Republicans see Jim Wells County as a potential pickup in 2026

Republicans are treating Jim Wells County less like a long-shot map dot and more like a place where a local machine can be built. In Alice, county activists have leaned on precinct-chair recruiting, a formal party presence and meetings about poll watchers, judges and clerks as they try to turn a 2024 presidential breakthrough into lasting control over county government.

That matters because Jim Wells County is not just any South Texas county. Founded in 1911 and named for James B. Wells Jr., a powerful Democratic figure in the region, it has long been part of South Texas’s Democratic political landscape. The county seat is Alice, and the county’s 2020 census population was 38,891, with about 80 percent of residents identified as Hispanic in Census Reporter’s ACS-based profile.

The political ground is shifting. In the 2024 presidential election, official county results showed Republicans winning 57.55 percent to 42.03 percent for Democrats, a margin of roughly 15.5 points and a 7,636-to-5,577 vote spread. That was about a 5.8-point move toward Republicans from 2020, and precinct-level results showed 12 of 20 precincts voting majority Republican. For a county that once looked reliably blue, that kind of spread suggests a change in habits, organization and voter persuasion.

The basic numbers also show how much room remains for ground game politics. Texas Secretary of State data put Jim Wells County at 26,636 registered voters in 2020 and 26,593 in 2022. Turnout was 50.71 percent in 2020, then fell to 35.89 percent in 2022. For both parties, that means the fight is not just about presidential politics but about who shows up in smaller county races that shape roads, law enforcement priorities, tax rates and public services in Alice and across Jim Wells County.

Republican Party of Texas materials say precinct chairs identify and register voters, turn out the vote and serve on the county executive committee. The party’s Candidate Resource Committee is also designed to back Republican nominees in lower-ballot races who have county-chair or State Republican Executive Committee recommendations. That kind of recruitment can determine whether Republicans have candidates ready for commissioner precincts, county offices and other posts that set day-to-day priorities.

With 2026 already on the election calendar, Jim Wells County is becoming a test of whether a one-cycle Republican gain can harden into durable local power. In a county with deep Democratic roots and a rapidly changing electorate, the next contest may decide not just who wins the headline races, but who controls the machinery of county government itself.