The media dismissed the 2019 constitutional state income tax ban passed by Texas Republicans as a “political stunt”. With Democrats about to take control, it is now clear it was one of the most important laws passed by Texas Republicans the past decade.

Breaking: Trump nominates James Sullivan, one of 4 Republican Texas Supreme Court justices who unexpectedly lost their seats in last week's Democratic wave, to serve as a federal judge for the Western District of Texas.

Sullivan was previously Abbott's general counsel

"It’s sad that an incoming Justice’s first public statement is one against religious freedom." – @_KShackelford of the @firstliberty_

texasscorecard.com/state/texas-in…

Every Republican State Representative should vote for a Republican speaker of the Texas House and then immediately begin organizing to take back the Texas House in 2028.

Voting for a Democrat speaker is absurd.

Voters will reap what they sow.

One of history’s most shocking crimes.

I was right then and I’m right now

One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.

So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."

Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.

There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.

But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.

Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:

1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel

Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)

In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.

The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.

If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.

But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.

I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.

Here is my general thoughts from last night. Republicans are tired holding power and doing nothing with it. They are tired of the party and the state it has been in for decades. With Trump coming into office for many people felt like it was our last chance at real change. What they got was a lot of the same Bush era policy. Many have simply thrown up their hands and said I'm done with these politicians.

What now? Well, a lesson needs to be learned and if the GOP wants to hold power from here on we have to remake the party as one that is serious about passing policy people want. They don't want war and they don't want $4 gas and they want to afford their home.

Until the GOP convinces people that we hear them and change direction we will get much of the same. Take your licks and get serious about the next two years, Texas as we know it depends on it.

Greg Abbott has been the most conservative and accomplished governor in the history of our state.

He will be remembered for that and for doing everything he could do to help the entire Republican ticket this election.

Thank you @GregAbbott_TX .

BREAKING: @GregAbbott_TX concedes Governor race to @GinaHinojosaTX

Decision Desk calls it for James Talarico, Texas’ first Democrat Senator in over 30 years

Best campaign ad ever.

Are you a Republican and not planning to vote?
If Talarico wins, it's your fault.

Found my Halloween costume. Terrifying. 😂🤘

SCOTX issues a stay in the case regarding the Transgender mailers

reminder about what Citizens United was about

a group made a movie critical of Hillary Clinton and the federal government banned its release and advertising

+2 votes today via the Abbott Impact app. Genuinely a tidy piece of campaign tech. Everyone I contacted said they’d been hit up more than once.