They fled California for Republican Texas. Then the blue wave hit the Lone Star State

Los Angeles Times ^ | Nov. 10, 2026 Updated 2:01 PM PT | Terry Castleman

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• Texas’ Democratic sweep has raised questions about whether California transplants helped turn the state blue, but experts doubt the newcomers drove the shift.
• Many Californians who moved to Texas were moderate or conservative, drawn by lower housing costs and a political climate that they believed better reflected their views.
• The election has unsettled some transplants, including one who is considering Oklahoma or Florida, while political analysts say the results don’t necessarily mean they should move again.

Did California help Texas turn blue?

One of the biggest stories of this month’s Democratic sweep in the midterms is that a very red Texas elected a Democratic U.S. senator and governor.

Pundits cite many theories for the surprising results: anger over the Iran war, high gas prices, Trump fatigue and data centers.

But did California’s high home prices and the state’s historic exodus play a role?

Experts doubt it. In fact, some Californians who moved to Texas are actually concerned about the blue wave.

Many presume that those arriving from California must be much more liberal than the average Texan, said Joshua Blank, research director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

But “a significant share of the Californians transplanting to Texas tend to be moderate to conservative in their views,” he said.

For years, Californians fled to Texas in droves. About 100,000 people made the move in 2022 alone, and many were looking not just for a lower cost of living but also a state that reflected their conservative political outlook.

Nearly half of those Californians who moved to Arizona or Texas during the California exodus in recent years identified as conservative or very conservative, according to a Stanford University study.

The Public Policy Institute of California found that those who leave the state often go...

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TOPICS: Culture/Society; Politics/Elections
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Article Summary

[Flaming Conservative]

Yes, and now the idiots aim to make Texas into California. What arrogance!

[frank ballenger]

While traveling and staying in motels in the 1980s there used to be outside ice machines and coolers. Managers would say “Local punks urinate in them sometimes so I can’t guarantee the one we have is okay. Might be yellow. Just a heads up.”

Sounds like the California scumbags changing Texas.