Last year, with the midterms fast approaching, some Texas Democrats began talking about putting together a “super ticket,” a dream team of battle-tested franchise players who could raise big money and drive turnout across strategic demographic groups.

They wanted the Avengers. They got Miracle on Ice.

But just like Team USA facing the Soviets in the 1980 Olympics, the ragtag group of scrappy underdogs the Democrats put together ended up pulling off the impossible, beating seemingly insurmountable odds to win not just one major contest, but every statewide seat.

A group of little-known state legislators and one millennial farmer unseated longtime GOP powerbrokers and their wealthy backers, reversing the state’s entire political power structure in one night.

At the top of the ticket, Austin state Rep. James Talarico managed to haul in record-setting amounts of money for the U.S. Senate race and build a national brand through his social media presence. His colleague, Austin state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, saw fundraising and attention surge in the home stretch of her challenge to Gov. Greg Abbott.

But the rest of the ticket struggled to build the branding and get the funding needed to break through in a state the size of a small country. Less than a month before the election, about half of likely voters did not know enough to have an opinion on the Democratic nominees for lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller and railroad commissioner, according to the Texas Politics Project.

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[–] [S] 1 point 3 days ago

Democrats ran someone in every seat, creating a “reverse coattail” effect to get the word out about the whole ticket, even in districts where local candidates were sure to get walloped. They made significant investments in voter turnout, especially in purple counties. And they went all in behind the ticket they had, even if it was not the star-studded list they’d originally imagined.

I found this part interesting because that's not what my ballot showed. There was about three or four races where it was just a republican running unopposed. Would have liked to have seen even a token Democrat in those races cuz it might have paid off.

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