Marie Bailey is leaving Texas for Florida after Democrats flipped the state.
Bailey, 44, a realtor originally from El Segundo, California, has spent years running a large Facebook group for Californians relocating to Texas. She told The California Post she was “shocked” by the midterm results, especially by Gov. Greg Abbott’s loss, and is now plotting her own exit from the Lone Star State.
“There’s a lot of people who I believe are going to change course to Florida,” she said. “Florida is actually where I am going.”
Bailey said that she doesn’t trust Democrats as a former California native, having experienced what she perceives as liberal mismanagement in California.
“I just don’t trust the motives, and I understand all politicians have some corruption in them, but when I pay for it — like that bullet train and high gas prices and all of that in California — it directly hits my wallet,” she said.
Interest in Texas has diminished “quite a bit” among the people she’s spoken to since the blue wave hit, Bailey added. Most are now considering Florida instead.
Members of Bailey’s group voiced their frustration openly after Democrats James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa won the Senate and gubernatorial races, completing a sweep that shocked observers nationwide.
“If I have to tolerate blue I might as well have good weather so maybe back to CA? Or give FL a try?” one member posted.
“I am literally closing on a house in Texas next week! I am so pissed,” another wrote about the elections.
Breana Janel, another native Californian and baseball mom who once supported Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco in California’s gubernatorial race, said she was “heartbroken” about Democrats taking over Texas.
She “knew” Democrats “were coming for Texas,” but thought she had more time, Janel wrote.
“I don’t know that I can justify moving from one blue state to another…And I fear that Texas will never flip back,” she continued. “Now that they have control, I don’t think they’ll let go.”
She added: “That’s a lateral move. And for what? For it to look even more like California in four years?”
Janel is now considering Tennessee, the Carolinas, or Georgia, though Democrats notched several key victories in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia as well, flipping both the Senate and the House in DC.
The political reversal has been especially jarring for families who made dramatic life changes based partly on Texas’s Republican reputation. One couple told their story on Bailey’s website, saying they sold their two-bedroom, one-bathroom house in Orange County and moved into a five-bedroom, four-bathroom home in Texas.
“Our enthusiasm for Texas is real, our abundance is overflowing, and we are grateful, y’all,” the couple said.
The Gomez family, also cited by Bailey as a success story, said they chose to finally leave California after the pandemic crippled their business and put them “within an inch of total financial ruin.” One visit to Texas was enough for them to pack up and leave.
“If you’re on the fence, this is your sign. Take the leap. The weight has lifted and we’re beyond blessed to be in Texas,” they wrote at the time.
Affordability has long driven the California-to-Texas pipeline regardless of politics. “Ninety-nine percent of our clientele are people moving from California,” Bailey said. “No. 1 [reason] is cost of living and No. 2 is politics.”
A 2025 analysis by the California-based policy research institute RAND found that it is more than 2.3 times the cost to build multifamily housing in the Golden State than in Texas.
Joshua Blank, research director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, told the LA Times most people moving to Texas from California “tend to be moderate to conservative in their views.” He believes any Californian with buyer’s remorse concerning their Texas home is “silly.”
“They don’t have to move back,” he said. “And if they do, I’m gonna tell them they’re silly. It’s not a good way to make decisions.”
Some displaced Californians are now weighing a return to the Golden State for the pleasant weather, having given up on escaping liberal leaders entirely, while others look to Oklahoma, Tennessee, or the Carolinas for what they hope will be safer Republican sanctuaries.