Texas Democrats have been hoping to turn the state blue for decades and decades.
Every time, they may come close but they never get over the hump.
It's difficult to overstate how atrophied the Democratic Party had become because of all these losses, they were really hopeless for a number of years.
But when I was in Texas just last week talking to Democrats, they felt that this time was different, that Talarico had the potential.
They thought this because of the political wins on Talarico's back, because Republican nominee Ken Paxton was - in their view - a flawed, scandal-ridden candidate, but also that something fundamental had changed among Texas voters, that this would be when they would break through.
Lo and behold, it turned out that way.
I don't think there were very many Texas Democrats who were willing to fully admit it up until just now, but this has been taking shape for a while.
