Texas Democrats Vow To Fight School Vouchers And Keep Open Primaries At Party’s Convention

Democrats said they’ll keep open primaries, unlike Republicans, and vowed to fight back against school vouchers in the next legislative session at the party’s convention in El Paso.

This week, delegates said they won’t adopt a closed primary rule change, unlike Republicans who decided to close their primaries.

“We want people to join our party,” Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa told the Dallas Morning News. “There are a lot of Republicans dissatisfied with the craziness in the Republican Party. We have our doors open to them.”

“We have a big tent in the Democratic Party, and we’re willing to accept anybody that wants to participate in the democratic process and advocate for the views that are important to them,” Hinojosa continued.

Another important topic discussed at the convention was school vouchers, and Hinojosa encouraged Democrats to fight against the measure. 

Gov. Greg Abbott previously said that he has 77 Republican votes in the Texas House for school vouchers. Currently, that number is enough to pass the bill in the 2025 legislative session, according to the Dallas Morning News.

However, some analysts say that Democrats could flip enough seats in the upcoming election to defeat Republicans who support school vouchers.

“I’m looking at the map now, across the state, and looking at where Democrats might win seats this fall. We’ve talked about this in the context of school voucher discussions and debates. I think that there are as many as… I’m not predicting this… There are as many as nine or so seats that Democrats could flip in the Texas House this fall,” Scott Braddock, a political analyst, said in his podcast.

Also, a recent analysis by LoneStarLeft’s Newsletter said that there are 19 targeted Republican seats that could be flipped.

“We have to fight,” Hinojosa said. “This is a fight we can win, if we go out and vote.”