State Rep. James Talarico won the Texas Senate Democratic primary, defeating Rep. Jasmine Crockett and giving party leaders the candidate they had quietly seen as the stronger option to flip the ruby-red state.  The race was defined by questions of electability and simmering racial tensions, as Talarico and Crockett worked to reassemble the party’s fractured multiracial coalition. That carried over through Tuesday, with both candidates raising concerns that voters had been disenfranchised in Crockett’s home base of Dallas County, which includes a large number of Black voters. view article

Tuesday was primary Election Day across the state of Texas, and in Angelina County some races were settled while one is headed to a May runoff.   State Rep. Trent Ashby won the Republican nomination for District 3 state senator Tuesday evening, defeating former state Republican committeewoman Rhonda Ward. The former Lufkin ISD board president has represented Angelina County in the state Legislature since 2013 and will take on Democratic nominee Bobby Tillman in November’s general election to succeed the retiring Robert Nichols, who has represented East Texas since 2007. view article

Nate Sheets defeats three-term incumbent Sid Miller in GOP primary for Texas agriculture commissioner view article

A Muslim parent is suing Texas for excluding certain Islamic private schools from the state’s new school choice program.  The federal lawsuit alleges constitutional violations for religious discrimination and attempts to refute claims that the excluded schools have terrorist ties.   Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) allow families to use taxpayer-funded accounts to pay for private school tuition, homeschooling expenses, and other educational services—up to $10,000 per student per year.  The program was enacted by the Texas Legislature in 2025. Applications for the 2026-27 school year opened in February and the deadline is March 17.  In December 2025, Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock requested Attorney General Ken Paxton’s legal opinion on whether certain private schools may be barred from participating in the program due to potential ties to terrorist organizations or foreign adversaries. view article

Texas’ Republican primary race for attorney general will head to a runoff between State Sen. Mayes Middleton and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy. Middleton led Roy by roughly 10 points at the time of publication, with neither candidate surpassing the required 50 percent threshold. view article

The conservative state representative is set to replace the incumbent congressman.  Republican State Rep. Steve Toth of The Woodlands has defeated U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw in the Republican primary for Texas’ 2nd Congressional District.  As of publication, with 63 percent of the vote in, Toth leads 57.6 percent to Crenshaw’s 39.2 percent. view article

The most expensive Senate primary of all time is going into overtime. view article

The 2026 campaign kicked off Tuesday with high-profile primary elections in Texas, where Republican Sen. John Cornyn is heading toward a runoff vote against state attorney general Ken Paxton. Democrats chose state Rep. James Talarico over U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett to be their candidate.  For all the focus on Texas, elections in North Carolina could have a bigger impact on which party ultimately wins the Senate majority in the fall.   In the first election since President Donald Trump joined Israel in launching dramatic attacks on Iran, there were also contests in Arkansas. view article

State Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, D-San Antonio, attended a Judson ISD school board meeting Thursday night after she said she recieved multiple complaints from constituents. “I’m looking for other jobs just in case,” Gervin-Hawkins said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen if you guys continue to meltdown, things are not gonna go well for any of us.” view article

Both parties are contemplating the notion of Brandon Herrera, a gun-loving YouTuber with a history of provocative comments, as the GOP nominee. Herrera says he can win in November. view article

Ken Paxton, Texas attorney general and US Senate candidate, has called for public school students to recite the Lord’s Prayer, specifying the King James Bible version. In a statement on September 1, 2025, Paxton said, “In Texas classrooms, we want the Word of God opened, the Ten Commandments displayed, and prayers lifted up.” He criticized liberals for trying to “erase Truth” and claimed America was founded on “Biblical Truth.” view article

LUFKIN — Tuesday’s Republican primary election marks a new era for East Texas, as several of the powerhouses who have long championed the region at the Capitol won’t appear on the ballot for the first time in decades. view article

Huntington ISD trustees voted Monday to take no action on a Senate Bill 11 resolution that would have created a daily period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious texts on each campus, while also approving the 2026-27 school calendar and several state-required policy items. view article

A deluge of spending and attack ads are suddenly raining down on two San Antonio-area state legislative races that previously weren’t getting much attention.  Campaign finance reports covering Jan. 23 through Feb. 21 were due Monday, detailing money raised and spent by campaigns and outside groups in the month leading up to early voting.  They showed state and national PACs pouring money into a GOP primary on the South Side, where Republicans are choosing between a school voucher architect and a trial lawyer as their nominee to replace state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio). view article

EASTLAND, Texas — On Monday, a group of four people spent more than an hour at a table inside a Realtor’s office, hand-counting the results of two races on 100 sample ballots. It was only a week before Tuesday’s primary election, and for this small group, it was their first time practicing to tally votes by hand.  They counted in batches of 25 and used different colored markers to keep track of where one counted batch ended and a new one began. They also used laminated tally sheets, which allowed them to erase and remark them if they made any errors. The group twice marked a vote for the wrong candidate, an error that meant they had to go back and start over and correct their laminated sheets. view article

The Texas Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate between Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico has been heavily shaped by social media influencers. Online creators on platforms like TikTok, X, and SubStack are driving viral moments and amplifying allegations against both candidates. The conversations are being framed as a broader debate over identity, electability, and the future of the Democratic party in Texas. Kayla Guo, reporter for The Texas Tribune, discusses the rising influence of these social media pundits and the changing landscape of political discourse. view article

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Last spring, the Texas Legislature passed a bill that allows school districts to add a period dedicated to prayer and reading the Bible or other religious texts in public schools. Now, school districts are nearly at the end of their deadline to vote on whether or not they’ll do so.  While Senate Bill 11 doesn’t require prayer in all public schools, it allows school districts to “adopt a policy requiring every campus of the district or school to provide students and employees with an opportunity to participate in a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious text on each school day.” view article

Texas is growing older faster than the rest of the nation. While the number of young people in the U.S. has shrunk, the population of children in Texas has grown.  The population of Texans age 65 and older grew faster than any other age group since the start of the decade, growing by 3.8% from 2023 to 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. They grew faster than working-age adults and children under the age of 18.  Their numbers show that people are living longer than in past generations. And, as they age, they'll increasingly rely on those of working age, a population that isn’t growing as quickly, said Holly Heard, vice president of data and analytics at Texas 2036.  In Texas, which has the highest levels of people without health insurance, elder Texans will likely face more ailments as they age.   view article

The state House Public Education Committee on Tuesday considered more than 30 bills aimed at making Texas public schools safer, including measures that would put more armed personnel on campuses and give districts money for sweeping security changes. The Legislature has made improving school safety a priority this session after 10 people, mostly students, were shot and killed at Santa Fe High School 10 months ago. The shooting spurred roundtable discussions and studies among policymakers, lawmakers and Gov. Greg Abbott in the immediate aftermath. “Out of that loss, we have an opportunity to devote ourselves and commit ourselves to seeing that their loss was not in vain and that future students, future teachers, future families in this state will, if at all possible, not have to experience what these individuals experienced,” said Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, during Tuesday’s hearing. view article

Property tax reform has been a top priority for Texas lawmakers from the start of the 86th legislative session. The early filing of identical, wide-reaching bills in the House and Senate in January—Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 2—sparked debate on the topic and earned pushback from many local entities that could be affected by the proposals. The twin bills propose to lower the cap for local entities’ annual tax revenue growth from 8 percent to 2.5 percent and to improve efficiency and transparency in the tax system. The proposals were fast-tracked for debate in both chambers after Gov. Greg Abbott declared property tax an emergency item in February, and dozens of related bills have been filed in their wake. view article

Hillary Clinton and Helen Keller are back on the lesson plan after a vote by the Texas State Board of Education. The committee voted 12-2, with one abstention, on Tuesday to continue teaching students about Clinton in high school history classes, according to State Board of Education Director Debbie Ratcliffe. The board also voted to keep Keller on the curriculum. The vote reverses a September preliminary decision to cut the women, along with 1964 Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater and several other historical figures, from the required curriculum. The board said then that the change was intended to streamline the curriculum for its 5.4 million students at the recommendation of volunteer work groups. view article

School finance was the big-ticket item this legislative session, said Emett Alvarez, Victoria Democrats Club president. "Education should be important to everyone," Alvarez said. "We are all taxpayers and are affected by it one way or the other." The Victoria County Democratic Party will host its club meeting Tuesday at VeraCruz Restaurant, 3110 N. Navarro St. Guest speakers will be Dwight Harris, former president of the Victoria chapter of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, and Ray Thomas, who is running for chief justice of the 13th Court of Appeals. view article

Will there ever come a day when our state leaders and lawmakers want to make Texas as good a place for children as it is for business? The 85th legislative session didn't seem often inclined in that direction, particularly in matters related to educating the state's schoolchildren. A massive funding failure for prekindergarten students. The state Senate's defeatist response to a solid House attempt at school finance reform. Out-of-proportion talk about vouchers for those attending private schools. But let's not overlook a couple of bright spots. Thanks to skillful work by three North Texas lawmakers, the state's youngest learners should eventually get the gift of better-prepared teachers. view article

Back in March, James Dickey, then the chairman of the Travis County Republican Party, showed up at the state Capitol to testify in support of House Bill 1911 — a proposal known as constitutional carry, or the ability to carry firearms without a license. It was a top legislative priority for the state GOP, and Dickey brought a message tailored for the Republicans on the House panel considering it: Don't forget the platform. "The plank which said we should have constitutional carry scored a 95 percent approval rate, outscoring over 80 percent of the other planks in the option," Dickey said, referring to the party platform — a 26-page document outlining the party's positions that is approved by delegates to its biennial conventions. Constitutional carry, Dickey added, "is something very clearly wanted by the most active members of the Republican Party in Texas." view article

Contention over where transgender people use the restroom has clouded much of the 2017 legislative session and has expanded to cover other issues such as property tax policy and school finance as lawmakers push to complete their work by Monday. After Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick served notice that the scaled-back version of the so-called bathroom bill recently approved by the Texas House was a non-starter in the Senate, the upper chamber in the predawn hours Wednesday made an end-run effort to save the stronger measure that fell victim to legislative deadlines. But by the time the sun rose over the Capitol, it was clear that the House would kill the measure again. view article

An effort to overhaul the state’s beleaguered school finance system has been declared dead after the Texas Senate Education Committee’s chairman said Wednesday that he would not appoint conferees to negotiate with the House. “That deal is dead,” Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, said. Taylor’s remarks come after his counterpart in the House, Dan Huberty, R-Houston, gave a passionate speech in which he said he would not accept the Senate’s changes to House Bill 21 and would seek a conference committee with the Senate. view article

The Texas House has voted to allow concealed carry permit holders to have guns in their locked cars parked outside schools. Tentative approval came late Tuesday night as an amendment to an otherwise unrelated bill on school boards. Final House approval should come Wednesday. The state Senate already approved a full, bipartisan bill seeking to do virtually the same thing. A similar, full bill had died in the House without reaching a floor vote but now lives on as an amendment. view article

A standoff between the Texas House and Senate over vouchers killed a major school finance fix Wednesday. The House tried to pump $1.6 billion dollars more into public schools. The Senate didn't want that much and countered by tacking on their own priority. The author of the House Bill 21 rejected the changes made to it in the Senate, saying they don't go far enough. Last year, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the system was barely constitutional. So the House approved pumping $1.6 billion additional dollars into it but that plan came out of the Senate reduced to $530 million. view article

Texas lawmakers have given final approval to a measure cracking down on inappropriate relationships between teachers and students. The bill requires principals and superintendents to report inappropriate teacher-student relationships or face jail time and fines up to $10,000. The teacher's family could also lose access to the teacher's pension. view article

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick declared a key school funding bill dead Wednesday, saying he was "appalled" the House would refuse to go along with the Senate's plan to create a school voucher program for students with disabilities.  "Although Texas House leaders have been obstinate and closed-minded on this issue throughout this session, I was hopeful when we put this package together last week that we had found an opening that would break the logjam," Patrick said in a statement. "I simply did not believe they would vote against both disabled children and a substantial funding increase for public schools." view article

 A state lawmaker is looking for donations to pay off debt Texas students rack up in school cafeterias. Partnered with Feeding Texas, Representative Helen Giddings, D-DeSoto, launched a statewide crowdfunding campaign Tuesday, in an effort to prevent what she calls “lunch shaming.” At some Texas schools, students with lunch debt or empty accounts are denied a hot lunch and given a cheese sandwich instead. “The cruelty and lack of compassion for children who suffer the humiliation, the labeling and not to mention the hunger pains of so-called lunch shaming, it is inconceivable,” Giddings said. view article

Texas lawmakers wrap up a very busy week at the Capitol today, and last night had a little bit of everything that you’ll find at the end of a legislative session. Bills as amendments With just over two weeks left in the legislative session, lawmakers are scrambling to get their bills to the governor’s desk. That scramble often has lawmakers looking for ways to add their bills to other legislation. That’s exactly what Sen. Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood) did Thursday morning when he added a provision to create a school voucher system onto a school finance bill.  “It establishes the educational savings account program administered by the comptroller, which provides parents with funds to pay for education needs of their child,” Taylor said as he added the amendment to the House bill in the Senate Education committee. But even this addition isn’t everything the Senate Education chair wanted. The addition only provides money for private school tuition or tutoring for children with disabilities. view article

Over the last two years, I’ve been working with students, teachers, parents and taxpayers to improve the way that we’re providing education to Texas students. During the current legislative session, some of those efforts are beginning to show results. The Texas House of Representatives where I serve, has passed three bills to improve the “Robin Hood” program, A-F rating system, and standardized testing. In overhauling the entire funding of our public education system, House Bill 21 will address a problem that has long plagued our West Texas districts. The “Robin Hood” scheme has been a detriment to school districts in our region, and under this bill we will be reducing the burden on our local school districts bear by allowing them to keep more of their hard-earned money.  view article

The state Senate Education Committee tweaked the House's school finance bill -- HB 21 -- to add funding for educational savings accounts for students with disabilities. Lubbock Sen. Charles Perry said he will approve it because small, rural schools in his district need other funding the House measure offers. "You could say it's brilliant strategy -- and it is," Perry said. "It's politics at its best or its worst, depending on what side of the equation [you're on]." Perry said the ESAs would open up school choice opportunity for a limited number of families, but that's not the main appeal for the House measure to him; Perry says the $1.6 billion the measure would provide to schools would protect districts affected by the end of the 2006 Additional State Aid for Tax Reduction program in September. view article

The Texas House thought it had killed school vouchers. The Senate is resurrecting them.A Senate committee last week attached a plan offering vouchers to special education children while approving a $1.6 billion House proposal to begin overhauling Texas' troubled school finance system. House Public Education Committee Chairman Dan Huberty, a Houston Republican, has championed the school finance fix. Now, his counterpart in the Senate, Republican Sen. Larry Taylor of Friendswood, may make Huberty choose between accepting vouchers or sacrificing his legislative baby.Taylor spent months carefully shepherding a separate, sweeping voucher bill through the Senate that the House refused to even consider, instead overwhelmingly passing an amendment saying public funds should stay in public schools. He, and school vouchers' biggest supporter in Texas, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, could now have their revenge. view article