A required reading list before the State Board of Education would present a predominantly Christian perspective to public school students, Jewish leaders say. view article

The outgoing lawmakers have cast doubt on whether their respective primary opponents, Ken Paxton and James Talarico, can win in November. view article

Priorities for Republican leadership last legislative session have either been stuck in the courts or left to linger in the state rulemaking process.  Last year, Texas became the first state to require warning labels on thousands of food and beverages containing common 44 dyes or additives, cleared the way for ivermectin to be sold without a prescription and approved a $3 billion fund for dementia research. All three were headline-making in their own right.  But nine months later, all three bills — considered health priorities by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows — have run aground, either stuck in the courts or left to linger in the state agency rulemaking process.   Of the three, the Dementia Prevention Research Institute (DPRIT) has been the only one sidetracked from the get-go, blocked for now by a lawsuit filed by two voters who claim there were voting irregularities last fall when Texans overwhelmingly approved it. P view article

Stopping Sharia, eliminating property taxes, and closing the primary are among the GOP's priorities for 2027.  Signaling where grassroots activists want lawmakers to focus efforts in the next session, the Republican Party of Texas announced Thursday the eight legislative priorities chosen by delegates at last weekend’s state convention.  According to a letter sent to State Republican Executive Committee members by new Chair D’rinda Randall, the list still awaits formal review by the Legislative Priorities Committee, but these are the issues that rose to the top of delegate voting. view article

Stopping Sharia, eliminating property taxes, and closing the primary are among the GOP's priorities for 2027.  Signaling where grassroots activists want lawmakers to focus efforts in the next session, the Republican Party of Texas announced Thursday the eight legislative priorities chosen by delegates at last weekend’s state convention.  According to a letter sent to State Republican Executive Committee members by new Chair D’rinda Randall, the list still awaits formal review by the Legislative Priorities Committee, but these are the issues that rose to the top of delegate voting. view article

Gov. Greg Abbott and state party leaders want a Texas law allowing only registered Republicans to vote in GOP primaries.  During the Texas Republican Convention last week, Gov. Greg Abbott publicly backed a push to close primaries and require voters to register with a party.  “We are going to make clear that in the future, only Republicans vote in Republican primaries,” he said Friday, addressing the convention in Houston. view article

Texas senators approved a bill April 23 that they said would save seniors and people with disabilities about $950 on their annual property tax bills. Senate Bill 23, by Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, would raise tax exemptions to $200,000 for homes owned by people who are over 65 years old or have a disability.  The current homestead exemption is $100,000 for most homeowners and $110,000 for seniors and people with disabilities.    SB 23 would apply only to taxes levied by public school districts. The state would spend $1.2 billion to ensure districts do not lose revenue due to the increased exemption, Bettencourt said.  "It’s a win for the taxpayer, it’s a win for the school districts—and we’re spending our surplus to do it," Bettencourt said on the Senate floor. "[Seniors and people with disabilities] are the people that need our help the most to stay in their homes, and I think it’s a fabulous investment."   view article

Texas State Rep. Gina Hinojosa came through North Texas on a tour to “save Texas public schools.” She speaks with Lone Star Politics about the stakes ahead of the election and her promise to fire the Texas Education Commissioner on day one, if she defeats incumbent Governor Abbott. view article

HOUSTON—The Republican Party of Texas will have new leadership after delegates elected D’Rinda Randall as party chair and David Covey as vice chair during Senate district caucus meetings Friday at the state convention in Houston.  Randall defeated incumbent Chairman Abraham George, under whom she had served as vice chair.  Under Texas law, the party’s chair and vice chair must be of opposite genders. With Randall elected chair, delegates selected Covey to serve as vice chair.  The leadership elections came as thousands of delegates gathered in Houston to adopt the party platform, select legislative priorities, and chart the party’s course ahead of the 2026 general election and the 2027 legislative session. view article

The Republican Party of Texas’ meeting in Houston offered a look at the state GOP’s next chapter and messaging heading into the fall’s midterm elections. view article

State Representative Gina Hinojosa says she’ll put a stop to state takeovers of local school districts if she’s elected governor of Texas.  The Austin Democrat held a press conference on Monday at a closed elementary school in downtown Austin. Hinojosa is challenging Republican Governor Greg Abbott in November, and she’s making public education a focus of her campaign.  On Monday, she called for the removal of Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, head of the Texas Education Agency.State Representative Gina Hinojosa says she’ll put a stop to state takeovers of local school districts if she’s elected governor of Texas.  The Austin Democrat held a press conference on Monday at a closed elementary school in downtown Austin. Hinojosa is challenging Republican Governor Greg Abbott in November, and she’s making public education a focus of her campaign.  On Monday, she called for the removal of Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, head of the Texas Education Agency. view article

Committee members examined allegations that cities have failed to update local ordinances while discussing potential "Death Star 2.0" reforms ahead of the next legislative session.   Texas lawmakers are examining whether local governments are complying with a state law designed to prevent cities and counties from regulating in areas already governed by state law—and whether stronger enforcement tools are needed to ensure compliance    The Texas House Select Committee on Governmental Oversight held its first hearing Thursday to review implementation of the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act, a 2023 law that limits local regulations in broad areas of state law. Supporters say the measure helps businesses by ensuring consistent rules across Texas, while opponents argue it restricts local control. view article

The Republican said he agreed to speak at the event prior to Clayton Tucker’s involvement because it was “the right thing to do.” Both are critics of data center construction in Texas.  At least 248 data centers are currently planned to be built in Texas, almost half of which are set to be built in unincorporated areas, a Texas Tribune analysis found. The state currently has 335 existing data centers. view article

The spot will stream throughout the Spurs-Knicks series on ESPN+, depicting Gov. Greg Abbott as a basketball-playing string puppet committing “turnover after turnover of our money to his donors.” view article

Republicans are grappling with a stunning Democratic upset: a swing of 30+ points away from the G.O.P. in a deeply conservative part of the state. While the race was local, political operatives are already gaming out the impact on the midterms, how it could scramble the fundraising race, and what it portends for the Hispanic vote in the age of ICE. view article

The former state senator will leave office July 17 after overseeing seven statewide elections and a high-profile legal fight over Texas' primary system.  Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson announced Tuesday that she will step down from the position on July 17, ending a three-and-a-half-year tenure leading the state’s elections and business filings agency.  “It has been an honor to serve the people of Texas in this role,” Nelson said in a statement. “My time as Secretary came at an important moment for Texas, and I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish as an agency in under four years.”  Gov. Greg Abbott praised Nelson’s service, calling her “a true champion for the people of Texas and an extraordinary Secretary of State.”  “I am deeply grateful for her long and loyal service and outstanding leadership,” Abbott said. “She has represented our state with grace and honor across the globe, and Texas is better because of it.” view article

Adrian Reyna’s childhood is marked by memories of running around the halls of Brewer Elementary School where his mother was principal during the 1990s. Decades later, Brewer Elementary is now called Brewer Academy and sits closed on the West Side of San Antonio, and Reyna is a master teacher at San Antonio Independent School District, working in a grant-funded position meant to strengthen teaching pipelines.   As of Tuesday night, however, Reyna appears to be on his way to a seat in the State House of Representatives to represent Texas House District 125, a district his father Arthur “Art” Reyna represented from 1997-2001.  view article

Reaffirming a statewide tuition freeze first announced in 2024, Abbott told higher education leaders they may not raise undergraduate tuition or fees. view article

The proclamation will order state lawmakers to convene in Tallahassee starting June 1.  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 27 called for a special legislative session to pass his plan to exempt homeowners from paying property taxes on their permanent residence.  The Republican governor revealed his plans to sign a proclamation that would require state lawmakers to convene in Tallahassee and discuss his “Save Our Homes” proposal starting on June 1.  “Taxing something that you own repeatedly, which is a property tax, is the worst way to do taxation,” DeSantis said in a news conference on May 27. view article

Thomas Smith has won the Republican nomination for Court of Criminal Appeals Place 3 after defeating Alison Fox in Tuesday’s Primary runoff election. The CCA is Texas’ highest criminal appellate court.  The May 26 runoff followed the March 3 Primary in which none of the candidates secured more than 50 percent of the vote. Fox received 31.3 percent while Smith took 30.7 percent, forcing the two top vote-getters into Tuesday’s runoff.  Incumbent Judge Bert Richardson chose not to seek reelection to the statewide court, leaving the seat open. Richardson—who was first elected to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2014 and reelected in 2020—is instead running for Chief Justice of the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio. view article

Incumbent Jim Wright loses after serving one term.   A majority of Republican Primary runoff voters chose Bo French over Jim Wright as the party’s nominee for the Texas Railroad Commission.  Both men were the top vote-getters in the March Primary, but Wright underperformed with just 32.1 percent of the vote. French won 31.8 percent. With neither scoring a majority in the five-way race, both were thrust into the May 26 runoff   Established in 1891, state law transitioned the Railroad Commission of Texas into a state agency with oil and gas oversight in 1917, with the last of its railroad oversight transferred to the Texas Department of Transportation in 2005. Currently, the Railroad Commission has primary regulatory jurisdiction and enforcement over the oil and natural gas industry and is responsible for both state and federal compliance. view article

Republicans Tom Sell and Jon Bonck won their primary runoffs Tuesday for a pair of open congressional seats in Texas’ South Plains and the Houston area, respectively, making them the heavy favorites to join the U.S. House next year representing the deep red districts.  Republican voters in Texas’ 19th Congressional District, which represents a wedge of West Texas from Lubbock to Abilene, elected Sell as the Republican nominee. Sell, a businessman with deep familial ties to Lubbock, was endorsed by several U.S. House GOP leaders, including House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer. view article

The Austin lawmaker now faces an uphill battle against Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the state’s second-highest executive, in November. view article

Middleton, a conservative state senator and oil and gas executive, put more than $16 million of his own money into the race. view article

The Ysleta Independent School District is in danger of wiping out its savings without significant changes as part of the 2026-27 budget, the district’s internal auditor and chief financial officer warned the school board Wednesday night.  “If we don’t change our expenditures, then we are going to end up consuming all of our fund balance” at the end of the next school year, CFO Lynly Cambern told the Ysleta school board.  Ysleta ISD is the second major El Paso district in as many days to warn of looming financial catastrophe, following El Paso ISD’s announcement Tuesday that it was facing a $52.7 million deficit this year and a $42 million deficit next year unless major changes are made. view article

John Cornyn is trying to fend off Ken Paxton. Both parties are picking attorney general nominees. And an oil and gas regulatory race has become uncharacteristically costly.  Nearly 14 months and $135 million later, Texas’ blockbuster Republican Senate primary will finally be decided Tuesday.  It’s a battle that nominally began last April, but whose contours were set long before — in 2023, when Cornyn cast doubt on President Donald Trump’s electability and Paxton faced an impeachment from members of his own party; in 2022, when Cornyn negotiated a bipartisan gun safety bill and Paxton was one of just two elected officials to show up at Trump’s presidential campaign launch; or perhaps in 2020, when the attorney general led the legal charge to overturn Trump’s presidential election loss. view article

Texas House District 41 was opened by the retirement of Rep. Bobby Guerra, a Democrat. Donald Trump carried the district with 50.3% of the vote in 2024.  Voters in the Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday will decide a pair of spicy runoffs for Texas House District 41 in the heart of President Donald Trump’s massive gains in the region in 2024.  Republicans are eyeing a seat opened by the retirement of Rep. Bobby Guerra, a Democrat from Mission who represented the area since 2013, after the president carried the district last cycle with 50.3% of the vote — a 7-point swing to the right from his 2020 performance.  Similar lurches toward Republicans played out across the Texas-Mexico border, where the Texas GOP’s yearslong efforts to make inroads with Latino voters helped Trump claim 14 of the 18 counties within 20 miles of the border, including some that had not voted for a Republican presidential candidate in more than a century. view article

Middleton helped fund the Legislature’s swing to the right, and an internecine challenge to Ken Paxton. But that’s nothing next to the money he’s spent on himself.  WASHINGTON — When Michael Burgess first ran for Congress in 2002, his name was sandwiched between two now-familiar politicians on the Republican ballot.  Above him was John Cornyn, making his first bid for U.S. Senate. Further down was Ken Paxton, a then first-time candidate running for the state House in Collin County.  All three won those initial races in a landmark year for the Texas GOP, when the party established the trifecta control of Austin it’s maintained ever since. Twenty-four years later, Cornyn and Paxton are on a collision course, battling in an ugly runoff to be the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat Cornyn has occupied for over two decades.  Burgess, a Lewisville Republican and affable policy wonk, retired at the end of 2024. Having observed both for decades, he’s backing Cornyn. view article

Some party leaders are also also alleging GOP interference on behalf of Galindo, who said she would “turn Karnes ICE Detention Center into a prison for American Zionists” if elected.  Democratic leaders are condemning Texas congressional candidate Maureen Galindo over her latest round of antisemitic comments.  Galindo finished first in the Democratic primary for Texas’ 35th Congressional District and is in a runoff election against Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Garcia. Democratic leaders in Washington and Texas have backed Garcia amidst a mysterious six-figure advertising campaign to boost Galindo, a sex therapist and housing advocate.  Last weekend, Galindo said in an Instagram post that she intends to write legislation to “turn Karnes ICE Detention Center into a prison for American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking.” view article

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The Wylie ISD Republican Student Club founder testified before Congress on the infiltration of Sharia into Texas schools. view article

Republicans and Democrats are picking party nominees in a slate of other races, from attorney general to congressional seats that could help determine partisan control in Washington. If no single candidate won at least 50% of the vote in the March 3 primary, the top two finishers head to a runoff.  view article

Campaigns are racing to turn out small slice of voters expected to decide contests for the U.S. Senate, House and statewide offices. view article

Six of Texas’ largest cities lost residents in 2025: Dallas, El Paso, Arlington, Plano, Irving and Garland.  Fewer people are moving to Texas cities amid the country’s broader immigration slowdown, but the state remains home to some of the fastest growing cities in the country, new U.S. Census Bureau data show.  Celina, a city about an hour north from downtown Dallas, was the fastest growing city in the country last year, according to census data released Thursday. The city grew by 24.6%, adding more than 12,710 residents between July 2024 and July 2025.  Eight of the 15 fastest-growing cities in the U.S. are in Texas — primarily suburbs in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, the state’s largest urban area. Meanwhile, some of the state’s biggest cities like Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth are still adding tens of thousands of residents — despite a slowdown in international migration to the United States and lower birth rates. view article

Julie Johnson labels her opponent a “flip-flopper.” Colin Allred said previous votes reflected Rio Grande Valley frustration with Biden-era border policies. view article