Abbott called on supporters to push through the primary runoffs to deliver the final pro-voucher members needed to pass his legislation, plus some padding.  Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday urged school voucher supporters to make the final push in the May primary runoff elections to bring a pro-school voucher majority to the Texas House. Delivering the opening speech at an annual conservative policy conference in Austin, Abbott declared that the school voucher movement was “on the threshold of success” after the March 5 primary. The election saw several anti-voucher Republican incumbents lose to pro-voucher challengers, putting pro-voucher members on the verge of a majority in the Texas House, the last legislative roadblock to the policy. view article

AUSTIN, Texas — Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Representative Brad Buckley, and Senator Brandon Creighton to the Education Commission of the States. Both appointees will serve terms at the pleasure of the Governor. The ECS, established over 50 years ago, plays a pivotal role in gathering and analyzing data pertaining to education needs and resources. Additionally, the commission fosters research in all matters of education. Representative Brad Buckley, from Salado, brings a wealth of experience to the commission. Currently serving his third term in the Texas House of Representatives, Buckley represents House District 54, encompassing half of Bell County in Central Texas. view article

Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday urged school voucher supporters to make the final push in the May primary runoff elections to bring a pro-school voucher majority to the Texas House. Delivering the opening speech at an annual conservative policy conference in Austin, Abbott declared that the school voucher movement was “on the threshold of success” after the March 5 primary. The election saw several anti-voucher Republican incumbents lose to pro-voucher challengers, putting pro-voucher members on the verge of a majority in the Texas House, the last legislative roadblock to the policy. “We are now at 74 votes in favor of school choice in the state of Texas. Which is good, but 74 does not equal 76,” Abbott said, referring to the number of votes he needs to pass the bill into law. “We need two more votes.” view article

Katy ISD is gearing up to adopt a 2024-25 budget, but is facing financial strain without help from state legislation, Superintendent Ken Gregorski told parents this week. In an email to parents sent Tuesday, Gregorski blasted Texas legislators for failing to allocate funds to public schools, noting the district may be facing “a challenging budget situation” as a result. view article

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments about whether to allow back into effect a law allowing state and local authorities to deport migrants.  After a day of whiplash federal court rulings that eventually led to the blocking of Texas’ new boundary-testing immigration enforcement law, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Wednesday on whether Senate Bill 4 should go back into effect while the broader legal case plays out.  S.B. 4 seeks to make illegally crossing the border a Class B state misdemeanor, carrying a punishment of up to six months in jail. Repeat offenders could face a second-degree felony with a punishment of two to 20 years in prison. view article

Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dade Phelan appeared together Tuesday at a public event for the first time since the beginning of the heated primary election cycle where Phelan has been targeted by a powerful group of Republicans who have managed to push him into a primary runoff. view article

Hours after the U.S. Supreme Court had allowed Senate Bill 4 to go into effect, a federal appeals court let an earlier injunction stand. SB 4 lets Texas police arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the Texas-Mexico border. view article

In an open letter, Oklahoma parents and advocacy groups are calling for Libs of TikTok founder Chaya Raichik to “stay out of our state” and resign from her government appointment. The letter, published Wednesday, is endorsed by LGBTQ+ advocacy groups Freedom Oklahoma, Free Mom Hugs Oklahoma, and the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Oklahoma chapter, as well as the Indigenous women’s advocacy group Matriarch. According to organizers, hundreds of Oklahoma parents also signed the document. The signatories say they were moved to action when Raichik — who was appointed to serve on a school library advisory committee in January, despite not being an Oklahoma resident — made a social media post last week asking her followers if she should visit the state. Raichick’s post came amid continuing outrage over the death of 16-year-old Nex Benedict last month. view article

After declaring a successful hand count of ballots, Gillespie County Republicans had to fix a series of errors in the results reported from almost every precinct.  FREDERICKSBURG — An hour after Gillespie County Republican Party Chairman Bruce Campbell declared the hand-counted primary election results completely accurate and certified them as final, he found another discrepancy.  “It’s my mistake for not catching that,” he said, sitting in front of his laptop inside the Gillespie County election administration office Thursday. “I can’t believe I did that.”  The late catch meant that Campbell had to ask the early voting ballot board chair, who had already left and lives 30 minutes away, to return to the elections offices, figure out how the error happened, and fix it. view article

Senate Bill 4 seeks to make illegal immigration a state crime and give Texas police the authority to arrest migrants suspected of illegally crossing the border.  This new law would make it a state crime to cross the Texas-Mexico border between ports of entry. If a police officer has probable cause to believe a person illegally crossed the Rio Grande, that person could be charged with a Class B misdemeanor, which carries a punishment of up to six months in jail. For subsequent offenses, the person could be charged with a second-degree felony and face up to 20 years in prison.  If the migrant is convicted and has served their sentence, a judge would be required to order police to transport them to a port of entry. A judge could drop the charges if a migrant agrees to return to Mexico, and police could turn over migrant families to Border Patrol agents to avoid separating children from their parents instead of arresting them. view article

n one of the ugliest and most contentious Republican primaries in Texas history, an array of insurgent challengers—sent forth into battle by Governor Greg Abbott, his school voucher allies, and a vengeful attorney general with his radical right-wing base—got what they wanted: change, turmoil, and unease. Come the 2025 legislative session, the Republican-controlled state House is likely to be a much different entity. While many GOP incumbents prevailed in the face of well-funded challengers, others did not. By the end of the night, nine incumbent GOP state representatives had lost their races outright—and eight more were forced into runoffs. That includes the embattled Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan of Beaumont, who was forced into a runoff after narrowly trailing his main primary rival in his southeast Texas district. view article

So-called institutional homebuyers noticeably ramped up home purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic. But housing experts point out investors have retreated amid high interest rates.  Gov. Greg Abbott called on state lawmakers Friday to try to limit Wall Street’s presence in the Texas housing market.  As the nation’s housing affordability crisis continues unabated, lawmakers and housing advocates have increasingly concentrated scrutiny on so-called institutional homebuyers, meaning investors big and small as well as corporations who buy single-family homes to rent them out. They accuse corporations and hedge funds of playing an outsized role in the homebuying market and outbidding would-be first-time homebuyers, even though estimates show investors own only a small percentage of the nation’s overall housing stock.  A spike in investor activity in the housing market in the COVID-19 pandemic era has since prompted lawmakers to try to curtail or even ban it as a means to bring down home prices and give first-time homebuyers a leg up in the market.  Abbott joined the fray Friday. view article

Back in 2016, Kim Ogg became the first Democratic district attorney in Harris County in nearly four decades—and was celebrated as a champion of progressive reform. But it didn’t take her long to become an embattled figure among reformers and party faithful alike. Today, voters ousted Ogg, overwhelmingly backing her primary opponent, political newcomer Sean Teare. He took home about 78 percent of early votes, according to the Harris County Clerk’s Office. His successful campaign largely took aim at Ogg’s broken promises. Ogg, who took office in January 2017, would have been the longest-serving DA in Harris County in nearly 25 years had she been elected for a third term. But political sparring, party in-fighting, and workplace culture issues turned the tide against the 64-year-old native Houstonian. view article

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC and their founder Dick Wekley are listed on the invitation. TLR has been criticized for stoking the House’s impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton last year.  Associated Republican of Texas, another establishment-aligned Austin group, is also on the invitation.  Two former speakers—Dennis Bonnen and Joe Straus—are also helping raise money for Phelan.   The invitation notably includes a group of current members of the Texas House from view article

The Texas Medical Board will consider language to clarify what qualifies as a medical exception to the state’s abortion laws at an upcoming March 22 board meeting. The meeting agenda was published in the Texas Register Thursday morning. According to the medical board’s agenda, it will consider and take “possible action on rules regarding exceptions to the ban on abortions” at their upcoming meeting. This comes after Texas attorneys and lobbyists Steve and Amy Bresnen filed a petition in January that asked the board to issue “clear guidance” about when an abortion is permitted under the law. The Bresnens filed the petition, prompted by the Texas Supreme Court’s rejection of Kate Cox’s attempt to end her nonviable pregnancy last year. The Dallas woman had an abortion in another state after the Texas Supreme Court ruled that she did not qualify for a medical emergency abortion. view article

Gary VanDeaver’s career has revolved around public education for more than 30 years, from his first teaching job — high school vocational agriculture — to his current role leading the Texas House committee that oversees education funding. His fidelity to public education could now be his undoing as a lawmaker, driven by the five-term Republican’s stubborn resistance to private school vouchers. view article

Aaliyah Barlow needed to raise $20,000 by the end of the month. As president of the University of Texas at Austin’s Black Student Alliance, a student group, the junior is in charge of securing funding for three dozen of her peers to attend an annual conference for Black student leaders within the Big 12 Athletic Conference. For months, she's been asking different colleges and departments within the university to sponsor their travel, as they've always done before. But this year, it’s been crickets. President Jay Hartzell’s office — usually their largest supporter — didn't return emails, she said. Neither did other typically supportive departments. At least one other department flatly said no. view article

The panel of three lawmakers and two residents will also look at disaster preparedness.  Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan is creating a legislative committee to investigate the Texas Panhandle wildfires to ensure the state is prepared for future disasters. His Tuesday announcement comes more than two weeks after the deadly infernos first started burning more than 1 million acres in the region.  The Investigative Committee on the Panhandle Wildfires will have five members, including state Reps. Ken King of Canadian, Dustin Burrows of Lubbock and Todd Hunter of Corpus Christi. Jason Abraham and Ashley Cash are also listed as public members of the committee. view article

Sources have indicated State Rep. Dustin Burrows is among those attempting to influence the next speaker election. Another potential candidate for Speaker of the House, Dustin Burrows, has ties to a bank connected to current House Speaker Dade Phelan and disgraced former Speaker Dennis Bonnen. With Phelan entering a runoff election in second place to keep his southeast Texas seat, discussion has already begun in the capitol over who will take the gavel next session—whether or not Phelan manages to be reelected to the House. view article

Last year, two dozen Texas House Republicans were celebrating their opposition to private school vouchers with pins that said “24” and “Texas schools” over a silhouette of the state. The pins were to commemorate their solidarity and remind them to continue to stand together. view article

Leaders in Killeen ISD met Tuesday with Sen. John Cornyn in his office in Washington, D.C., according to a release from his office. The visit was “to discuss the need to strengthen support for students who attend public schools on military bases,” the release said. Last year, Cornyn introduced legislation that would help ensure students who attend school on federal land are not disadvantaged due to a lack of resources from decreased property tax revenue, the senator’s office said. view article

Gov. Greg Abbott's infusion of $6 million to support state House candidates who would back a controversial "school choice" program — a signature legislative priority the governor championed but failed to get passed last year — seems to have paid off after eight GOP primary challengers either ousted an anti-voucher incumbent or pulled them into a May runoff election. In four races in which the incumbent decided against seeking reelection, two Abbott-supported candidates won and two others are heading to runoffs, according to the complete but unofficial election results. view article

All told, 11 of the 28 House candidates supported by Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks won their primaries outright, and another eight are headed to runoffs this May.  West Texas oil billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks entered the 2024 primary election cycle wounded.  Their political network was in the middle of a scandal over its ties to white supremacists. Republicans were calling on each other to reject the billionaires’ campaign money. And their enemies believed they were vulnerable — one bad election day from losing their grip on the state.  Instead, Dunn and Wilks emerged from Tuesday perhaps stronger than ever — vanquishing old political foes, positioning their allies for a November takeover of the state Legislature, and leaving little doubt as to who is winning a vicious civil war to control the state party. view article

State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Allen, who supports school choice and who just won re-election, says he fully expects the issue to pass during the next legislative session.  After the results of Super Tuesday, school vouchers are no doubt much closer to becoming reality in Texas, now that many anti-voucher lawmakers lost their election or are locked in runoffs.  State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Allen, who supports school choice and who just won re-election, says he fully expects the issue to pass during the next legislative session in January. view article

Gov. Greg Abbott called the results “an unmistakable message.” His allies said the state is “closer than ever” to a voucher program.  After facing decades of fierce bipartisan resistance to the idea of using state dollars to pay for private school tuition, school voucher supporters in Texas emerged from the Tuesday primaries triumphant.  Their long-held goal has never felt more in reach.  Gov. Greg Abbott succeeded in knocking off nine fellow Republicans who opposed vouchers in the House during last year’s legislative sessions. More could fall in the May runoffs, placing his signature priority in range in 2025.  Public school advocates, meanwhile, raised the alarm Wednesday about the potential cost to the school system if vouchers become a reality. And both sides promised an even more fervent battle is coming. view article

CENTRAL TEXAS — Many opponents of school vouchers are unhappy after the latest Super Tuesday elections. 25 News spoke to some educators after Gov. Abbott was able to succeed in persuading voters to vote against lawmakers who voted against school vouchers. Hillary Hickland beat out incumbent State Representative Hugh Shine. This comes after Gov. Abbott traveled to Temple last November to persuade voters to vote for Hickland, all because Hugh Shine voted against the governor’s school choice bill. view article

All told, 11 of the 28 House candidates supported by Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks won their primaries outright, and another eight are headed to runoffs this May.  West Texas oil billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks entered the 2024 primary election cycle wounded. Their political network was in the middle of a scandal over its ties to white supremacists. Republicans were calling on each other to reject the billionaires’ campaign money. And their enemies believed they were vulnerable — one bad election day from losing their grip on the state. Instead, Dunn and Wilks emerged from Tuesday perhaps stronger than ever — vanquishing old political foes, positioning their allies for a November takeover of the state Legislature, and leaving little doubt as to who is winning a vicious civil war to control the state party. view article

When Shelley Luther announced she was challenging state Rep. Reggie Smith in this year’s Republican primary, some party members dismissed it as a quixotic bid from the former Dallas salon owner, who rose to prominence in 2020 for defying a pandemic lockdown order. Luther had already lost to Smith in 2022, her second electoral defeat in 14 months. She generated controversy earlier that year for admitting that she was “not comfortable with the transgenders” and complaining that, during her stint as a school teacher, her students could not make fun of their transgender classmates. She also called for Chinese students to be barred from attending Texas universities, sparking bipartisan backlash. view article

The Texas House is shaping up to have a whole lot of new faces next year. Nine Republican incumbents lost their seats and eight more were pushed into runoffs yesterday. At least 11 others had already chosen not to run for reelection. This means that nearly one in five state representatives could be newbies when the Texas Legislature meets next in January. Adding to the chaos: The Republican speaker of the Texas House is fighting to keep his seat, which, if lost, could mean a nasty fight over who should lead the body. What led to the bloodbath? The short answer: Republican-on-Republican violence. view article

“Show the speaker voting aye.” Rep. Dade Phelan cast a rare vote last May, his voice cutting through the din of the packed House as members scrambled to register their votes on the question of impeaching Attorney General Ken Paxton over accusations of bribery and malfeasance. Phelan, at the height of his power, was sending a message when he gave his full support to ousting a popular statewide official, whom he said was too corrupt to remain in power. The Beaumont Republican knew it would ignite an ugly fight within his party about holding one of their own accountable. He thought his side would win. Paxton — emboldened after the Senate acquitted him — vowed revenge. view article

FREDERICKSBURG — Bruce Campbell, chairman of the Gillespie County Republican Party, predicted that results from the 13 GOP precincts would start trickling into the county elections office by 8:30 p.m. By 9:30 p.m., he expressed surprise that none had returned. Shortly after, he informed county Elections Director Jim Riley it might be hours before workers finished hand counting the thousands of early and mailed ballots — a task they’d begun at 7:30 that morning in a glass-walled tasting room at a winery called The Resort at Fredericksburg. view article

A lawmaker rumored to be eyeing the speakership in the Texas House is employed by a bank that has connections to current House Speaker Dade Phelan and disgraced former Speaker Dennis Bonnen. State Rep. Cody Harris, a Republican from Palestine, was first elected to the House in 2018. At the time, he was a real estate broker for Liberty Land & Ranch LLC. In August of 2021, however, Harris added a new item to his resumé—Vice President of Business Development for Third Coast Bank. view article

Republicans renominated two statewide incumbents on Tuesday. Devine held onto his Supreme Court position in Place 4 by less than one percentage point. According to Decision Desk HQ, he won 50.4 percent to 49.6 percent. Devine’s opponent, Brian Walker, sits on the Fort Worth-based 2nd Court of Appeals. Walker’s father, Scott Walker, sits on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The win comes even after Walker alleged that Devine failed to collect enough signatures to be on the ballot. The Texas Supreme Court acknowledged the claim in its January ruling but said precedent provided time for Devine to fix it. The incumbent came under additional fire before Election Day for not recusing himself from an abuse case where two of his former colleagues were the defendants. view article

The two state leaders and other prominent Republicans, like Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former president Donald Trump, endorsed challengers in dozens of races citing the incumbents’ disloyalty to the party.  In a victory for Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, at least nine House Republicans appeared to have lost their primaries on Tuesday evening.  Another eight members, at least, were also forced into runoffs this May 28 — including House Speaker Dade Phelan who was the No. 1 target of the far right.  The two state leaders and other prominent Republicans, like Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former president Donald Trump, endorsed challengers in dozens of races citing the incumbents’ disloyalty to the party. - Comment: This article has a list of how all the Abbott backed House challengers fared.- js view article

March 6 might be a Wednesday, but it's still a perfect time to play Monday morning quarterback after the March 5 primary. Join The Texas Tribune for a conversation online and in Austin at 9 a.m. Wednesday, March 6, about the results of the primary elections and what they mean for Texans the general election. view article