James Talarico's midterm victory in the Texas Senate race is an early sign that a "new era" is beginning in one of the country's deepest red states, one expert told The New York Times. For decades, Texas politics had been dominated by a form of conservative evangelicalism that seemed almost unshakable. Republicans…

I’m not one to typically employ the writerly first person, but after last night please allow me the indulgence. Eight years ago, having moved to Texas to cover the 2018 midterms for the Texas Observer, I traveled across the state tracking what would be a blue wave of historic proportions. On Election Night, I watched…