The midterm elections for 2014 proved to be an extremely disappointing night for the Democratic Party all over the country. Texas continued to be a “red” state despite the heavy campaigning and desire to turn “purple” or “blue”.
Attorney General Greg Abbott beat State Senator Wendy Davis by a 4% margin. His overall total votes were 349,109 and Davis earned 319,454 losing by 29,655 votes. This was a hard blow to die hard democrats who were hoping for Davis to win and change the political atmosphere in the state.
Davis’ concession speech was heartfelt. She told her supporters, “ Being disappointed is ok, being discouraged is not.” The loss set the tone for the rest of the nights results as many democrats hoped they could ride in on Davis’ coattails.
Senior incumbents such as Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, State Representative Senfronia Thompson, State Representative Sylvester Turner, State Representative Alma Allen, State Representative Borris Miles and Congressman Al Green retained their seats in their districts that have proved to be loyal to them.
The real race were in positions such as Attorney General, Texas Land Commissioner, Railroad Commissioner, and in the judicial sector where many were running for open seats or against incumbents that came in during the last republican sweep in 2012.
In the Attorney General race, Sam Houston – D, lost to Ken Paxton- R by 39,254 votes, 6%. This was the circumstance for majority of the races. Candidates lost by small margins and proved why the early vote really is an important measure in election practices.
The District Attorney race for Harris County was one to watch as major issues such as the future of misdemeanor drug policy in Houston was at stake. Democratic candidate Kim Ogg lost to incumbent Devon Anderson by a 6% margin as well. Ogg was 43,004 votes shy of winning.
The county had a Republican sweep. Incumbents kept their seats especially in the judiciary and claimed the top seat in the statewide races.
Congresswoman Lee gathered democrats together at the end of the night to rally together after Wendy Davis’ speech at the Harris County Democratic Party headquarters.
“Thanks Wendy for never giving up,” said Lee. “For never stopping with your story of hope and inspiration.”
That hope and inspiration is now targeted toward the 2016 election cycle.
“We continue to be proud democrats,” said State Rep. Sylvester Turner. “We will still fight for our children and education so they may have opportunities, so they may be able to go to college and have the opportunities our parents didn’t have.”
The issue of healthcare and lack of it for millions of Texans is still there even as a new governor will come into power. Elected officials that retained their seats will have to continue the battle with a heavier Republican influence for the next two years.
Although the night proved to be a dim one for democrats State Rep. Turner reminded supporters that today leads to tomorrow and tomorrow will lead to a change.