fury lost for the Justice of the Peace, Precinct 5, Place 2 to Lisa Jefferson by 42.9% to 57.1%.
In Fort Bend County, Dexter McCoy defeated Daniel Wong by 59.3% to 40.7% to win as the new County Judge. For the Judge of County Court at Law No. 3, Juli Mathew won against Jessica Jaramillo by 59.75% to 40.25%. April Jones won against Ken Mathews for County Commissioner Precinct 4 by 68.31% to 3.69%. For Justice of the Peace Precinct 3, Place 1, Sonia Rash won a close reelection against William Ferguson 52.4% to 47.6%.
As Democrats rode a wave of wins in the 2026 US midterms, Pia Dandiya was won of the names that stood out. The former teacher and high school principal beat Republican
Casey Askar in Florida’s newly redrawn 22nd Congressional District, whose new boundaries
were seen as being favorable to Republicans. She will be the first South Asian American to represent Florida in the U.S. House.
Dandiya’s win adds to the growing number of Indian-origin politicians in American public life. The first Indian-American woman elected to Congress was Pramila Jayapal from the state of Washington in 2017. She won reelection in the 2026 midterm election. Suhas Subramanyam, 40, won reelection to the US House from Virginia. He secured his victory with 63.15% of the votes. Dandiya and Subramanyam will be members of the Indian samosa caucus that includes Ro Khanna from California, who won reelection from California’s 17th
District while fellow party member Ami Bera flipped another California seat and Amish Shah led in a closely contested race in Arizona.
In Maryland, Indian-American Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller secured another term alongside Democratic Governor Wes Moore. For Los Angeles Mayor, Nithya
Raman won a close election against incumbent Karen Bass.
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