Politics

Republican Wins Texas 32nd District Amid Redistricting and Blue Wave

By Emma Withrow, Joseph Stepansky

In the recent midterm elections, Republican Jace Yarbrough defeated Democrat Dan Barrios in Texas’s 32nd congressional district, a seat that had been heavily redrawn to favor Republicans. Yarbrough’s victory marked the only Republican flip of a Texas congressional seat this year. Southern Methodist University professor Matthew Wilson, who resides in the district, explained that Yarbrough shifted his campaign focus from social issues to economic concerns such as cost of living, which resonated with voters in the fall. Wilson also noted that the district’s new boundaries, adopted in August 2025 by the Texas legislature at President Donald Trump’s urging, incorporated predominantly white, Republican‑leaning counties and reduced the share of Latino, Black, and Asian residents.

Yarbrough won 51.5 percent of the vote to Barrios’s 48.5 percent, a closer margin than many expected. Texas Republicans will begin the next congressional term with 24 representatives, having lost one seat to Democrats. Democrats will hold 14 House seats from Texas.

The redistricting effort also backfired in other districts. In the ninth district in Houston, Democratic candidate Leticia Gutierrez won nearly 58 percent of the vote over Republican Alex Mealer, thanks in part to targeted Spanish‑language outreach and door‑knocking in Latino communities. Similar Democratic victories occurred in the 28th, 34th, and 35th districts along the U.S.–Mexico border, where incumbents Henry Cuellar, Vicente Gonzalez, and Bobby Pulido defeated Republican challengers.

Political experts attribute the Democratic gains to a shift in Latino voters, who made up 40 percent of Texas’s population and had previously supported Trump in 2024. Economic concerns and opposition to Trump’s immigration policies mobilized Latino voters, leading to higher turnout and stronger support for Democratic candidates.

"When a particular group feels that they are threatened, that mobilises them," said Texas Southern University professor Michael Adams. "We normally see a higher increase in voter turnout."