Republicans are expected to gain more seats in the Texas House this Tuesday, expanding their majority and giving Gov. Greg Abbott a real possibility of passing his school vouchers plan.
On Tuesday morning it appears that the Texas GOP will control 87 of 150 as preliminary results show two Republican candidates ahead of the races in historically Democratic districts in South Texas. With these two seat flips, Abbott said he’ll have “more than enough votes” to finally pass a school voucher bill, according to The Texas Tribune.
The seats set to fip are in House District 80 and 34. In HD 80, Republican Don McLaughlin, the former mayor of Uvalde, defeated Cecilia Castellano by almost 20 percentage points, after Democrat Tracy King vacated the seat.
In HD 34 Republican Denise Villalobos was ahead of Salomon P. Ortiz by more than 10 percentage points by the time this article was published. The incumbent of this seat, Democratic Rep. Abel Herrero did not seek reelection.
Abbott celebrated this victory on social media.
“In the Primary I supported many Republican House candidates who support school choice. Most of them won,” he wrote on X. “Democrats spent millions to beat those school choice candidates in November. They thought the public would reject school choice. They were wrong & lost all those races.”
Abbott’s priority is to pass an education savings accounts or vouchers bill, which would use taxpayer money to subsidize patents so they can send their childrens to private schools. The governor tried to pass the bill last legislative session, but a coalition of rural Republicans and Democrats blocked his efforts. This coalition argued that vouchers would further defund public education. In retaliation, Abbott supported GOP candidates running against the rural incumbents.
In other races this election, the GOP flipped one Senate seat. Republican Adam Hinojosa declared victory over Democratic incumbent Morgan LaMantia in South Texas’ only competitive Senate seat.
Despite the overall GOP victory, Democrats managed to keep control of some of their districts. Democrat Cassandra Hernandez maintained an edge in District 115, filling a seat vacated by Julie Johnson after her U.S. House election.
Looking ahead to 2025, the Texas House GOP is gearing up for a leadership battle. State Rep. David Cook announced his challenge to incumbent House Speaker Dade Phelan, with Cook claiming a majority backing among incoming Republicans. However, Texas House GOP caucus rules require three-fifths support for an official endorsement. Cook won his re-election in District 96 over Democrat Ebony M. Turner.
