This became one of the most conservative recent sessions in Texas, with bills that had died in previous sessions for being too extreme now viewed as middle-of-the-road in the post-Trump era
Handguns are marked for sale at McBride's Gun Store in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, May 27, 2021.
Indeed, this was the session that pushed the state further right, at a time when it seemed least likely to do so — as Texas becomes younger, less white and less Republican, and as it continues to reel from the twin crises of the coronavirus pandemic and the collapse of its power grid during a winter storm that killed more than 150 people statewide.
The state’s Republican leadership thrived in the Obama era, in much the same way that California’s Democratic leadership relished being the liberal antidote in the Trump era. Now Texas Republicans are playing the antagonist once again during the Biden administration, all while intraparty skirmishes have broken out and far-right grassroots activists prepare for next year’s Republican primaries.
State Rep. Jarvis D. Johnson, D-Houston, said this had been a particularly partisan session. He cited but one example: the dismissive Republican response to his efforts to abolish Confederate Heroes Day, an official state holiday in Texas. In Texas, it has long been the case that Democrats can only stall legislation. But it is nearly impossible for them to push forward bills in tune with their vision of a more progressive state.
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