Election News

No Beto for us but women candidates win big in Dallas midterm elections

A last chance for now to have this photo, sob.

Courtesy photo

Beto lost, but Texas had an epic turnout in the 2018 midterm election on November 6, with more than half of the eligible voters in the state taking to the polls. Republicans were re-elected in every statewide race, but Democrats gained 12 new seats in the Texas House of Representatives.

In one of the biggest victories for Democrats, Collin Allred defeated Republican incumbent Pete Sessions, who has been in office since 2003, for the U.S. House seat for District 32. Flipping this House seat helped push Democrats to take majority control of the lower chamber, winning 219 races across the country. Republicans now hold 193 seats.

Incumbent Senator Ted Cruz pulled off a narrow victory over Representative Beto O'Rourke, winning by 51 percent and 200,000 more votes than Beto.

In his concession speech, O'Rourke congratulated Cruz and thanked his supporters.

"I'm as inspired, I'm as hopeful, as I have ever been in my life, and tonight's loss does nothing to diminish what I feel about Texas and this country," O'Rourke said. He also dropped an enthusiastic F-bomb, stating that he was "so fucking proud of you guys" to his supporters.

Dallas County re-elected U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson by a whopping 91 percent.

Dallas County also gets a new district attorney: John Cruezot was elected with 60 percent, replacing incumbent Faith Johnson, who was appointed by Greg Abbott in 2016 to fill the seat vacated by Susan Hawk.

In other state house races, Dallas Democrat Nathan Johnson will replace Don Huffines in Senate District 16, and Julie Johnson will replace Matt Rinaldi in House District 115.

Women won big in the Texas House with five new players taking seats in North Texas including Michelle Beckley, who defeated Ron Simmons of Carrollton; Terry Meza, who defeated Republican state Representative Rodney Anderson of Grand Prairie; and Rhetta Bowers, who defeated Republican Jonathan Boos in Sunnyvale.

Voters approved all four ballot propositions for Dallas ISD. The propositions will allow the district to buy new buses, approves refunding tax notes, raises the tax rate, and approve attendance credits.

Statewide, Republicans were re-elected by slim margins. Governer Greg Abbott was re-elected by 56 percent, Dan Patrick won re-election to Lt. Governer by 51 percent, Ken Paxton kept his seat as Attorney General with 51 percent, Land Commission George P. Bush won with 54 percent, Christi Craddick received 53 percent of the vote for Railroad Commissioner, and Sid Miller won re-election to Agriculture Commissioner with 51 percent.

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family values

Dallas sees Texas' biggest one-year jump in cost of raising kids

Courtesy of SmartAsset/iStock

Raising a child in Dallas will cost parents over $23,000 this year.

Raising a child is not an easy or inexpensive feat, and a new study has determined Dallas parents are saddled with the second-highest costs for childrearing in Texas, with expenses jumping higher than any other metro statewide since 2025.

SmartAsset's latest report, "Cost of Raising a Child in Major U.S. Metros – 2026 Study," calculated year-over-year changes in the annual cost of raising a child (factoring in childcare, additional housing costs, food, transportation, medical costs and other necessities) in the 48 largest U.S. metro areas. MIT's Living Wage Calculator was used to compare the living costs of a household with two working adults and one child to that of a childless household with two working adults.

Childrearing costs in Dallas-Fort Worth have grown 4.5 percent since last year, totaling $23,340 for a family of three in 2026. That's over $1,000 more than what it took to raise a child in 2025, and it's $1,414 higher than what it took in 2024.

This is how SmartAsset broke down the cost for raising a child in Dallas:

Cost of childcare: $10,736
Cost of food: $1,826
Other expenses: $10,778

Though Dallas has the second-steepest costs for raising a child in Texas, the metro is actually much more affordable than most other places in the U.S.: DFW ranked 39th in SmartAsset's national list of cities with the highest childrearing costs in 2026, making it the 10th most affordable U.S. metro for raising a family.

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont in California topped the list with the highest childrearing costs in the U.S., at $43,171. The cost for raising a child in this California metro soared nearly 11 percent higher since last year.

Memphis, Tennessee ranked dead last as the most affordable U.S. metro for raising a child in 2026. Families will spend less than $20,000 to raise a child in Memphis, only 3.24 percent more than what was needed in 2025.

Raising a child in other Texas metros
It may come as no surprise that Austin is the most expensive place to raise a child in Texas, and it appeared as the 31st most expensive U.S. metro for families. Parents will spend nearly $25,000 to raise a child in the state's capital city, which is $703 higher than it was a year ago.

Meanwhile, San Antonio-New Braunfels is the most affordable metro in the Lone Star State for raising a family, and it's the third-most affordable place for raising a child nationwide. San Antonio parents will spend $21,393, or $448 more than last year, on their childrearing costs.

Houston also ranked among the top 10 most affordable U.S. metros for raising a child, landing in 7th place nationally, with childrearing costs adding up to $22,605 in 2026. That's only $737 more than last year.

The top 10 most affordable U.S. metros for raising a child in 2026 are:

No. 1 – Memphis, Tennessee ($19,922)
No. 2 – Nashville, Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee ($21,216)
No. 3 – San Antonio-New Braunfels ($21,393)
No. 4 – Birmingham, Alabama ($21,684)
No. 5 – Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, Virginia ($22,314)
No. 6 – Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Georgia ($22,470)
No. 7 – Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ($22,605)
No. 8 – Richmond, Virginia ($22,658)
No. 9 – Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky ($23,270)
No. 10 – Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ($23,340)

family dallas fort worth arlington smartasset reports livability