ELECTION 2026
SAN ANGELO, TX – In the last few decades, blue moons have been much more frequent event than a full blue ticket in rural Texas. This year is a little different.
The Texas Democratic party boasts their first full statewide ticket in decades, with a candidate for every federal and state office.
In years past, Democrats and independent liberals in West Texas have been largely unrepresented in elections, with Republicans regularly sweeping un-contested general elections.
More than 30 counties in Texas have no Democratic party chair, and in many small towns and county elections the Republican primary functions as Election Day.
On the campaign trail this year, one topic in particular has given challengers an opportunity to present their arguments against the leadership in Austin and in Washington — namely the rapid development of data centers.
They argue that Republican leadership in the region has helped hamstring small government, leaving residents with few options to oppose these massive developments, which have voters worried about their light bills and water supply.
There are almost as many ongoing data center projects in Texas as there are counties, 248 as reported by the Texas Tribune in June.
The Democratic candidates are arguing for increased local control, something that they say has been intentionally stripped from county and city governments by the state legislature.
Meeting in Angelo
The candidates met up in San Angelo for a town hall dedicated to the topic, where around 50 people attended. Several at the meet said that they would vote for any candidate, regardless of party, who opposed data centers.
Pfluger vs. Reynolds
First, there is the U.S. Congressional Seat of District 11, currently held by Rep. August Pfluger, has faced only one opposition party challenge so far, in 2020, when current Tom Green County Democratic Chair Jon Mark Hogg ran and received a little over 20 percent of the vote in that election.
Pfluger has not released a statement on regional data center construction but has made appearances on television news programs discussing the attributes of business in Texas that attract data centers.
As a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Pfluger earlier this year emphasized that the U.S. needs to invest to beat China in the AI and nuclear energy race, saying during testimony about nuclear energy to power such centers: “We have to compete at the speed of commerce, and right now we’re competing at the speed of government, which is abysmal.”
This year, the Democratic Party nominated Claire Reynolds, a newcomer to District 11, to challenge the representative who has quickly made his brand synonymous with President Donald Trump.
Reynolds said she decided to run after her previous employer, the State Bar of Texas, refused to condemn the attacks on law firms by the Trump Administration.
Reynolds faced a challenger in the Democratic Primary, in what was probably the first contested Democratic Primary for the congressional district that includes San Angelo since Democrat O.C. Fisher, who began his congressional career in 1943, retiring in 1974.
During the town hall, Reynolds moderated receiving questions from attendees.
In a later interview with The Concho Observer, Reynolds talked more about her position on data centers.
“People do not like data centers. I knew that going in,” she said.
“One of the things that struck me the most was about how the solution being presented to us by our government, state and federal, is that they will pass legislation to make sure electricity costs stay low. But that’s not the concern a lot of people have, it’s not about money. They are very concerned about their environment. They are concerned about having Texas stay wide and open, and not having every available lot becoming a data center.”
Perry vs. Rodriquez
In the vast State Senate District 28, which stretches from the upper panhandle into the lower Concho Valley, there are just a little shy of one million voters in one of the largest state senate districts geographically, encompassing 40 counties.
The seat is currently held by Sen. Charles Perry, who has not faced a challenger since the special election that carried him to the senate in 2014.
Riley Rodriquez, a businessman from Abilene, secured the Democratic Party nomination uncontested in early 2026. He stands out from his Republican rival, sporting a bushy beard and jeans compared to Perry’s clean-cut suit. Rodriquez said he really differs from Perry dramatically in his opinion — especially over data center development.
Rodriquez criticizes what he calls an ongoing crisis in Abilene, as the development of a large data center there has many struggling to find affordable housing. The city has become the poster child for the anti-data center movement.
“It’s greed. It’s the same kind of greed that poisoned our state,” he says, “I’m getting told by my senator, Charles Perry, that data centers represent a net positive for the economy. I’d like to know when that positive comes in.
“They’re very clear that these jobs are temporary. So when these high paying jobs leave, are the prices going to go down? Are landlords going to lower their rents back down? Make less money? That’s not how this works.”
Sen. Perry, in an opinion published by the Lubbock Avalanche Journal earlier this month, said that data centers could result in significant financial benefit for Texas, but argued for strong vetting especially for water consumption; not quite the unequivocal denial that many voters seek.
“They think you can just let it rip out in rural Texas because it’s fine,” Rodriquez continued. “Rural Texas doesn’t work like Dallas, Houston, or Austin. You can’t expect to drop thousands of workers in a spot and expect it to be fine.”
Darby vs. Salazar
Finally, State House District 72, represented by Republican Drew Darby. If elected in 2026, it would mark his tenth term in Austin. The district’s two largest cities are Big Spring and San Angelo.
He has never, according to our research, faced any Democratic challenger in the general election during his time as a representative; his only competition appears to have been in 2006 against a Libertarian, and from a right-wing primary challenge from his own party in 2024.
Darby won re-nomination by a margin of over 4,000 votes that year, though he would go on to vote for a modified version of the same bill that Gov. Abbott had sought to punish him over, after Abbott backed Darby’s competition that year.
Darby’s initial refusal to support vouchers likely saved him the nomination, after an intense “Teachers for Darby” campaign brought many defenders of public education to his side locally.
Shiloh Salazar of Big Spring, who previously worked as a lobbyist for a nonprofit focused on advocacy for expanded childcare, is the Democratic nominee.
Salazar said she decided to run following Darby’s support over Gov. Abbott’s school voucher program — the Texas Education Freedom Accounts. She argues that any education reforms that fail to address poverty will be ineffective.
Salazar’s campaign style also stands in stark contrast to that of the incumbent, as she thinks and speaks quickly, staking out her positions during town halls, on Tik-Tok, and on the campaign trail, sometimes accompanied by her daughters.
At the town hall in San Angelo, she spoke about HB 2127, the so-called “Death Star” bill that had 60 co-sponsors including Darby.
That measure was introduced to curtail the ability of larger metropolitan areas who wished to enact progressive reforms — like requiring water breaks for construction workers during the summer — effectively making state law the final word on any private regulatory matter.
Residents in Denton were faced with a similar story in 2014, when they attempted to pass a ban on fracking within the city limits. The legislature handily swatted this measure down as well, setting a legislative precedent that remains.
In a statement released by Darby’s office, the representative said “If data centers are a future extension of Texas’ growth, then they must be developed responsibly and conditionally.
“Constituents in West Texas are rightly concerned about rising electricity costs, limited water resources, and private property rights…We have local elected officials who are accountable to their neighbors, and they can and should have a meaningful say in where and how data centers are developed. Local control is the Texas way.”
Darby said that going forward, he plans to pursue water consumption requirements for data centers, work to ensure domestic ownership and to stop tax abatements for these projects.
The statement was widely criticized by the opposition in San Angelo, with one Tom Green County Commissioner calling the statement “laughable.”
The data center pushback seems to be the first real ammunition that Democrats have had in rural Texas in recent, or even distant memory. The 2026 elections mark the first time all three elected officials will face challengers at the same time during their legislative careers.
Democrats are facing an uphill battle in 2026 however, with their Republican counterparts funded by war chests that are several orders of magnitude larger than theirs, and decades of ingrained institutional support for Republicans as the establishment party, pundits say messaging will be crucial.
Hot button issues, like data centers, have defined midterm elections in the past, but its timing seems to be opening up a number of rural voters to listening to the Democrats’ arguments.
