Holding the Line, Texas Midterms 2022
photo or infographic by Michael Scholwinski
MIDTERM ELECTIONS. With the midterm elections over, power really hasn’t shifted much in Texas.
Midterm elections started on November 8th, 2022 with all the marbles in play. Texas midterms elections have already counted all early votes and are starting to count all the final votes for the rest of the heavily contested midterm for some major positions both for Willis and across the state. The election will see some of the most major positions with Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General all up for grabs this election. Willis also has some more important county and city wide elections that are important to the overall governing of everyday needs.
The elections in 2022 have come and gone with Willis and Texas being heavily affected as a whole through multiple positions.
The Governor position has been a heavily contested race throughout the campaigning period and watching what the outcome for Texas might be will see how the state might swing in the country as a whole. Greg Abbott was able to pull in the win with a reported 54.8% votes for the incumbent, beating out O’Rourke in the race for the Governorship. The win by Abbott will show how Texas is deciding to stay heavily Republican throughout the race, even as Democratic candidates gain more traction within the state. The Republican party also won most of the US House, with 25 of the 38 seats awarded to the Republican party during the last election. The winning of the House by the Republican party is also a heavy indicator of how the state is most likely to vote, with a heavy Republican majority keeping a strong lead within the state. The strong lead by the Republican party keeps a strong lead in elections, with Abbott winning in a similar margin last year. Dan Patrick also won the Lieutenant Governor position and the Attorney General continued to be Ken Paxton. The full sweep in the three positions shows how Texas is continuing to go Republican.
A Republican Texas almost seems like a constant throughout the modern era of the United States, but recently the Republican party was thought to be losing ground to the Democratic party. A heavy win this midterm showed how the Republican party is still holding its ground within Texas and most of the state as a whole. Texas as a whole had very little flips, but seeing the southern tip of Texas could be showing how voters in southern Texas are flipping Democratic. The 34th district in Texas flipped Democratic with a win from Vincente Gonzalez, which may be showing a trend of losing ground to hispanic voters within the region. While that might be the case, the 15th district neighboring the 34th district also flipped to Republican this midterm election. The flip between these two districts could possibly be the redistricting that happened recently that may have placed more Republicans and Democrats in the two separate districts respectively. It may take till the next midterm election in 2024 for Texas to fully see if the Republican party could be losing ground with voters in Texas, but for now Republicans keep their majority in this election.
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Michael Scholwinski is a 1st year newspaper staff member who has been active in many aspects of school life. A previous football player and current wrestler,...
