Voters on Election Day ousted Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who had served nearly 12 years as governor. Abbott's administration spent billions of dollars on state-led immigration enforcement, including deploying National Guard soldiers, arresting migrants and building border barriers.
Democrats Gina Hinojosa and Nathan Johnson won the governor's and attorney general's races. Hinojosa is the first Mexican American elected governor of Texas. Johnson is the first Democrat elected attorney general since 1994. Johnson will succeed Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office defended the governor's immigration policies in federal court.
Business owners said before the election that arrests and deportations of undocumented people had left some construction companies short of workers. Democrats also regained support in border counties, including the Rio Grande Valley, that had shifted toward Trump two years earlier. The election gives Democrats a chance to change Texas's immigration enforcement approach, the report said.