Republican Jace Yarbrough Wins Redrawn Texas District Near Dallas
Republican Jace Yarbrough won Texas's 32nd congressional district, near Dallas, in the November 2026 midterm elections, defeating Dan Barrios by 51.5 percent to 48.5 percent. The seat had previously been held by a Democrat, and Yarbrough was the only Republican to flip a Texas congressional seat in 2026, according to Al Jazeera.
The result is tied to a mid-decade redrawing of congressional boundaries, a process known as redistricting. In August 2025, the Texas state legislature voted to redraw the state's districts with the aim of helping Republicans win five extra seats in the 2026 elections. Texas was the first state to redistrict at the urging of U.S. President Donald Trump, who had called on Republican-led states to redraw their maps, according to NPR.
Before the redraw, the 32nd district covered left-leaning Dallas and its immediate suburbs. The new version includes only part of Dallas and stretches east to take in several Republican-dominated counties. In 2024, Latino, Black and Asian communities made up about 60 percent of the district's population. The new map lowers the share of those residents and adds several predominantly white areas.
Matthew Wilson, a professor at Southern Methodist University, attributed Yarbrough's win in part to the district being drawn to be heavily Republican. He also pointed to a shift in Yarbrough's campaign, from a primary focus on social and cultural issues to a general-election focus on lowering prices and the cost of living.
The Republican push did not produce a clean sweep. Democrats held onto four Texas districts that had been redesigned to favour Republicans, and Henry Cuellar of Laredo and Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen both won reelection despite redraws that added more Trump voters to their districts, according to Salon. Earlier in the cycle, Republicans had reconfigured three heavily Latino districts in the Rio Grande Valley, along the border with Mexico, according to PBS NewsHour.
Texas also elected its first Democrats to statewide office in 32 years. When the next Congress begins in January, Republicans will hold 24 of Texas's U.S. House seats, after losing one to Democrats in this cycle, and Democrats will hold 14.
