It’s hard to overstate the elation in our home on Tuesday night as we watched the election returns come in.

Wow, just wow… and WOW! It finally happened: Texas turned BLUE.

Tracie, the girls, and I are so excited about what’s going to begin happening in January! Our number one local and most immediate issue is “Goverbor Abbott out of our schools!”

But more than anything else, we are so relieved that Donald Trump’s crop of extreme Islamophobes, transphobes, and xenophobes were not allowed to drive our state deeper into the MAGA hegemon. Empathy and common sense prevailed. And now — apologies for the continued oceanic metaphors — the tide has turned!

So many people worked so hard in our state to achieve these results. My personal shout-outs go out to the voter registration drive led by Southeast Texas Impact Initiative in the Golden Triangle where Tracie grew up; and to Erika Harrison, who turned a successful career as a food influencer into a powerful platform for political activism and advocacy. Erika, you are a north star and I am your biggest fan! If you’re reading this, follow her and subscribe.

I’d also like to thank everyone for all the wonderful messages that have arrived from beyond our state. I couldn’t be more proud that our state led the charge.

For those of you watching on from outside, please know that the wave didn’t just include the marquee names like Talarico and Gina. Here in Houston, Democrats swept local offices as they did statewide offices. Dems even took the Texas house! Unbelievable!

It still feels surreal. But we will wake up to an empathy-, decency-, and intellectually driven government in January.

On Wednesday morning, Tracie and I both woke up before dawn and checked our phones to make sure we weren’t dreaming.

“Please go get some flags for our yard!” she said as she left the house.

When her mom called, she said “Tra, you must be on cloud 9 today!”

Tra’s answer? “Cloud 9? Cloud 10, 11, and 12!”

Thanks to everyone who stuck with us in this campaign and didn’t give up on what they thought was Blue America’s ugly stepchild. It turns out that we might just be home to its favorite daughters and sons.

Even though Tracie, the girls, and I live in the most progressive, culturally diverse, and most Democratic city in conservative Texas, we don’t live in a bubble.

Most of our friends and neighbors support progressive ideals and vote Democratic. Our neighborhood is dotted with Gina and Talarico signs. But there is the occasional Paxton and Abbott yard. No one in our corner of the state steals or vandalizes signs. Everyone lives side-by-side despite our differences.

I understand that many of my fellow Southeast Texans see today’s election as an existential crisis — a ride-or-die election — for the Republican party.

At the same time, I recognize that my progressive fellows and I often talk about the contest in the same, however inverted, terms.

If Abbott, the favorite, wins, there’s no doubt that he will continue to dismantle our school system through his now seven-year takeover. Our children have been impacted directly by the degradation of education funding.

I invite my conservative friends to consider how Abbott is impacting our kids and future generations of kids in Texas.

Abbott has also ushered in some of the most stringent reproduction rights restrictions in the nation. I know a lot of Republican women who are pissed about it.

Republicans, please consider Gina for our kids, your kids, and our kids’ kids!

I also know a lot of Southeast Texans who are voting for Paxton. To them I ask, are you voting for Paxton or are you voting for Trump’s control of the Senate? I see the logic of your argument: another Supreme Court nomination and the continuation of his overarching policies and the MAGA hegemon.

Republicans, please remember that while you will achieve some of your goals if he wins, you also get continued war and tariffs that drive up costs.

You also get one of the most corrupt politicians in the U.S. as your representative. Is it worth it?

Whatever you believe, please vote! G-d bless America and G-d bless us all. See you on the other side. May the best persons win.

Last night, Tracie and I watched the president of the United States tell his supporters, “I can just see the fake headlines: ‘President Trump is talking about all the money they’re making while people are suffering at the pump.’ That will be the headline. But I said, I don’t give a damn, I’m going to say it: We’re making a freaking fortune.”

His disconnect between Americans’ reality and the billionaires’ payday is as appalling as it is astonishing, especially given his hubris in implying it won’t make a difference to voters.

But Trumps will be Trumps. He doesn’t just enrich himself at the average punter’s expense. He rubs it in said citizen’s face. It’s the Trump way and his supporters love him for it.

What are our children going to say 30 years from now when they remember this moment? Whether Dem or GOP, politicians are painting this election as a choice between absolute good and outright evil. And both sides are complicit in the demonizing of their opponents. Let’s face it.

The same thing is happening in Israel, our partner and client in the Iran war. Neither country will be the same nation the day after the election.

Our family watches the news together in the evenings as we get ready for dinner. If my children believed what the TV tells them, they’d be convinced their father and mother are voting for candidates who are “anti-oil, anti-beef [and] anti-Texas.”

For the record, Tracie and I both drive gas-guzzlers, we eat a ton of Texas beef (growing kids, after all), and we love living in Texas (except for our youngest who wants to move to California where I grew up).

We also can’t stand for a state government whose focus is harassing Muslims and transgender families and destroying our school system (we have been directly affected).

We also can’t stand for a senator who won’t vote to stop the war in Iran and restore full aid to Ukraine.

I’ve heard more than one person say they deeply regret their vote in 2024. As you head to the polls, please ask yourself what your children will say about this moment. Please consider the world they inherit.