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December 29, 2025 5:19 PM
Yes, there is still some hangover from the impeachment of AG Paxton who blamed TLR for his “persecution” while some GOP candidates elected in Abbott’s scorched earth campaign for school vouchers are now opposed by TLR. Meantime, Speaker Burrows seems to have made peace, for the most part, with the Tim Dunn political operation by punishing the Democrats who elected him
The end of
the holiday season just happens to coincide with the fundraising deadline for
legislative candidates in Texas. So, some of you in the lobby just trying to
enjoy your Christmas vacations are getting calls from Texas House
members looking for those last-minute checks. Many of you have reported – and we’ve
seen – light attendance at fundraisers from Texas-OU weekend in
Dallas to receptions at the Austin Club.
The sales
pitch from Republican candidates is a little different this time around for a variety
of reasons. So, it’s probably helpful to at least float a preliminary list of
the Texas House GOP primaries we’ll start covering in-depth in January and think
aloud about the dynamics driving the campaigns already underway across Texas.
This election
cycle isn’t expected to be anything like 2024 when “everyone in the House seems
to have a primary of some note,” as one campaign veteran put it that year. True,
at that time the governor was ending the careers of longtime conservative
legislators in pursuit of school vouchers on behalf of his Pennsylvania sugar
daddy Jeff Yass. And Attorney General Ken Paxton was similarly barnstorming
the state on a retribution tour after the impeachment he blamed largely on Texans
for Lawsuit Reform. TLR has always publicly denied having any role in
that process, it should be noted.
Now that
school vouchers have passed into law, Gov. Greg Abbott’s operation is
shifting back to focusing mostly on the general election when he’ll target a
few Democrats and seek to shore up Republicans up and down the ballot with this
$100 million war chest. Outside of endorsements, don’t look for Abbott to do
any heavy lifting in primaries to defend incumbents.
Also, seemingly gone
are the days of widespread anti-House Speaker “Empower Texans”-style
campaigns run by the political operation funded primarily by Midland billionaire
Tim Dunn for about 15 years.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright January 02, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved 