Texas has never had women in all three of its most powerful state offices at once. After last week's election, that could change in January.
Democrat Gina Hinojosa won the governor's race, and fellow Democrat Vikki Goodwin defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, according to Associated Press race calls reported by KPRC 2 in Houston. The third seat, Texas House speaker, is not decided by voters.
House members choose the speaker when the Legislature opens its session in January, and on Friday state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, a Houston Democrat, said she had the support to win it.
What is settled and what is not
The governor and lieutenant governor results come from election-night race calls. The speaker's race remains a pledge count until the House votes. The Texas Tribune reported that Democrats were on track to hold more than 80 of the House's 150 seats, though some close races had not yet been officially called.
The Tribune reported that Thompson's published list of backers had 90 names, eight of them Republicans. Her only Democratic rival, state Rep. Eddie Morales Jr. of Eagle Pass, withdrew Friday and endorsed her. If she wins, Thompson, 87, would become the House's first female speaker and its first Black speaker. She was first elected in 1972.
According to the Tribune, only two women have been governor: Miriam "Ma" Ferguson and Ann Richards. No woman has held the lieutenant governor's office or the speakership. Hinojosa would be the state's first Latina governor.
Voices from both parties
At her Capitol news conference, Thompson said she planned to run the House with members of both parties. "I'm not here to punish anybody," she said, as quoted by the Tribune.
State Rep. Tom Oliverson of Cypress, who chairs the House Republican Caucus, told the Tribune that some Republicans plan to back Thompson as a longtime friend, but he expects most of the caucus to stay together "and be an opposition party next session." Under caucus rules, Republicans are expected to back whichever candidate the caucus endorses, and it had not picked one.
