Texas Election Watch 2026

Taxes and spending: Supports tax cuts, reduced federal spending, and fewer regulations on energy companies.
Immigration: Supports completing the border wall and deportations.
Health: Calls for greater transparency in food and healthcare industries.

Energy: Says the federal gas tax should be permanently ended.

Spending: Discussed cutting “mandatory spending” (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) in leaked audio reported Oct 8; his campaign said in August he opposes Social Security cuts.

Debates: Has not agreed to a general-election debate.

Watch: Full speech at San Antonio rally (Oct 7)

Campaign policy source · Checked Oct 11, 2026.

Education: Opposes private-school vouchers; proposes universal preschool for three- and four-year-olds, more teacher training, and expanded school meal programs.
Technology: Supports rules intended to protect children and workers while supporting innovation.

Energy: Proposes suspending the federal gas and diesel tax for relief at the pump.

Health care: Backs lower prescription-drug costs, a Medicare buy-in option, protecting ACA coverage, reducing medical debt, and expanding rural health care.

Debates: Has accepted several debate invitations; none scheduled. Appears at a CNN/Jubilee town hall Oct 14 in Fort Worth.

Watch: Texas Tribune Festival one-on-one interview (Sept 24)

Education source · Technology source · All campaign issues · Checked Oct 11, 2026.

Trade: Supports eliminating tariffs and restoring congressional control over trade policy.
Government powers: Calls for legislative oversight and expiration dates on emergency powers, with protections for civil liberties.

Debates: Asked in August to be included in the televised Senate debates.

Campaign policy source · Checked Oct 11, 2026.

Property taxes: Proposes eliminating school-district property taxes on homesteads, limiting local spending, and requiring a two-thirds vote for tax increases.
Education: Supports Education Freedom Accounts and highlights teacher pay and public-school funding in his campaign platform.

Classroom tech: Wants less student screen time in schools, with more teacher-led instruction and textbooks.

Debates: Has not agreed to debate his opponent.

Watch: Full GOP Midterm Convention speech, Dallas

Tax proposal source · Campaign issues · Checked Oct 11, 2026.

Public schools: Wants to end the STAAR test and “pause the rigged A-F accountability system”; opposes school vouchers; would return state-taken-over districts to local communities.
Affordability: Campaign priorities include “Money in Your Pocket” and ending what she calls the “Corruption Tax” on Texans.
Border security and public lands: Recent campaign travel centered on protecting public lands and border communities, framing border security alongside land conservation.

Affordability: Proposes a $1,500 refund to every Texas household from the state surplus and freezing electricity rates; wants part of the $26.9 billion Rainy Day Fund redirected to families.

Education: Would appoint an educator as education commissioner.

Energy: Backs guardrails on data-center expansion.

Debates: Accepted an Oct 15 televised debate invitation; has challenged Abbott to meet her at the Governor’s Mansion that day.

Watch: Full speech at Longview rally (Oct 2)

Campaign policy source · Checked Oct 11, 2026.

Property taxes: Proposes raising the homestead exemption again and extending the over-65 appraised-value freeze to homeowners 55 and older (“Operation Double Nickel”).
Education and school choice: Backed school choice (Education Freedom Accounts) and supports returning prayer and the Ten Commandments to public schools.
Border and public safety: Backs continued border-security operations and full support for law enforcement.
Elections and party unity: Supports banning non-citizens from voting and making it easier to vote securely; calls for Republican party unity to keep Texas red.

Property taxes: Wants to eliminate school maintenance-and-operations property taxes.

Data centers: Backs a moratorium on data-center projects until the state sets guardrails.

Debates: No debate scheduled.

Campaign policy source · Checked Oct 11, 2026.

Wages and economy: Champions raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour and increasing the tipped-worker wage; supports using the state surplus for teacher pay, childcare, and infrastructure.
Property taxes: Backs meaningful property-tax reform, arguing the state must take greater responsibility for funding education, healthcare, and transportation.
Voting and democracy: Pushes online voter registration, ranked-choice voting in city and school-board elections, and a citizen ballot-initiative process.
Guns: Balances Second Amendment protections with stronger background checks, training requirements, and tools to investigate straw purchases.

Hemp: Opposes the state hemp crackdown; would roll back the health department’s hemp rule and regulate hemp like alcohol; her Texas CARES plan would fund health care with cannabis revenue.

Health care: Backs a comprehensive state-run system covering millions of uninsured Texans.

Campaign: Filed a Sept 19 complaint alleging her opponent’s AI-generated ads violated Texas’s deepfake law; the ads were pulled the next day.

Campaign policy source · Checked Oct 11, 2026.

Border and immigration: Pledges to secure the border, enforce border-security and deportation agendas, sue sanctuary cities, and eradicate human trafficking.
Crime: Backs zero-tolerance policies for violent crime, stronger bail for dangerous offenders, and reining in “rogue district attorneys.”
Election integrity: Pledges strict election integrity: only legally qualified U.S. citizens voting and enforcement of Texas voter ID laws.
Government waste and taxes: Proposes a Texas DOGE to root out waste, fraud, and abuse; protect taxpayers; and defend oil-and-gas jobs and Texas energy independence.

Campaign: Active on the trail with statewide GOP rallies in October.

Debates: No debate scheduled.

Campaign policy source · Checked Oct 11, 2026.

Background: State senator and lawyer from Dallas; won the May 26 Democratic runoff for Attorney General.

Rule of law: Campaigns on consumer protection, anti-corruption, and government transparency. Says he would not defend laws he views as unconstitutional, citing the Ten Commandments classroom law.

Crime and border: Backs working with local law enforcement on crime and border security while opposing federal overreach.

Checked Oct 11, 2026.

Affordability and county spending: Her campaign calls for stopping county property-tax increases, expanding first-time homebuyer assistance, and reducing business-permit backlogs.
Flooding and emergency preparedness: Proposes an additional reservoir, prioritizing flood investments by community need, and expanding resilience hubs and accessible disaster education.
Public safety: Proposes jail-to-workforce programs intended to reduce repeat offending, funding mental-health crisis response, and transparency about local resources used for federal immigration enforcement.

Campaign policy source · Checked October 8, 2026.

Affordability and county spending: His campaign calls for concentrating spending on core services, reviewing savings before tax increases, and publishing budget-impact explanations and quarterly performance reviews.
Flooding and emergency preparedness: Proposes finishing funded flood-control projects, independent project reviews, public deadlines, and coordination with neighboring counties on drainage and disaster planning.
Public safety: Supports improved staffing and case processing in law enforcement and courts, public performance measures, and expanded domestic-violence shelter capacity and support services.

Campaign policy source · Checked October 8, 2026.