Here’s a quick recap of what happened over the last week:
No Kings Protests Draw Thousands
Protests took place across the state and country on Saturday, with organizers saying the protests were intended “to show that America has no kings, and the power belongs to the people.” The purpose of the protests was to voice opposition to President Trump’s aggressive programs regarding immigration enforcement and subsequent deportation measures regarding individuals that are in the country illegally.
Gov. Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard to be deployed in Austin ahead of the protest at the state Capitol. A crowd of several thousand gathered at the Capitol Saturday afternoon and marched down Congress Avenue to Auditorium Shores after several speeches in front of the Capitol. No arrests were reported by Austin Police. In Houston, an estimated 15,000 people gathered, with the crowd making its way down McKinney and San Jacinto Streets and eventually ending at City Hall.
Removal of Political Street Markings
Gov. Abbott has directed the Texas Department of Transportation to withhold funding to Texas cities that do not remove street markings that convey political or social purposes such as rainbow crosswalks in support of the LGBTQ community. In his directive, Abbott says that taxpayer dollars do not need to be used to promote political ideologies, and that streets need to be free of distracting markings. This is consistent with the request from the Trump administration in June that asked states to remove all unnecessary distractions from local roadways.
Cities in Texas have several pride-themed crosswalks in designated areas that may contain establishments that cater to the LGBTQ community. In Houston, County Judge Lina Hidalgo has questioned the legality of Abbott’s directive and said the city should have offered a counter to the state before removing any crosswalks. Houston Metro has already restriped an area in the Montrose area in response to the directive. Hidalgo called Metro’s actions “unconstitutional” since there was not a hearing with public input and a vote by the full board to take the action. Houston Mayor John Whitmire has called the Governor’s directive “counterproductive” and suggested the city now look at options to promote issues on private property instead of jeopardizing the city’s state funding for transportation projects. While Hidalgo is calling for legal action against the state, Whitmire says he is unwilling to enter into any legal battle that carries the potential of sacrificing funding for city departments.
Book Ban Law Blocked
A federal judge in Waco has blocked the state from enforcing the main provisions a bill passed by the 2023 legislature that sought to restrict the content of school library books. The ruling said the requirement of the law that called for publishers to assign a rating to each title is unconstitutional. The initial purpose of the law was to prohibit schools from purchasing books deemed sexually explicit and required schools to purchase books only from publishers that rated their books according to strict state guidelines. The ruling called these requirements an infringement on free speech.
The state has the right to appeal. However, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals – considered one of the most conservative at the appeals level – has already agreed with the trial level judge in preliminary hearings that the state requirements are too compelling and burdensome for the publishers and vendors. In this final ruling at the trial level, the judge declared that while the state should have an interest in regulating content that can be accessed by children, the methods established in this legislation do not further that interest.
This leaves the law basically null and void, since the state now has no path to enforcement of the provisions laid out in the law. But the state has other avenues to try and regulate content. In the 2025 session, the legislature passed a bill to require school boards to adopt policies that ban “indecent and profane” content and requires the school boards to have the final say over all books that are purchased. That law went into effect in September.
Recent Polling Numbers
The University of Texas at Tyler released a poll this week that again shows a very tight race for the Republican nomination for US Senate. The poll questioned 1,032 registered voters between September 17th and 24th. Of the respondents, 52% identified as Republicans, 39% identified as Democrats, and the remaining 9% identified as independent voters.
Among that group, in a head-to-head matchup between incumbent John Cornyn and challenger Ken Paxton, Cornyn was favored by 39% of the respondents, and Paxton by 37%, with 23% undecided. When adding Congressman Wesley Hunt to the mix, Paxton was favored by 31%, Cornyn had 29% and Hunt came in with 14%. In the three-way race, 26% remained undecided.
As I have mentioned before, even though Cornyn has seemingly closed the gap between himself and challenger Paxton, the numbers for Cornyn have to be concerning. Cornyn and his allies in Washington have spent nearly $6 million over the last few weeks on advertising that touted his ties to President Trump and reminded voters of Paxton’s ongoing legal and personal troubles. For Cornyn to be well below the 50% threshold and still have a large number of undecideds in the race does not bode well for a four-term incumbent.
Other highlights of the poll include President Trump with an even approval/disapproval rating of 49% for both. Governor Abbott enjoys a 50% to 46% approval rating in the poll. Lt Governor Dan Patrick also does well, with the poll showing him to be the choice of 46% of the respondents in his bid for reelection, compared to 40% for challenger Vicki Goodwin, the only Democrat in the race so far.
Congresswoman Crockett Weighing Senate Run
And speaking of the race for US Senate, Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Dallas said in an interview with Sirius XM this week that she is strongly considering a run for US Senate. Crockett has emerged as a prominent critic of President Trump in her short time in Congress. She is serving in her second term, first elected in 2022.
She would join an already crowded Democratic primary field that includes 2024 Democratic nominee Colin Allred and Austin area state Rep. James Talarico. The newly drawn Congressional districts approved by the legislature in the 2nd called session this summer changed the areas that Crockett would represent should she seek reelection in Congressional District 30, based in Dallas County.
Statewide polling has shown Crockett leading both Allred and Talarico. Former Congressman Beto O’Rourke – who also has not announced his plans for 2026 – also shows significant support among Democratic voters if he were to enter the race. But Crockett has been the frontrunner consistently in all polls over the other three. A recent University of Houston/Texas Southern University poll showed Crockett favored by 31% of likely Democratic primary voters, compared to 25% for both Talarico and O’Rourke.
Crockett has said she will wait for a final ruling from the courts on the new maps before making her final decision. Arguments in the case concluded in late August, and no timetable has been given for the court to issue a decision on whether the new maps will be used for the 2026 elections. The filing period for candidates running in 2026 begins November 8th.
Political Notes
Retiring Republican state Senator Brian Birdwell of Granbury has been nominated by President Trump to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense. Birdwell served in the Army for 20 years, including a deployment to the Middle East during Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990’s. Birdwell was stationed at and working in the Pentagon on September 11th when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building, leaving him badly burned and injured. He was subsequently awarded a Purple Heart. Birdwell chaired both the Natural Resources and Border Security Committees over the last four years. Upon confirmation by the US Senate, he will begin to serve immediately under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Republican Jamie Haynes of Amarillo has announced her candidacy for Texas House District 86 in the Texas Panhandle. Incumbent Republican John Smithee of Amarillo has not announced his plans for reelection. She currently runs a real estate brokerage firm in Amarillo and plans to run regardless of what Smithee’s plans are regarding reelection.
Montserray Garibay has announced his candidacy for state House District 49 to succeed incumbent Rep. Gina Hinojosa who is running for Governor. Garibay is a former assistant secretary in the Department of Education in the Biden Administration and has served as secretary-treasurer of the Texas AFL-CIO. Garibay can tout the endorsement of progressive Congressman Greg Casar of Austin.
The Texas Secretary of State’s office has flagged more than 2,700 registered voters as potential noncitizens after comparing the state’s voter roll with federal immigration data. The SOS recently completed a review of the state’s 18 million registered voters by using information provided by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service. The SOS has turned over the names they discovered to county election officials who now have the responsibility of verifying the eligibility of each person. The county must now send written notices to the voters that have been flagged, with the voter having 30 days to provide proof of citizenship before the registration is canceled.
What’s Next??
The watch continues for the potential a third special session, but as time goes on, the likelihood of a fall special session wanes.
We will also continue to watch the retirements, filings, and other movements regarding the 2026 races for legislative, congressional, and statewide offices.