Red, White & Royal Blue tsunami? How Casey McQuiston predicted ‘Blexas’

This story originally appeared on Them.

This article contains spoilers for the plot of Red, White, & Royal Blue — and for the results of the 2026 U.S. midterm elections, but you’ve probably heard about those.

Americans across the country are rejoicing after Texas flipped blue, electing James Talarico as the state’s first Democratic senator in decades and Gina Hinojosa as governor. While many are experiencing the win as an elated surprise, fans of the LGBTQ+ novel Red, White & Royal Blue say this is unfolding just as the series foretold…

…or should I say Red, White & Royal Blexas.

Fans say that author Casey McQuiston predicted all of this in their smash-hit 2019 romance novel, which follows a love story between Alex Claremont-Diaz, son of the first woman president of the United States, and Prince Henry of England. Though their relationship starts as nothing more than a media friendship for the cameras ahead of Alex’s mother’s reelection, it blossoms into true love throughout the novel.

What does this have to do with the 2026 midterm elections, you may ask? Well, Alex hatches a plan to turn Claremont-Diaz’s home state blue during the election, which is, you guessed it, Texas. Alex actually comes up with a 14-page memo called “the Texas Binder” containing his strategy to take back his home state during the presidential election.

Barring a few of the details from the midterm election outcomes, sound familiar?

“It was all in the binder,” McQuiston confirmed in a response to Vulture’s Instagram post featuring a photo of Zakhar Perez as Alex with the caption “History, huh? #iykyk.”

Fans were also quick to point out the similarities between the novel’s political plot and the historic wins in Texas on social media.

“if Texas goes blue it’s all because of him,” one user on X wrote under a photo of Alex Claremont-Diaz (played by actor Taylor Zakhar Perez) from the film adaptation of Red, White, & Royal Blue.

“There will be a mandatory viewing of Red White and Royal blue tomorrow morning in Texas,” one user posted on X.

One X commenter quote-tweeted a previous post from 2024 saying, “the most unrealistic part of red white and royal blue was texas turning blue,” posting “alright so” on Wednesday.

“red white and royal blue has been vindicated for flipping texas,” another X user wrote.

“How are they gonna celebrate Texas voting blue if they've never even seen Red, White and Royal Blue???” another user asked..

While Texas has yet to go blue in a presidential election since 1980, the “blue tsunami” marked a historic moment for the historically red state, as a groundbreaking number of Democratic representatives were elected into public office. In addition to Talarico and Hinojosa’s monumental wins, Democratic candidates took control of the Texas House of Representatives. Democratic candidates also gained a slew of local offices including attorney general, state comptroller, and lieutenant governor.

McQuiston even followed up, posting a plethora of memes to their Instagram Stories referencing the plot of the novel and the midterm wins. They also were clear to mention, while it’s fun to joke, they didn’t invent the Texas Binder out of nowhere.

“Ok it’s been fun to hee hee and ha ha but in all seriousness let this remind u to love and celebrate and empower progressive leftists in historically red states and especially the south,” they wrote. “I didn’t pull blexas out of my ass 10 years ago i simply looked around and saw it.”

Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but regardless, there are worse things in this world than the results of the midterm closely resembling the plot of a beloved queer coming-of-age novel. Thanks to the power of local organizing, and perhaps the Texas Binder, there has been a historic wave of Democratic wins in Texas.

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