Election night 2026 will be remembered in Milam County for its local results — but across Texas and the country, it was a night that rewrote the record books. Voters elected firsts of nearly every kind: firsts of race, of gender, of age, and firsts that ended losing streaks older than many of the voters who broke them. Here is the history, as reported by national outlets on election night. Results are unofficial, and races described as "projected" had not been formally called by every major outlet at press time.

Texas makes two kinds of history

Gina Hinojosa will be the first Latina governor in Texas history — the state had never elected a Hispanic chief executive — and the first Democrat elected governor of Texas since Ann Richards in 1990. Gov. Greg Abbott conceded Tuesday night and called to congratulate her; the Associated Press called the race late Tuesday evening.

She is only the third woman governor in Texas history, after Miriam "Ma" Ferguson, first elected in 1924, and Richards. Put precisely: she is the first woman elected governor in 36 years, and when she takes office in January it will have been 32 years since a woman last held the office — Richards left in January 1995.

James Talarico, the state representative from Austin, is the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas since Lloyd Bentsen won re-election in 1988 — and the first Democrat to win any statewide race in Texas since 1994, ending a 32-year drought. At 37 (born May 17, 1989), he will also become the youngest member of the U.S. Senate, a distinction held until now by Georgia's Jon Ossoff, 39.

A first Native American woman governor — and a first Black woman governor

In New Mexico, Deb Haaland — an enrolled citizen of the Laguna Pueblo and a former U.S. Secretary of the Interior — became the first Native American woman ever elected governor of a U.S. state, and the first Native American governor in her state's history. Editors' note for precision: she is not the first Native American governor overall; Oklahoma had Johnston Murray in the 1950s and has Kevin Stitt, a Cherokee Nation citizen, today. Haaland's first is as a woman, and it is a genuine one.

In Georgia, Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, was projected the winner by NBC, Decision Desk HQ, CBS, and CNN — making her the first Black woman ever elected governor of a U.S. state. She is also Georgia's first woman governor and its first Black governor; all 83 of her predecessors were white men. She is the first Democrat elected governor of Georgia since 1998.

Florida made its own history the same night: Byron Donalds will be Florida's first Black governor, and the first Black Republican ever elected governor in the United States.

When January comes, something will be true that has never been true before: four Black governors will serve at the same time — Maryland's Wes Moore, re-elected Tuesday, plus Bottoms, Donalds, and Wisconsin's David Crowley, who became the first Black governor of Wisconsin (and, at 40, the youngest Wisconsin governor elected in nearly a century). Before this election, only three Black Americans had ever been elected governor in the nation's history, and never two at once.

More firsts in the governors' races

- Minnesota: Amy Klobuchar is the first woman elected governor of Minnesota, defeating House Speaker Lisa Demuth with about 55% of the vote in the first all-woman major-party contest for the office in state history. (Demuth would have made history either way — she would also have been the state's first Black governor.)

- Tennessee: Marsha Blackburn is the first woman elected governor of Tennessee. She won with about 45.5% of the vote — the first Tennessee governor in at least a century to win without a majority, in the state's narrowest governor's race in more than 100 years.

- Ohio: Amy Acton is the first woman elected governor of Ohio. (Nancy Hollister briefly held the office by succession in 1998–99 but was never elected to it.) She is also the first Democrat elected Ohio governor in about 20 years.

- Iowa: Rob Sand is the first Democrat elected governor since Chet Culver in 2006, ending a long Republican hold on the office.

- U.S. Virgin Islands: Stacey Plaskett became the first woman elected governor of the territory (the islands have elected their own governors since 1970).

Senate firsts

- Minnesota: Peggy Flanagan, the state's lieutenant governor and a citizen of the White Earth Nation, is the first Native American woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating Michele Tafoya to succeed the retiring Tina Smith.

- Michigan: Abdul El-Sayed is the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating former Rep. Mike Rogers by about seven points to hold the seat of the retiring Gary Peters.

- New Hampshire: Chris Pappas is the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Senate.

- Illinois: Juliana Stratton's win makes Illinois the first state with two women of color serving in the Senate at the same time — Stratton, who is Black, joins Tammy Duckworth. She is Illinois' second Black woman senator, after Carol Moseley Braun in 1992. When the new Congress convenes, three Black women will serve in the Senate simultaneously — another first.

- South Carolina: Annie Andrews is the first woman elected to the Senate from South Carolina, and the first Democrat elected senator from the state since Ernest Hollings in 1998.

- Kansas: Adam Hamilton is the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Kansas since 1932 — a 94-year drought, reported as the longest of its kind in the country.

- Iowa: Josh Turek, a two-time Paralympic gold medalist who uses a wheelchair, is the first Democrat to win an Iowa Senate race since 2008 and appears to be the first person with a permanent disability to represent Iowa in federal office.

- North Carolina: Roy Cooper is the first Democrat to win a North Carolina Senate race since Kay Hagan in 2008.

The structural firsts

The two parties' long arrangements in Washington ended Tuesday as well. Democrats were projected to take control of the U.S. House (Decision Desk HQ projected it at about 9:10 p.m. Eastern; CNN, NBC, and CBS followed within minutes), putting Hakeem Jeffries in line to become the first Black Speaker of the House — the speakership itself is decided by a vote in January. Late Tuesday night, NBC and Decision Desk HQ also projected Democrats will take the U.S. Senate, on the strength of six flipped seats: Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas.

And in the House

- Colorado: Melat Kiros, 29, is the first Gen Z woman elected to Congress; her campaign is also credited with making her the first Black woman sent to Congress from Colorado.

- New Jersey: Adam Hamawy is the first Muslim member of Congress from New Jersey.

- New York: Claire Valdez was characterized by CNN and the Center for American Women and Politics as the first Native American woman elected to Congress from New York.

Update — Friday, November 6

On election night we held four history-making races out of this article because none had been called: the Minnesota and Tennessee governor's races, Minnesota's Peggy Flanagan for the Senate, and Michigan's Abdul El-Sayed for the Senate. All four have since been called — and all four made the history they promised. They are included above: Minnesota's first woman governor (Amy Klobuchar), Tennessee's first woman governor (Marsha Blackburn), the first Native American woman elected to the U.S. Senate (Flanagan), and the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate (El-Sayed).

All results are unofficial until canvassed and certified.