AUSTIN, Texas _ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott breezed to a second term Tuesday but didn't annihilate Lupe Valdez the way he did Wendy Davis four years ago.
One of his goals was to make deeper inroads into the Hispanic vote.
At the governor's election watch party in Austin, a visitor from Missouri who said he plans to move to Texas soon said he regrets he couldn't vote for Abbott.
"He's a very humble guy and his policies make more sense than Lupe's," said Deir Montiel Dominguez, 25. "I believe he appeals to Latino voters because his policies are good for everyone."
A year ago, Valdez was not Democratic leaders' first pick _ or even their second or third _ for their dream of giving the Republican incumbent a scare.
But Valdez, underfunded and ill-prepared to debate state issues, had the good fortune of running on the same party ticket as the wunderkind of Texas politics, U.S. Senate hopeful Beto O'Rourke.
O'Rourke's electrifying rallies and fundraising fueled voter turnout, benefiting Valdez and depressing Abbott's margin of victory.
In August, Dave Carney, Abbott's top strategist, spoke of how a well-greased voter mobilization machine assembled by the governor's team over years would attempt to run up the score and help down-ballot Republicans.
O'Rourke _ and possibly President Donald Trump's success at nationalizing the election around issues such as a border wall and a caravan of Central American migrants _ combined to drive statewide turnout well above Team Abbott's original expectations.
That brought to the polls a surge of Democratic-leaning and independent voters, especially women. Many appeared eager to signal displeasure with Trump by voting for Democrats such as Valdez, even if they knew little about any of O'Rourke's ticket mates.
That was a break for Valdez, who had no money for broadcast TV ads.
All year, she sought with limited success to build name recognition beyond Dallas, where she served as sheriff from 2005 to last December.
Valdez, 71, is the first Hispanic, woman and lesbian to be elected in Texas, perhaps the country.
Democratic Party operatives viewed her as a vehicle to help attract voters in those three demographics, particularly Hispanic voters.
Abbott's prowess at fundraising left few wealthy donors willing to bet on Valdez.
She accused him of "pay to play," or in effect granting favors and plum appointments to huge contributors. But with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz's battle with O'Rourke, the El Paso congressman, commanding most of the attention, Valdez struggled to be heard.
Abbott held the megaphone. Since last year's legislative session, the incumbent raised nearly $32 million. This year, he spent $46 million and still had $20 million left as of Oct. 27, according to his filings with the Texas Ethics Commission.
That left him plenty with which to place some last-minute bets on fellow Republicans, though he won't have to disclose the details for many weeks.
Valdez raised $1.8 million through Oct. 27, meaning Abbott with his $66 million stash had nearly 37 times as much money to spend this year as she did.
While Abbott was more visible, Valdez picked her spots. She took part in a bus tour with fellow Democrats, though it was low profile and hardly noticed by voters. Her message was that Abbott and state Republicans are neglecting moderate- and low-income Texans who need affordable health care and quality education to prepare for the jobs of the future.
Abbott, 60, a former state attorney general and Texas Supreme Court justice, has clashed at times with fellow Republicans in the Legislature, especially in the House, where five-term Speaker Joe Straus is retiring.
The governor has called for more conservative leadership in the House. He has proposed to sharply limit local taxing jurisdictions' ability to reap increased property tax revenue because of increasing valuations.
Abbott also has spoken of a desire to tackle school finance, especially the "Robin Hood" system that dates to a court ruling in the early 1990s. It requires wealthy school districts to transfer some of their property tax revenue to poorer districts.
What began as a shift of wealth from a few dozen districts, though, has morphed into a system diverting revenues from more than 200, including big districts in Austin, Houston and Dallas. That's partly because state lawmakers since 2009 have paid a lesser share of the state-local schools tab.
The governor doesn't talk much about the trend of declining state support, at least in relative terms.
Abbott, though, has spoken of how he wants to increase compensation for public school teachers, though it's not clear he has buy-in from educator groups for a proposed, merit-based system for rewarding master teachers. It's based largely on a plan his Education Commissioner Mike Morath helped institute in Dallas as a school trustee there.
In 2015, Abbott helped press for cutting tax rates on businesses and professionals paying the business-franchise or "margins tax." He has boasted that Texas has an enviable climate for business. He's also seeking to boost state universities to elite status, and has begun recruiting top scholars and researchers.
