During the last legislative session, lawmakers made headlines and drew backlash from the left for taking on controversial issues.
These issues included medical interventions for gender identity and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in higher education. Lawmakers also tackled abortion, immigration, and a number of issues around schools, ranging from vouchers or school choice to what books belong in school libraries.
These so-called culture war issues dominated the legislative session in Texas in 2023. Two years later, some might say that public attention has drifted away from some of these topics – but if so, what, if any, change have we seen in this year’s legislative session?
Mark Hand, a professor of political science at UT Arlington, called these issues “political comfort food.”
“They’re cheap to cook, easy to reheat, and primary voters keep asking for seconds,” he said. “But they’re definitely not the main event this cycle. The main events of this cycle have been school choice, the electrical grid, and property taxes.”
This is not to say there haven’t been protests this session. This past weekend, a group of LGBTQ+ advocates rallied at the capitol against legislation related to transgender Texans.
Hand said there are still bills related to these issues that would have major impacts on state policy if passed.
“It’s not to say that there isn’t important stuff in there,” he said. “But in large part, I think the sequel is never as fun as the original – except for “Sister Act 2.”
In this cycle, the big three – the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the house – are all rowing in the same direction, which means that there’s a lot more and bigger stuff for Democrats to fight.”
The Texas capitol also made it harder to have protests on site, Hand said, which impacts public outcry that might get attention in headlines.
“Gov. Abbott also proved really effective at turfing out anti-voucher Republican opponents in the 2024 cycle by calling them soft on immigration,” he said. “And so there are just fewer votes for protesters to try to figure out how to change.”
The national political landscape has also changed significantly since 2023, which Hand said could be a factor in how Texans are thinking about politics at the state level.
“One of the things about Texas is that in a lot of ways, good and bad, what happens in Texas changes the world. And so some of these cultural war issues emanated from Texas — and the border issues clearly attached to Texas. And I think the influence goes both ways, but our politics is certainly increasingly nationalized right now.”
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Hand said Democratic lawmakers have responded to voters’ focus on the economy since the 2024 election cycle.
“One of the things that I think has hampered Republicans in the, say, the local races this month is that voters were really upset about the uncertainty from the tariffs,” he said. “And so I think that the Republicans are spending time on issues that they know they can get big wins on, even as they keep some of these culture war issues pretty warm.”
Hand said this session has been a showcase in what Texas Republicans can get done when party leadership is ideologically aligned.
“This session really has been an all-Republican show,” he said. “The hardliners won the civil war, and then they mopped up in 2024. And until Democrats get competitive, we’re likely to see a really fast-moving, wide-reaching, Republican-focused sessions. That means that issues that Democrats might care about just aren’t on the table.”
