The political status quo in Texas exploded this week, with Democrats taking over top offices in state government and winning a majority in the statehouse.
After running on promises of improving public education and making life more affordable, will Texas Democrats actually be able to do it?
Ben Rowen, Texas Monthly‘s news and politics editor, joined us to talk through what the newly elected Democrats’ priorities might be.
These interview highlights have been edited for length and clarity. To hear the conversation in full, click the play button above.
There has to be a real sense of urgency to make some changes here. What’s on the docket? What can we expect from Texas Democrats?
Truthfully, there isn’t quite yet a docket, but if you look at the election and what propelled Democrats this cycle — beyond the general anti-incumbency, anti-Trump voting — a lot of Republican support for Democrats came on the issue of school vouchers. Texas passed a school voucher program two years ago that was very unpopular, even amongst rural Republicans. Texas has not accepted Medicaid expansion. There’s the data center issue that a lot of voters were voting on, and I think if you look at what the Democrats are going to try and do off the bat, that’s a good starting point.
The Texas Senate still has a GOP majority. Do you see an opportunity for collaboration between the statehouse and Senate on vouchers?
Straight collaboration? Not so much. The voucher program was unpopular with many Republicans, too. In the Senate, it passed easily because Dan Patrick, our outgoing Lt. Gov., controlled that body very closely.
I think the real leverage point Democrats have is the one thing the legislature has to do every session: pass a budget. They can’t leave session without doing so. So, Democrats can presumably leverage their control of the House to control that budget making process.
Would Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa have line-item veto power to eliminate funding for the school voucher program?
Yes. Again, Democrats can, through the budget, just underfund the program, too, and make it functionally useless.
Incoming Attorney General Nathan Johnson said he will not pursue lawsuits against out-of-state abortion pill providers. That was not Ken Paxton’s stance. He was willing to use his position to solidify the state’s ban on abortion. That’s about to shift, it would seem, under this new attorney general.
Absolutely. The Texas Attorney General’s office, to borrow a term that I think the Texas Tribune coined, was the largest, conservative law firm in the country. It was suing abortion pill doctors. It was also levying hundreds and hundreds of lawsuits against Democratic administrations and supporting general, right-wing principles during the Trump presidency. That obviously changes day one.
I think Nathan Johnson, who’s assuming that office, made a pretty big point in his campaign that he is going to return to a depoliticized office. I don’t think there is a truly depoliticalized attorney general’s office, but you obviously won’t be seeing the lawsuits against tech companies for allegedly censoring users for posts about vaccines or whatnot.
Doesn’t this also reposition Texas on the larger national stage as we approach the 2028 presidential election?
Absolutely. I think Republicans can have success without winning Michigan. They can’t have success with winning Texas, and historically, the thought for many Republican and moderate voters in the state has been, ‘I don’t want to put at risk the so-called Texas miracle, the economy of Texas, which has been booming for decades.’
If it turns out that Democrats can lead the state and continue that success, you might see a lot of people who’ve been historically reticent to vote for the party move towards the party.
Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning are the hosts of KERA’s NTX Now. Got a tip? Email Miranda at msuarez@kera.org or Ron at rcorning@kera.org.
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