# USA Election Watch 2026 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 3, 2026, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-election-watch-2026/1034377 "2026-11-03T18:32:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 871
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2026, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-election-watch-2026/1034377/871 "2026-11-04T19:23:01Z")
(This is more of a personal reflection of the night and not analysis, just FYI. I did get mod approval to post this, however. TLDR: My wife and I went to the official Dem watch party here in San Antonio, caught up with the ex-mayor of San Antonio, and generally had a damn good night here in the Heart of Texas. At the very bottom are my thoughts on the actual election.) Last night was a magical night for a lot of people, including [Inna](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-in-the-age-of-trump-or-i-fell-in-love-with-a-republican/980600) and myself. Inna and I are married and, as the linked-thread discusses, when we met she was a Republican. Not die-hard, not MAGA, but just a, well, a normie who wasn’t Terminally Online and thought that Republicans were good for business and Democrats weren’t. (For those of you who don’t know, Inna was born and raised in the USSR, lived in Kyrgystan for 20 years post-Soviet days, and immigrated to America in 2008. Being able to vote is a right she loves having.) That thread was nearly four years ago and we’re going as strong as ever. Last night we went to the Bexar County Democrat Party official watch party, over off Broadway Ave, near the Pearl District (the centerpiece, the Hotel Ellen, is where rich people stay when they stay in San Antonio). It was absolutely packed, with 5 people being highlighted, the top draw being ex-mayor [Ron Nirenberg](https://voteron.com/), who was running (as a Dem) for Bexar (pronounced “bear”) County Judge. (I don’t think it will spoil the story to let you know [he won](https://www.kens5.com/article/news/politics/elections/election-2026-results-bexar-county-judge-nirenberg-von-dohlen-texas-commissioners-court/273-82128e68-69b4-49bd-ad51-e209e84b3f5d), 66-34 or thereabouts.) We met two friends of ours, Rayleen and Jared, they got drinks (I got Diet Coke), and the place was absolutely packed, high energy, and thrilling. Inna had never been to a political rally before, excepting pro-Ukranian rallies here in San Antonio. But those were protests, not campaigns. We [tried to go see Trump](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-antonio-trump-rally-10-7-livestream-thread/1033606) a month or so ago, but got locked out with about 100 people ahead of us in line. So we get to the party’s location, a large bar+restaurant with an even larger outdoor sitting area, a quality cover band is playing (regional favorites, they’re good enough to make a living from their work, apparently). Every so often, the band would break, being replaced by speeches from one or more young up and comers (county commissioners and the like). One of the guys gave a good speech, but it was much too long and at least one-third of it was \*after\* he said the phrase “… and lastly,… “, lol. Inna, the, er, \*former\* Republican, nodded and cheered quite a bit at the various hits on billionaires, for women’s rights, for health insurance premium assistance of some, \*any\*, sort (a touchy subject with us, given her ACA rates went up 50%). I have personally known Ron for about 15 years now – when he first ran for the city council, we invited him to our home for a National Night Out celebration, where he got to shake hands for a good hour. (More about him later, I guess there is going to be a bit of an analysis section later on.) So I took the three of them to Ron (he’s shaking hands, thrilled to be back in The Game), re-introduced myself and when I saw that he finally remembered me (I haven’t met Ron since pre-COVID, when I had a different wife), I then introduced himself to Inna and our friends. If there was any confusion on Ron’s part re: Inna, he hid it very well. A true pro/ A break comes, with the band playing again. Inna, Rayleen, and another woman from our table decide to go to the stage and dance. Not being a dancer, I decided this wasn’t the time to let \*that\* bother me, so after taking a short video of the three of them dancing, I joined my wife (the only guy who did so) and we, with the two other women, danced on the floor, the only people doing so, lol. Inna, a woman born and raised in the sexually-repressed USSR, danced \*very\* close to me, with a few hundred people surrounding, not a care in the world except the excitement and vibes. > **A small bit of tea** > > My ex-wife was there and saw the whole thing. I found out this morning as her FB feed came across mine. And I _thought_ I saw her! We went back to the table, looked up Kornicki and CNN clips, and called it a night around 9pm because we’re in our fifties, life is good, and one of the great things about being a grown-assed adult is understanding that late bedtimes kinda suck. Inna and I discussed our votes on the way home, I talked a bit about the 1994 election (which, to me, began to crystallize into national politics that which would become MAGA), and we wound down with a season one episode of \*Succession\*. OK, some thoughts on the actual election. **MOST OF THIS WILL FOCUS ON BEXAR COUNTY AND TEXAS** Bexar County has 10 State of Texas House districts within it. It was 7D-3R, now it’s 10D-0R. Ron Nirenberg gave a speech last night which was nothing less than a declaration that politics is his mission, he wants to aim as high as he can, and it’s obvious to even the least-savvy person that this judgeship is but a stepping-stone to the next job. Texas House/Senate? US House/Senate? Governor? I think he may become a force in Texas politics, and lord knows he picked the right year to return. HEB was selling red-white-blue flower arrangements, so I bought one for Inna. Dems took the [State House](https://thetexan.news/elections/2026/regime-change-democrats-take-the-texas-house-ending-republicans-two-decade-reign/article_8633636a-c402-4903-85b3-aae93edcd393.html). How’d the f\*\*\* did that happen? Lastly… 😉 It was a great night for Bexar Dems. But the party has to understand that they won not because they offered America a compelling vision, but that the other guys were so fundamentally awful. I mentioned 1994 above, in another post, but that was because Newt Gingrich gave the entire conservative movement that compelling vision, laid out in 10 policy positions that had enough parts so that some of it was broadly popular with the electorate, and in toto, all of it was enough to cement a 20-year focus and measurable goals for the Republican party that was broadly popular with the electorate. The Dems need to do the same, and soon, and that’s all I’m gonna say about that. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-election-watch-2026/1034377)._