Republican Jace Yarbrough narrowly defeated Democrat Dan Barrios in Texas’s 32nd Congressional District, taking 51.5 percent of the vote and becoming the only Republican to flip a Texas congressional seat in the 2026 midterms.

The result came in a district redrawn in August 2025 as part of a Republican effort, urged by Donald Trump, to gain five additional Texas seats; the new boundaries reduced the district’s share of Latino, Black and Asian residents from about 60 percent and extended east into Republican-dominated counties.

Even with those changes favoring Republicans, Yarbrough’s narrow win reflected a broader Democratic swing across Texas congressional districts.

Matthew Wilson, a Southern Methodist University professor who lives in the district, said Yarbrough moved from emphasizing cultural and social issues in the primary to focusing on prices and other economic concerns in the general election.

Latino voters, who make up 40 percent of Texas’s population, shifted back toward Democrats after moving toward Trump in 2024, with experts citing affordability concerns and opposition to Trump’s immigration policies as factors in Democratic support and turnout.

That shift helped Democrat Bobby Pulido unseat Republican incumbent Monica De La Cruz in another border district, reversing a regional conservative trend that had helped Trump carry nearly every Latino-dominated border district in 2024.

Democrats also won targeted South Texas races, with Johnny Garcia beating Carlos De La Cruz by more than 10 points, Henry Cuellar taking nearly 66 percent against Tano Tijerina, and Vicente Gonzalez defeating Eric Flores by more than 15 points.

In Houston’s ninth district, where Latinos make up about 60 percent of residents, Democrat Leticia Gutierrez defeated Republican Alex Mealer with nearly 58 percent of the vote after emphasizing Spanish-language outreach and pocketbook issues.

Texas Republicans will enter the next congressional term with 24 House seats, one fewer than before, while Democrats hold 14; Democrats also retained the four other districts Republicans had targeted in their redistricting plan.