Political parties in three states set all-time party and a few state records in gubernatorial elections during the 2022 midterms. In Hawaii, Lieutenant Governor Josh Green won a party- and state-high 63.16 percent in the gubernatorial race, besting predecessor David Ige’s 62.67 percent in 2018. In Florida, GOP Governor Ron DeSantis received 59.37 percent – just eclipsing the 59.10 percent won by Republican Harrison Reed during Reconstruction in 1868. In Wyoming, Governor Mark Gordon claimed a party (and state) record 74.07 percent en route to a second term, besting the 67.12 percent GOP mark he set four years prior and the 69.99 percent received by Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal in 2006.

Former Texas Democratic U.S. Representative Colin Allred announced this week that he will run for the U.S. Senate again in 2026, two years after falling 8.5 points short of unseating incumbent Ted Cruz. Allred is looking to become just the fifth failed Texas U.S. Senate major party candidate – and first Democrat – to win his party’s nomination for a second time since the turn of the 20th Century. Allred would join Houston attorney T.M. Kennerly in 1924 and 1928, Brownsville attorney Carlos Watson in 1936 and 1954, Wichita Falls college professor John Tower in 1960 and 1961, and Houston drilling executive George H.W. Bush in 1964 and 1970. Only Tower was successful at winning a seat in the chamber in their second go-around. [Tower was technically not the GOP nominee in 1961’s all-party jungle special primary, but was the only Republican on the ballot].