Texas’s latest legislative session underlined where the front line in the culture wars is now
If Texas is dancing the two-step, it is doing so with two right feet. Bills that might not have even been given a hearing in previous legislative sessions are passing both Republican-controlled chambers of the state legislature and being signed by the Republican governor, Greg Abbott. This includes one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, which bans the procedure as early as six weeks and makes no exception for rape or incest.
This rightward-step took many by surprise, because the last time legislators convened the bills they passed were more concerned with governing than signalling. That session had followed Democratic gains in 2018, when Beto O’Rourke ran for theSenate. In response Republicans adopted a strategy of self-preservation, mostly avoiding polarising social issues and focusing instead on priorities for mainstream voters, such as increasing funding for public education and capping property taxes.
Members of the legislature fear Democrats less than losing to a conservative rival in the primary. “Nobody cares about November any more,” says Jason Sabo of Frontera Strategy, a lobbying firm. “The only thing that matters is March, and the only way to lose a Republican primary is if someone makes you look too liberal.” Mr Abbott, too, is using this legislative session to fend off conservative primary challengers next year, when he is up for re-election.
Meanwhile, plenty has been left undone. Consider Dallas Independent School District , the state’s second-largest. Michael Hinojosa, the superintendent, says his biggest priority was to see that funding promised in the last session was not cut, a worry eased by the federal stimulus.