Why can't Democrats win statewide races in Texas? This year's slate of Democrats is trying to break its party's infamous 20-year losing streak. 1994 was the last time Texas Democrats won statewide. Of course, we know Texas is an overwhelmingly Republican and conservative state. But other deeply Republican states (at least in presidential elections) like Oklahoma, Alabama and Mississippi have elected quite a few Democrats to statewide office in the past 20 years.
Sources: Alabama Dept. of Archives and History, Mississippi Historical Society, Office of Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor, National Governor's Association.
Illustration by Joanna Wojtkowiak