Texas AFL-CIO COPE Announces 2026 General Election Pro-Worker Endorsements

Below are the Texas AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education (COPE) 2026 general election endorsements.

Early voting for the general election will be Oct. 19-30, with Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026.

No action means that a vote was taken and the voting body decided not to endorse a specific candidate, allowing union affiliates to endorse at-will in that race. If a race is not listed, there was no recommendation from the delegates.

NOTE: There will be another round of endorsements announced over the summer, and some races will be added post-primary runoff. See the Texas AFL-CIO COPE 2026 Primary Runoff endorsements here.

Statewide Endorsements

U.S. Senate	James Talarico (D) Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Governor	Gina Hinojosa (D) Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Lieutenant Governor	Marcos Isaias Vélez (D) * Assistant Director of USW District 13 (Pending runoff results)
Attorney General	Nathan Johnson (D) (Pending runoff results)
Comptroller of Public Accounts	Sarah Eckhardt (D) Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Commissioner of General Land Office	Benjamin Flores (D)
Agriculture Commissioner	Clayton Tucker (D)
Railroad Commissioner	Jon Rosenthal (D)
Texas Supreme Court, Place 1	Maggie Ellis (D) * Member of AFSCME 1624 and TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas Supreme Court, Place 2	Chari Kelly (D) Member of AFSCME 1624
Texas Supreme Court, Place 7	Kristen Hawkins (D)
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 9	Holly Taylor (D) * Member of AFSCME Texas Retiree Chapter 12
15th Court of Appeals, Place 3	Marc Meyer (D) Retired member of IAFF 341
State Board of Education, District 5 (Central Texas)	Allison Bush (D) (Pending runoff results)
State Board of Education, District 13 (Dallas, Fort Worth)	Tiffany Clark (D), incumbent

* Union-first candidate

Union affiliations shown for Texas AFL-CIO affiliated union members.

Congressional Races

District maps available here.

U.S. House, District 1 (Tyler, Texarkana, Nacogdoches)	Yolanda Prince (D) (Pending runoff results)
U.S. House, District 2 (The Woodlands, Spring, Humble)	Shaun Finnie (D)
U.S. House, District 5 (Terrell, Palestine)	Chelsey Alexandra Hockett (D) (Pending runoff results)
U.S. House, District 7 (Houston, Sugar Land)	Lizzie Pannill Fletcher (D), incumbent
U.S. House, District 9 (Houston, Crosby, Liberty)	Leticia Gutierrez (D)
U.S. House, District 10 (Austin, Bryan)	Caitlyn Rourk (D)
U.S. House, District 13 (Amarillo, Wichita Falls)	Mark Nair (D)
U.S. House, District 15 (Edinburg, Alice, Beeville)	Bobby Pulido (D)
U.S. House, District 16 (El Paso)	Veronica Escobar (D), incumbent
U.S. House, District 18 (Houston, Missouri City)	Christian Menefee (D), incumbent (Pending runoff results)
U.S. House, District 19 (Lubbock, Abilene)	Kyle Rable (D) * Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
U.S. House, District 20 (San Antonio)	Joaquin Castro (D), incumbent
U.S. House, District 21 (San Marcos, New Braunfels, Kerrville)	Dr. Kristin Hook (D)
U.S. House, District 22 (Angleton, Lake Jackson, Sugar Land)	Marquette Greene-Scott (D)
U.S. House, District 23 (San Antonio, Uvalde, Fort Stockton)	Katy Padilla Stout (D) Member of Northside AFT
U.S. House, District 24 (Grapevine, North Richland Hills)	Kevin Burge (D) (Pending runoff results)
U.S. House, District 27 (Kyle, Brenham, Bay City, Victoria)	Tanya Lloyd (D) * Member of Texas AFT
U.S. House, District 28 (Laredo, Mission, Jourdanton)	No Action
U.S. House, District 29 (Houston, Aldine)	Sylvia Garcia (D), incumbent
U.S. House, District 30 (Arlington, Dallas, De Soto)	Frederick D. Haynes III (D)
U.S. House, District 31 (Georgetown, Killeen, Hamilton)	Justin Early (D)
U.S. House, District 33 (Dallas, Grand Prairie)	No Action
U.S. House, District 34 (Brownsville, Corpus Christi)	Vicente Gonzalez Jr. (D), incumbent
U.S. House, District 35 (San Antonio, Seguin, Karnes City)	Johnny Garcia (D) (Pending runoff results)
U.S. House, District 37 (Austin)	Greg Casar (D) Member of AFSCME 1624
U.S. House, District 38 (Houston, Cypress, Tomball)	Melissa McDonough (D)

* Union-first candidate

Union affiliations shown for Texas AFL-CIO affiliated union members.

Texas Senate Races

Texas Senate, District 4 (Port Arthur, Conroe)	Brett Ligon (R)
Texas Senate, District 9 (Fort Worth)	Taylor Rehmet (D) * President of the IAM Texas State Council
Texas Senate, District 19 (San Antonio)	Roland Gutierrez (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas Senate, District 21 (Laredo)	No Action
Texas Senate, District 26 (San Antonio)	José Menéndez (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)

* Union-first candidate

Union affiliations shown for Texas AFL-CIO affiliated union members.

Texas House Races

Texas House, District 1 (New Boston)	Sean Huffman (D)
Texas House, District 21 (Beaumont)	Ray Callas (R)
Texas House, District 22 (Beaumont)	Christian Manuel (D), incumbent
Texas House, District 26 (Richmond)	Eliz Markowitz (D)
Texas House, District 27 (Missouri City)	Ron Reynolds (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 28 (Richmond)	Sandy Ibáñez (D) * Member of Fort Bend AFT
Texas House, District 31 (Rio Grande City)	Jennifer Dominguez (D)
Texas House, District 35 (Mission)	No Action
Texas House, District 36 (Mission)	No Action
Texas House, District 37 (San Benito)	No Action
Texas House, District 38 (Brownsville)	Erin Gamez (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 39 (Weslaco)	Armando Martinez (D), incumbent
Texas House, District 40 (Edinburg)	No Action
Texas House, District 41 (Mission)	No Action
Texas House, District 45 (Driftwood)	Erin Zwiener (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 46 (Austin)	Sheryl Cole (D), incumbent
Texas House, District 47 (Austin)	Pooja Sethi (D) * Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 48 (Austin)	Donna Howard (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 49 (Austin)	Montserrat Garibay (D) * Former Texas AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer; Member of Education Austin (Pending runoff results)
Texas House, District 51 (Austin)	Lulu Flores (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 52 (Round Rock)	Christopher Jimenez (D)
Texas House, District 54 (Salado)	Dawn Richardson (D)
Texas House, District 55 (Belton)	Amelia Rabroker (D)
Texas House, District 56 (Waco)	Ashley Bean Thornton (D)
Texas House, District 65 (Lewisville)	Detrick Deburr (D) Former member of UAW
Texas House, District 70 (Dallas)	Mihaela Plesa (D), incumbent * Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 72 (San Angelo)	No Action
Texas House, District 74 (Eagle Pass)	Eddie Morales Jr. (D), incumbent
Texas House, District 75 (Clint)	Mary Gonzalez (D), incumbent
Texas House, District 76 (Sugar Land)	Suleman Lalani (D), incumbent
Texas House, District 77 (El Paso)	Vincent Perez (D), incumbent
Texas House, District 78 (El Paso)	Joe Moody (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 79 (El Paso)	Claudia Ordaz (D), incumbent
Texas House, District 86 (Amarillo)	Cullin Knutson (D)
Texas House, District 87 (Amarillo)	Diana Loya (D)
Texas House, District 92 (Euless)	Salman Bhojani (D), incumbent
Texas House, District 94 (Arlington)	Katie O'Brien Duzan (D)
Texas House, District 97 (Fort Worth)	Diane Symons (D) (Pending runoff results)
Texas House, District 100 (Dallas)	Venton Jones (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186) (Pending runoff results)
Texas House, District 102 (Richardson)	Ana-Maria Rodriguez Ramos (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 104 (Dallas)	Jessica Gonzalez (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House District 107 (Mesquite)	Linda Garcia (D), incumbent
Texas House, District 108 (University Park)	Allison Mitchell (D)
Texas House, District 112 (Garland)	Zach Herbert (D)
Texas House, District 115 (Farmers Branch)	Cassandra Hernandez (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 116 (San Antonio)	Trey Martinez Fischer (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 118 (San Antonio)	Kristian Carranza (D)
Texas House, District 121 (San Antonio)	Zack Dunn (D)
Texas House, District 122 (San Antonio)	No Action
Texas House, District 123 (San Antonio)	Diego Bernal (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 124 (San Antonio)	Josey Garcia (D), incumbent
Texas House, District 125 (San Antonio)	Adrian Reyna (D) * Member of San Antonio Alliance (AFT) 67 (Pending runoff results)
Texas House, District 130 (Cypress)	Brett Robinson (D)
Texas House, District 131 (Houston)	Lawrence Allen, Jr. (D) (Pending runoff results)
Texas House, District 133 (Houston)	Josh Wallenstein (D)
Texas House, District 134 (Houston)	Ann Johnson (D), incumbent
Texas House, District 135 (Houston)	Odus Evbagharu (D)
Texas House, District 136 (Austin)	John Bucy III (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 137 (Houston)	Gene Wu (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 138 (Houston)	Tyler Smith (D)
Texas House, District 139 (Houston)	Charlene Ward Johnson (D), incumbent
Texas House, District 140 (Houston)	Armando Walle (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 141 (Houston)	Senfronia Thompson (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 142 (Houston)	No Action
Texas House, District 143 (Houston)	Ana Hernandez (D), incumbent Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)
Texas House, District 144 (Houston)	Mary Ann Perez (D), incumbent
Texas House, District 145 (Houston)	Christina Morales (D), incumbent
Texas House, District 146 (Houston)	Lauren Ashley Simmons (D), incumbent * Member of TSEU (CWA 6186) & CWA 1180
Texas House, District 147 (Houston)	No Action
Texas House, District 148 (Houston)	Penny Morales Shaw (D), incumbent
Texas House, District 149 (Houston)	Darlene Breaux (D) (Pending runoff results)

* Union-first candidate

Union affiliations shown for Texas AFL-CIO affiliated union members.

The Committee on Political Education (COPE) is the Texas labor movement’s political arm. Local race endorsements have also been made by the local Area Labor Federations and Central Labor Councils.

The list of Texas AFL-CIO COPE 2026 Primary Runoff endorsements can be found here.

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The Texas AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) is the state labor federation consisting of more than 250,000 affiliated union members and advocates for working people in Texas. Learn more at texasaflcio.org