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Yahoo Finance reports Democrats are on track to take the Texas House, which Republicans have held since the 2002 election, while the Associated Press projects Republicans keep the state Senate. We found no race call confirming the House, and Wikipedia's incomplete tally shows 76 Democratic seats of the 150, the bare majority. If it holds, Republicans control one chamber where we reported both this morning, and the new lieutenant governor, Democrat Vikki Goodwin, could face a Senate that strips her of committee powers.
The Texas Tribune set out what Gina Hinojosa has promised. "When I am governor I will issue a , a ban, on all data center approvals," she said in an October 22nd video, to run until the Legislature passes new laws. She wants union labor, water protections, an end to nondisclosure agreements that hide projects, and no more sales tax subsidies. She takes office January 19th.
The timing leaves a gap. Abbott's grid audit was expected to last until December, six weeks or more before she arrives, and nobody has yet spelled out the legal basis for his pauses or whether she could impose one without lawmakers.
In October, advocates found permits approved despite the pause, and the permitting agency then shut its online filing system. Hinojosa was one of many: Data Center Watch found 43% of 74 gubernatorial candidates it studied backed a moratorium or ban.
Democrats are on track for the Texas House, and Hinojosa wants her ban to last until lawmakers act
Yahoo Finance reports Democrats are on track to take the Texas House, which Republicans have held since the 2002 election, while the Associated Press projects Republicans keep the state Senate. We found no race call confirming the House, and Wikipedia's incomplete tally shows 76 Democratic seats of the 150, the bare majority. If it holds, Republicans control one chamber where we reported both this morning, and the new lieutenant governor, Democrat Vikki Goodwin, could face a Senate that strips her of committee powers.
The Texas Tribune set out what Gina Hinojosa has promised. "When I am governor I will issue a moratorium, a ban, on all data center approvals," she said in an October 22nd video, to run until the Legislature passes new laws. She wants union labor, water protections, an end to nondisclosure agreements that hide projects, and no more sales tax subsidies. She takes office January 19th.
The timing leaves a gap. Abbott's grid audit was expected to last until December, six weeks or more before she arrives, and nobody has yet spelled out the legal basis for his pauses or whether she could impose one without lawmakers. In October, advocates found permits approved despite the pause, and the permitting agency then shut its online filing system. Hinojosa was one of many: Data Center Watch found 43% of 74 gubernatorial candidates it studied backed a moratorium or ban. SourcesBBBC
Sources
- BUnder Hinojosa, Texas data center approvals could stay paused (Texas Tribune)texastribune.org
- BDemocrats' victories in Texas laid bare voter unease over data centers (Yahoo Finance)finance.yahoo.com
- BFive major takeaways from Texas' 2026 midterm election results (Fox 4)fox4news.com
- C2026 Texas House of Representatives election (Wikipedia, tally incomplete)en.wikipedia.org
This story ran in the Afternoon Brief of November 4th 2026.