Texas Democrats Swept Statewide Races. Now Comes the Hard Part of Solving Healthcare Angst.

Texas Democrats spent three decades trying to regain control of the governor’s mansion and other top state leadership positions. This Election Day, they pulled off a decisive upset, taking statewide offices and the state House, partly due to voter anger over healthcare costs and the difficulty of getting care. Now the state’s newly elected leaders have two months before the next legislative session to figure out how to deliver on their promises on healthcare affordability and other thorny issues, such as abortion. And they need to do it in the face of bruising political opposition over a frenetic 140-day legislative session that begins Jan. 12. “Democrats are still putting together something of an agenda in essentially what is a ‘dog catches car’ scenario,” said James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project, a polling and political analysis group at the University of Texas-Austin. Texas was at the crest of the nationwide blue wave that flipped control of Congress. The traditionally deep-red state elected James Talarico to the U.S. Senate, and Democrats picked up a seat in the U.S. House, despite efforts by Republicans to draw districts in their favor and at least $225 millio...