Hinajosa has won the Texas governor's race, and Democrats now appear set to take control of the state Legislature as well, according to commentary published on Econbrowser, citing Fox 4 News' roundup of 2026 Texas election results.

Texas has long been a pillar of the "structural advantage" Republicans have built in the U.S. House of Representatives — with gerrymandering, the practice of drawing district lines to favor one party, described in the commentary as an art in the state. Its 38-seat delegation is the second largest in the chamber, trailing only California. Texas drew national attention in 2025 when its Republican-led Legislature pushed through a rare mid-decade congressional remapping aimed at adding several GOP-leaning seats, prompting a quorum-breaking walkout by Democratic lawmakers, who left the state to deny the chamber the attendance it needed to do business. The Texas push was followed by counter-mapping in Democratic-led states, most notably California, where voters approved a legislative-drawn congressional map in a November 2025 statewide vote. And unlike states that assign mapdrawing to independent commissions, Texas leaves congressional redistricting to its Legislature and governor — which is why control of those offices carries direct consequences for the state's district lines. With the governor's office and, apparently, legislative majorities in hand, Democrats can now undo the Texas portion of that structural advantage — and that applies not only to U.S. House seats, but also to Texas statehouse districts.

Timing is not an obstacle. The U.S. Supreme Court has permitted redistricting to occur at any time, not only after each decennial census — the once-a-decade population count that normally anchors the process — meaning Texas Democrats could begin redrawing electoral districts to their own advantage as soon as they take office in January. The commentary argues they could go as far as building in advantages durable enough that Republicans would have a hard time reversing them, even if the party regains some of the voter support it has recently lost. The author calls it "the end of an era." What to watch from here: whether final results confirm the Democrats' apparent hold on the Legislature, and the shape of any new map once officeholders are seated in January.

Beyond redistricting, the author says there is no clear picture of where else Democrats may be able to unwind what Republicans have done, but contends Texas is big enough to make a huge difference on its own. The commentary also floats the possibility that the state could pursue expanded Medicare, and that the Texas utilities commission could be overhauled so that Texas can hook up fully to the grid.

For readers outside Texas, ending the Texas gerrymander is a huge deal, the author writes. The piece closes with a wry aside about the U.S. Senate, implying that comparable change there remains elusive.