We Can Change

By Jonathon Reise, PfADC Communications Director and Field Director for the Travis County Democratic Party.

A year ago, I walked into Mayor Doug Weiss’ campaign with no experience in politics and no expectations. Well, one expectation: I was fairly sure I’d find a room full of snake-oil salesmen. I braced for slick handshakes, empty promises, and someone trying to sell me a miracle tonic between phone banks.

I suspect a lot of Texans have felt that way about politics for a long time. Democrats in this state have walked into election after election braced for disappointment. We heard it so often it started to sound like a law of nature: Texas doesn’t change. Texas can’t change.

This week, Texas changed.

On November 3rd, James Talarico became the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate race in Texas since 1988. Gina Hinojosa unseated Greg Abbott, ending three decades of Republican control of the governor’s office and becoming the first Latina governor in our state’s history. Then the two of them celebrated at a Whataburger, confirming what every Texan already knew: the real seat of power in this state has an orange-and-white roof.

Closer to home, Samantha Lopez-Resendez and Montserrat Garibay are headed to the Texas House. And Mayor Weiss, whose campaign is where my own story started, brought home wins for Pflugerville too.

None of it happened by accident. According to B-59’s 2026 election analysis, Texans cast 7,711,665 early ballots, equal to 94.7% of the entire 2022 turnout before Election Day even began. Williamson County’s early vote alone beat its whole 2022 total. In Travis County, more than 545,000 people voted. For a city that straddles both counties, those aren’t abstract numbers. Those are our neighbors.

Here’s what strikes me: the road our state took to get here looks a lot like the road I took this year. I’ve seen conflict, the kind of heated disagreements over strategy and candidates that only family can have. I’ve seen heartbreak: doors slammed, races that slipped away, long nights when the numbers just wouldn’t move. Texas Democrats have lived that same story, for decades. And every time, people got back up and knocked the next door anyway.

That’s the part I never expected. Not snake-oil salesmen, but community. Teachers, retirees, students, and parents who give up their Saturdays in the Texas heat because they believe their neighbors deserve better. By the time I was serving as field director for the Travis County Democratic Party, I wasn’t just organizing volunteers anymore. I was organizing neighbors.

My journey and our state’s journey turn out to be the same one. You show up skeptical. You stay because of the people. And somewhere along the way, the impossible starts to look inevitable.

But let’s be clear. Winning an election isn’t the same as changing a state. The hard part, the governing and the follow-through, starts now. The forces that held Texas back for decades aren’t going to pack up and leave because they lost one night.

I believe we can change. But that only happens if we keep working together. If we resist the urge to turn on each other now that the pressure’s off. If we remember why we do this in the first place: for our country; for our county; for our neighbors.

Back in April, I wrote on this porch about the small differences that so often pull us apart. This fall, I watched a whole state set them down, at least long enough to make history.

So keep knocking. Keep calling. Keep showing up for each other. Because when we organize?

We can change.