Gov. Greg Abbott’s school vouchers plan will have a critical test in this Nov. 5 election, where only a few House seats hold the fate of the proposal.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Democrats are focusing on flipping a few seats that could give them an advantage to block vouchers once again. Meanwhile, Republicans are also targeting weak Democrats to cement their majority, as passing vouchers is Abbott’s top priority.
“Not only are we going to hold that coalition, we’re going to add to it,” Abbott told The News this summer. “I feel very confident this November there will be some Democrats’ seats to switch to Republican, so however many school choice votes we have, I’m counting even more as we go into the session.”
Last year, Abbott pushed for the Legislature to pass vouchers. While the Senate supported the proposal, 21 rural Republicans joined all Democrats and blocked vouchers, arguing that the proposal would defund public schools, which are already facing huge deficits.
However, Abbott aggressively campaigned against those Republicans who voted against the measure. To do so, he received $7 millions from Pennsylvania billionaire and school choice advocate Jeff Yass.
With Yass’ money, Abbott managed to unseat eight incumbent House Republicans in march primaries. While this gave the governor an advantage to pass his voucher proposal, Democrats say they still have the opportunity to flip some seats in the General Election.
“Our strategy to succeed is to make up for the loss that moderate Republicans experienced in their primary, when Abbott went after them,” said Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party. “We estimate that we need to flip maybe three seats in order to be able to have enough votes to stop the voucher plan that the governor is trying to force upon the people in the state of Texas.”
“It’s not an easy task,” Hinojosa added. “We believe we can possibly win.”
According to the Dallas Morning News, Democrats are targeting Republican Reps. Morgan Meyer of University Park, and Angie Chen Button, R-Richardson, who is running against Democrat Averie Bishop.
Bishop is heavily focused on education, as she co-founded a nonprofit supporting educational access and worked as a volunteer teacher. However, he has also advocated for other causes such as diversity, and abortion, a topic that has cost Republicans several votes in Texas.
In addition, Democrats have received support from some Republicans. Recently, Rep. Steve Allison from San Antonio, who was unseat in the republican primary, endorsed Democratic candidate Laurel Swift in the race for his own district (HD 121).
“We can’t lose sight of the big picture… we’ve got to protect public education,” Allison said. “The governor thinks he has the votes [on vouchers]… and this election is one of those key three to five [seats] to flip that’s going to make all the difference in the world.”
School voucher opponents face a well-funded Republican campaign backed by donors, including billionaire Elon Musk. To counter this, Democrats and educators are prioritizing grassroots efforts, stressing that state investment should go toward strengthening public schools.
“We’re out talking to people,” said Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, which opposes voucher plans as a drain on public education funding. “We’re doing what we can and what their money can’t, like having conversations with people and working at a grassroots level to make sure everyone understands what’s at stake.”
Despite this, the future for school vouchers remains uncertain, as Texas is still a strongly Republican state, but the Legislature has shown to be highly unpredictable.