Texas Legislature will approve school vouchers and boost public education funds next year, Abbott says

By Jaden Edison, The Texas Tribune

Nov. 6, 2024

After a wave of Texas Republicans dominated the ballot box on Election Day, Gov. Greg Abbott expressed confidence Wednesday that he now has enough votes in the Texas House to pass a school voucher program, his top legislative priority since last year.

The governor shared his optimism during a visit to Kingdom Life Academy, a small Christian private school in Tyler, where he proclaimed that the House now has 79 “hardcore school choice proponents,” a number slightly above the simple majority the 150-member chamber needs to approve legislation.

During the same visit, Abbott also said he was committed to fully funding Texas’ public schools, providing teachers with pay raises and enhancing career training opportunities for students — all of which he refused to do last year when vouchers stalled in the Texas Legislature.

Last year, House lawmakers voted 84-63 to strip from a massive education funding bill a provision to establish education savings accounts, a voucher-like program that would have offered parents tax dollars to pay for their child’s private schooling and other educational expenses. Twenty-one Republicans, most of whom represented rural school districts, joined all House Democrats to oppose the legislation over fears that such a proposal would undercut the funding public schools rely upon.

Abbott vowed to use the March primary election cycle to campaign against the rural Republicans who helped block his plan. He did so with the support of people like Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass, who have sought to use their money and influence to back school voucher proponents across the country.

Abbott’s reluctance to fully fund public education last legislative session — even with a record $32 billion budget surplus — caused many public school districts to enter this school year with multimillion-dollar deficit budgets while also tussling with rising costs of living, expiring federal pandemic relief dollars and insufficiently funded legislative mandates to improve school security.

But after at least 11 of the 15 pro-voucher candidates he endorsed earlier this year cruised to victory in Tuesday night’s general election, Abbott said both addressing public schools’ funding needs and passing school voucher legislation to his liking would happen during next year’s legislative session.

“They make it sound like you can't have both school choice and robust public schools,” Abbott said. “That's completely false. The reality is we can have the best public schools in America and also have school choice at the very same time. It does not have to be one or the other, and it's wrong to pit one against the other.”

Kingdom Life Academy, the venue Abbott picked to boast about his party’s election night success Wednesday, is a financially struggling private school that provides “practical, Christ-centered learning” for a student body composed of mostly Black and Hispanic children.

Similar to what school voucher proponents have done throughout the country, Abbott and Kingdom Life Academy founder and director Joel Enge promoted school voucher legislation as a way to provide more opportunities for the state’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged students.

“I was a public school teacher in Tyler for over 20 years. … I watched students drop out of school in their hearts because they did not fit traditional education,” said Enge, who is Black. “We're grateful for the opportunity to continue to fight and see school choice open up doors for more students and more families who need an alternative education.”

School voucher programs across the country, however, do not always accomplish what their proponents describe. While the country’s first voucher programs launched in the late 20th century with the goal of helping vulnerable students, many of the children who benefit from some of the more expansive programs today come from wealthier families who already pay for private school tuition. Meanwhile, families who reside in poor communities often do not use vouchers.

As for academic outcomes, studies in multiple states have shown that vouchers do not consistently lead to improved standardized test scores for low-income students — a metric Republican officials often rely upon to make decisions about public education. In some cases, vouchers have resulted in steep declines in scores. Voucher advocates often note that the benefits of such programs are best measured through increased school competition and parental satisfaction.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/06/texas-house-greg-abbott-school-vouchers-funding/.

Texas GOP poised to increase its majorities in the Legislature

By Zach Despart and Renzo Downey, The Texas Tribune

Nov. 6, 2024

Republicans were poised to expand their majority in the Texas House on Tuesday evening, and appeared on track to flip two seats in historically Democratic districts as South Texas continued its dramatic shift to the right.

If those results hold, the GOP will control 87 of 150 seats in the lower chamber when the Legislature reconvenes in January. That margin will give Gov. Greg Abbott “more than enough votes” to finally pass a school voucher bill, he said late Tuesday.

Republican Don McLaughlin, the former mayor of Uvalde, was beating Democrat Cecilia Castellano in House District 80, according to incomplete results late Tuesday. The seat was open following the retirement of Democrat Tracy King.

In Corpus Christi’s District 34, Republican Denise Villalobos was on path to defeat Democrat Solomon Ortiz Jr. in a race to succeed retiring Democrat Abel Herrero.

Republicans had their eyes on a third seat, with Democratic state Rep. Eddie Morales Jr. of Eagle Pass trailing Republican Robert Garza for much of the night. But Morales pulled ahead late when the votes were tallied in his hometown Maverick County, giving him another term representing his sprawling border district.

In the Senate, Republican Adam Hinojosa claimed victory against Sen. Morgan LaMantia, D-Palm Valley, in the only battleground of the upper chamber.

Abbott lauded his party’s likely gains in the Legislature on Tuesday.

“Texans sent a clear message: they want safer streets, a secure border, a strong economy, and the economy to choose the best school for their children,” Abbott said in a statement. “And that’s exactly what these Republican candidates will deliver.”

Abbott is particularly keen to pass education savings accounts, which are taxpayer-supported bank accounts parents can use to subsidize their childrens’ private school tuition. Creating those accounts was one of Abbott’s top legislative priorities that was thwarted by a coalition of rural Republicans and Democrats last year. But Abbott was able to oust many of those Republicans in this year’s primaries by supporting their challengers.

Abbott scheduled a Wednesday news conference at the Kingdom Life Academy, a Christian private school in Tyler, where he is expected to discuss his voucher plans for the upcoming legislative session.

Once members know the makeup of the House, their focus will shift to the 2025 legislative session — and the speaker’s race. Texas House Republican Caucus bylaws call on the Republican caucus to meet in December to endorse a candidate for speaker.

Republican state Rep. David Cook is running against sitting House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, to lead the lower chamber. Cook claims to have support from a majority of the incoming Republican caucus, although a speaker candidate must achieve three-fifths support within the caucus to earn its official backing.

Cook, a former mayor of Mansfield, defeated Democrat Ebony M. Turner in District 96 on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.

Also on Tuesday, Republicans were holding on to two seats Democrats had hoped to flip. Two were in Bexar County. Marc LaHood, who ousted incumbent Republican Steve Allison in the spring Republican primary, was leading Democrat Laurel Jordan Swift in District 121. John Lujan was narrowly beating Democratic challenger Kristian Carranza in District 118.

Democrats were falling short where they hoped to defeat incumbent Republicans in suburban seats elsewhere. In Dallas County, it appeared Republican Angie Chen Button would survive her faceoff with Averie Bishop in District 112. Also in Dallas County, incumbent Morgan Meyer was winning over Democrat Elizabeth Ginsberg in District 108.

In Harris County, Republican incumbent Lacey Hull was easily beating back a challenge from Democrat Stephanie Morales in District 138. Caroline Harris Davila, R-Round Rock, cruised to a second term in District 52 over Democrat Jennie Berkholz, according to The AP.

Tuesday did not appear to be a complete disappointment for Democrats. The party was holding on to the District 115 seat, vacated by Julie Johnson who was elected to the U.S. House. Democrat Cassandra Hernandez was leading over Republican John Jun in the open contest.

Democrat Mihaela Plesa, who eked out a win in her District 70 race in 2022, was again narrowly leading in the race for the Dallas County seat against Republican Steve Kinard, who was one of 48 Republican nominees Cook says are supporting him in the race for speaker.

In McLennan County, Republican Pat Curry won both the general election and the special election to succeed retired Republican state Rep. Doc Anderson and will be sworn in later this month, according to The AP. That will make him the senior member within a freshman class that is shaping up to be at least 26 Republicans strong, the largest class of Republican freshmen since 2013.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/05/texas-house-senate-election-2024-results/.

House Speaker Dade Phelan wins runoff, surviving challenge by Texas GOP’s far-right forces

By Zach Despart, The Texas Tribune

May 28, 2024

BEAUMONT — Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, the top electoral target for a far-right faction of Republicans intent on controlling the Legislature, emerged victorious Tuesday over a well-funded challenger endorsed by Donald Trump and his allies.

Phelan defeated former Orange County Republican Party chairman David Covey, who also had the backing of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton and former Texas Republican Party Chairman Matt Rinaldi. In doing so, he avoided the ignominious fate of becoming the first House speaker to lose a primary in 52 years.

With all precincts reporting, Phelan was up 366 votes — within the margin that Covey can call for a recount. Covey, however, conceded in a speech to supporters at his election night party in Orange shortly after 9:30 p.m.

Phelan, 48, who has seen his popularity plummet among Republicans since he backed the impeachment of Paxton on corruption and bribery charges exactly one year and one day ago, was defiant in his victory speech at JW’s Patio in Beaumont.

“I will be your state rep for HD 21 and I will be your speaker for the Texas House in 2025,” Phelan said to a raucous crowd of more than 100 supporters. “This was a true grassroots effort — not the fake grassroots.”

Covey, a 34-year-old first-time candidate, not only forced Phelan into a runoff in March but secured more votes than the two-term House speaker. That outcome shocked many in the district, as Phelan was previously reelected four times without Republican opposition and hails from one of the most prominent families in Beaumont.

Candidates for the Texas Legislature who trail after the first round rarely win their runoffs. Phelan carried the unique advantage of being a statewide leader with a prolific roster of political donors. Through May 20, his campaign reported spending $3.8 million on the runoff, more than double Covey’s $1.6 million.Their combined hauls amounted to what was almost certainly the most expensive state House race in Texas history.

It was also an ugly contest — Phelan accused Covey of running on “lies and deceit” — where the candidates attacked each other in a flood of mailers and television advertisements.

“This was a terrible, awful knock-down, drag-out,” Phelan said. “You can now open your mailboxes again. You can watch the 6 o’clock news. It’s over. It’s done.”

Phelan’s win is a major blow to the party’s ultraconservative faction that is led ideologically by Patrick and Paxton and financed by megadonors like West Texas oil magnate Tim Dunn. It is a group that rejects compromise and bipartisanship, demonizing Democrats and the Republicans willing to work with them. This ascendant wing has supplanted the party’s traditional focus on taxes and regulations with highly divisive social issues like transgender rights and book bans.

In defeat, that group did not go quietly. Covey called Phelan an "Austin swamp creature" who only secured reelection through the support of Democrats, which he said was a "brazen act of betrayal."

Paxton, an early endorser of Covey who had campaigned for the challenger as late as Tuesday afternoon, echoed the claim. The attorney general, who had vowed revenge against Phelan for supporting his impeachment, said the speaker had "blatantly stolen an election from the hard-working people of his district" by courting Democrats. Paxton said Republicans should move to closed primaries — a priority of the far right — and he issued a warning to members of the House.

"To those considering supporting Dade Phelan as Speaker in 2025, ask your 15 colleagues who lost re-election how they feel about their decision now," Paxton said. "You will not return if you vote for Dade Phelan again."

Patrick blamed Phelan's catering to Democrats during the legislative session as the reasons so many incumbents lost. It should cost him his leadership post, the lieutenant governor said.

"He threw them under the bus, but he still wants to drive," Patrick said in a statement. "That’s not real leadership. That’s a debacle!"

The more business-oriented establishment wing of the party viewed Phelan’s campaign as a last stand to maintain influence — and civility — in the Legislature. That group, led by some of the state’s wealthiest business executives, political strategists like Karl Rove and erstwhile Republican elected officials including U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Gov. Rick Perry, poured millions of dollars into Phelan’s campaign. Phelan’s win was a victory for them, too. That well-heeled group of powerbrokers, who swept Texas Republicans into power in the 1990s, cracking a century of Democratic dominance, showed that despite recent attacks on their own reputations as RINOs, they still have sway within the state party.

But whether Phelan can hold on to the speaker’s gavel is unclear. One of his own committee chairmen, Republican Rep. Tom Oliverson of Cypress, declared his candidacy for speaker in March. But no members have publicly endorsed Oliverson, and while his reelection was in doubt, Phelan was able to keep the rest of his caucus from open rebellion.

House members had also refrained from expressing public support for Phelan’s return as speaker — there was little political upside in doing so if the man was going to lose his primary — but that excuse evaporated Tuesday. Politicking for the job will begin in earnest, with Phelan eager to show he still has the confidence of the caucus and other prospective candidates mulling when to declare their intentions publicly. Among the jovial supporters at Phelan’s party were Republican Reps. Jeff Leach of Plano — who cried during the victory speech — Stan Kitzman of Pattison, Will Metcalf of Conroe, Jared Patterson of Frisco, Brooks Landgraf of Odessa and Cole Hefner of Mt. Pleasant.

Stephenville Republican Rep. Shelby Slawson, who voted against impeaching Paxton, published a column this week criticizing House leadership for bringing the charges and arguing the speaker deserved to be replaced over the debacle.

“The architects of impeachment lit the House on fire, and regardless of what happens in the runoff elections, we cannot select an arsonist as fire chief,” Slawson wrote.

Attacked by his enemies as a RINO, Phelan was also widely considered more conservative than his predecessors, Phelan secured passage of the state’s near-total ban on abortion, permitless carry of handguns and several first-in-the-nation border security bills.

Phelan was easily reelected speaker in January 2023 with all Democrats and almost all Republicans in support; conservative rumblings of dissatisfaction amounted to a paltry three votes for another candidate. And he batted away far-right criticism of the House’s longstanding practice of appointing Democratic committee chairs, appointing them to lead eight of 34 committees.

Yet the preceding twelve months were the most tumultuous of Phelan’s political career.

The speaker routinely clashed with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, whose reputation for running the Senate with an iron fist has left many House members with the impression he would prefer to run that chamber, too. (Patrick said this weekend he doesn’t want to run the House but he wants someone more conservative than Phelan to run it.) But Phelan stood up for the House’s independence — on property taxes, on border security bills — and told The Texas Tribune his relationship with Patrick deteriorated to the point that by August, the men were no longer speaking.

 Phelan’s relationship with the governor was cordial but increasingly fraught, again because the speaker stuck up for his members who repeatedly failed to pass a private school voucher bill, Abbott’s top legislative priority. Phelan, who later told the Tribune he would have preferred some version of the bill to pass, did not pressure the two-dozen Republican holdouts to accept the governor’s take-it-or-leave-it proposal if they were uncomfortable with it.

They left it, gutting the governor’s preferred bill during a dramatic November session. The victory was short-lived, however, as it set Abbott on a course for payback. He supported the primary challengers to many of the Republican holdouts; seven were ousted. And the failure of vouchers in the House may have contributed to Abbott’s decision not to endorse Phelan’s reelection.

But by far the greatest contributor to Phelan’s near-defeat was his support for impeaching Paxton. The impeachment was not his idea — the Republican-led House investigating committee began the probe months before presenting it to the rest of the members. But Phelan said the evidence showing Paxton’s misconduct was far too strong to ignore.

Paxton, a bombastic figure on the far right, began attacking Phelan even before the House formally voted for impeachment. He accused Phelan of presiding over the House while drunk — Phelan has denied the accusation — and demanded he resign.

Minutes after the Republican-led Senate acquitted Paxton of 16 charges and dismissed the rest, Patrick, who had just presided over the trial as judge, gave a speech excoriating the House for even bringing the case.

The impeachment, polling showed, was unpopular among Republican primary voters. In February, a University of Houston Hobby School survey found just 23% of respondents said they’d be more likely to vote for a lawmaker because they supported impeaching Paxton, while 46% said they’d be less likely to vote for a candidate who had. Phelan’s waning influence was evident, with respondents saying they’d be less likely to support a candidate endorsed by the speaker. For all other politicians polled, endorsements had a positive impact on voters’ views of a candidate.

Phelan skipped the biennial state Republican Party convention in San Antonio last week, where Patrick, Paxton and outgoing party chairman Matt Rinaldi used him as a punching bag in their speeches.

Despite his unpopularity statewide, Phelan had appeared flummoxed as to why District 21 voters would not want him to continue serving. The speaker’s great-grandfather made a fortune in the Texas Oil Boom, which began here, and later became a philanthropist. Phelan works for the now fourth-generation real estate business.

Signs of that lasting influence are omnipresent; the restaurant where the speaker gave his victory speech was Phelan Boulevard. Yet he downplays his patrician roots himself. He emerged from a polling place Tuesday afternoon wearing Wellington boots and a camouflage t-shirt. An alligator head adorns the desk in his downtown office.

As its representative, Phelan said he consistently secured resources to the often-overlooked and disaster-prone district, which occupies a corner of Southeast Texas that borders Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico.

 “I’ve answered the call, year in and year out,” Phelan said in January.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/24/dade-phelan-david-covey-texas-house-speaker-runoff/.

Insurgent Republicans make major gains in Texas primaries

By Karen Brooks Harper, The Texas Tribune

March 6, 2024

Texas voters on Tuesday handed more power to the insurgent wing of the Republican Party in an expensive and vengeful primary election, punishing GOP lawmakers, judges and a House speaker who defied hard-right state leaders and their supporters in recent years.

The shockwaves rippled up and down the ballot. Most notably, Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, was forced into a runoff with a well-funded challenger, David Covey, after being targeted by ultra-conservative donors and activists, who faulted the second-term speaker for declining to stop the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton last May.

Paxton backed Covey in the primary, along with many other conservative challengers targeting House members who voted for his impeachment. Joining him in a fight against House incumbents was Gov. Greg Abbott, who targeted those opponents of his signature school voucher program.

Democrats largely rallied around incumbents as they faced challenges from the left in several congressional and state races. They nominated U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, elevating him above eight other candidates, to face GOP U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz this fall.

But the Republicans saw far more drama in their contests. Few who landed in the crosshairs of Abbott and Paxton emerged from the bruising primary unscathed.

“What a HORRIBLE night it has become for the crony establishment in Austin,” Michael Quinn Sullivan, publisher of the ultra-conservative Texas Scorecard, wrote on X as the returns came in.

Abbott said in a statement that the election “sent an unmistakable message” that Republican primary voters are in favor of school choice and vowed to continue helping those candidates as they continue their trek to Austin.

“When school choice opponents lost every argument on policy, they resigned to campaign lies—but they couldn’t fool Texas voters,” Abbott said.

Six Texas House Republicans who fought Abbott’s attempt to create a school voucher program in Texas lost their primaries to pro-voucher candidates, while another four were forced into runoffs to defend their rural districts.

Voters also ejected three Republican judges from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s highest criminal court, including Presiding Judge Sharon Keller, who garnered less than 40% of the vote. Paxton sought to oust the three judges after they ruled in 2021 that his office didn’t have the power to unilaterally prosecute voter fraud.

"Tonight, Texans have spoken loud and clear,” Paxton said in a statement after judges he campaigned against lost their primaries.

Three Republican members of the Texas State Board of Education were struggling late Tuesday as well, with incumbents Tom Maynard and Pam Little being forced into runoffs and Pat Hardy poised to lose her seat altogether.

GOP voters did hand one big victory to an established politician: former President Donald Trump, who helped usher in the pugnacious brand of politics that prevailed Tuesday night. He dominated his primary, winning more than three-fourths of the vote and handily defeating his only significant challenger, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley.

The primaries were a mix of ego, personality and policy — and in many cases it was hard to suss out how much each factor played in individual campaigns. In some races, such as the defeats of GOP House members Hugh Shine, Glenn Rogers and Steve Allison, the incumbent was opposed by both Paxton and Abbott.

In others, loyalties were mixed. Paxton, for instance, backed a candidate who forced out state Rep. Jacey Jetton, a Richmond Republican and voucher supporter whom Abbott had endorsed. Paxton also backed Dallas salon owner Shelley Luther, who made a name for herself during the pandemic when she was arrested for defying Abbott’s COVID-19 orders. She won her primary against state Rep. Reggie Smith, R-Sherman, who was targeted both by Paxton and by pro-voucher groups.

But Paxton didn’t succeed in all his campaigns against the 34 House Republicans he marked for payback, nor was he able to save all of his defenders.

He couldn’t protect, for example, state Rep. Travis Clardy, R-Nacogdoches, who voted against his impeachment but was on Abbott’s hit list for voting against vouchers — a vote Clardy defended as being in line with the will of his district.

Clardy lost his primary to pro-voucher candidate Joanne Shofner, earning less than 40% of the vote.

Abbott had a higher success rate. In the last month of the primary campaign, he spent $4.4 million on challengers to 10 House Republicans and made endorsements in several races, including in several seats left open by retiring members, in an attempt to turn 11 seats over to candidates who support helping parents pay for private school tuition with taxpayer dollars.

The final number of voucher supporters who’ll be in the House next year remains undetermined due to the number of GOP House incumbents heading for a runoff, but the movement clearly gained significant ground.

The developments set up what will certainly be one of the highest-stakes primary runoff seasons ever. Money is sure to pour in from voucher supporters and opponents, along with from the more establishment and insurgent wings of the GOP. And Paxton’s legal troubles will remain a specter, as his trial on felony securities fraud charges is scheduled to begin April 15.

No runoff race will be more closely watched than Phelan’s. The speaker has been a target of the GOP grassroots ever since he was elected to preside over the House in 2021. While Phelan has pushed numerous conservative priorities, including passing strict abortion restrictions, allocating billions of dollars and allowing people to carry handguns without a permit, defeating him would eliminate one of the last remaining moderating forces of Texas politics.

In a statement Tuesday night, Phelan highlighted the stakes of his race.

“This runoff is not just another race,” Phelan said in a statement. “It’s the frontline of the battle for the soul of our district.” He denounced what he called the “deceit and vitriol” leveled at him, and said his opponent was backed by “fringe West Texas billionaires,” a thinly veiled reference to Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, who have invested heavily in far-right causes.

But no matter the outcome of the runoffs on May 28, the leadership of the state will be dramatically altered.

That will be evident in the U.S. Capitol, too. In another blow to the bipartisan middle, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, was sent into a runoff with Brandon Herrera to defend his seat after the Republican Party of Texas censured him last year over his support of gun safety legislation and gay marriage, and his willingness to work with Democrats.

A decisive nod to the far right also came in the race to replace veteran U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, a staunch social conservative known for his pragmatism and willingness to compromise with Democrats.

But his replacement is a more stark move to the right. Right-wing conservative internet influencer Brandon Gill, a 30-year-old with no formal political experience, placed a solid first in a crowded 11-way primary and was poised to avoid a run-off that most observers figured was inevitable. The district is solidly Republican, and the nominee is the presumed winner in the general election.

Trump, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and conservative filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza, Gill’s father-in-law, all backed Gill's run and sent him to a decisive victory in the solid red district.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/03/06/texas-primaries-gop-incumbents-defeated/.

Border security overpowers school vouchers and Paxton impeachment in Republican Texas House primaries

By Patrick Svitek, The Texas Tribune

Feb. 9, 2024

Turn on the TV in northeast Texas, and it would be hard to guess it has become a battleground in the GOP war over school vouchers.

State Rep. Gary VanDeaver of New Boston — one of nine Republicans that Gov. Greg Abbott is trying to unseat over their opposition to vouchers — is running an ad bragging about boosting border security funding as a House budget writer. His Abbott-backed challenger, Chris Spencer, is airing a spot promising to work with former President Donald Trump to “make our Texas border secure again.” And another Abbott-endorsed challenger in the region, Joanne Shofner, is running a commercial that pitches her as a “true border hawk.”

Those ads, exclusively about the border, are underscoring a key dynamic in Texas’ extraordinary primary season: Despite all the hubbub about vouchers and Ken Paxton’s impeachment — it’s still about the border, stupid.

Immigration is dominating the primaries far more than anything else, overshadowing the issues that initially set the stage last year for a high-octane primary. Abbott is endeavoring to unseat the House Republicans who joined Democrats to kill his school voucher plan, while Attorney General Ken Paxton set out to defeat the House Republicans who voted to impeach him last May.

In a recognition of the dominance of border concerns, some vulnerable House Republicans are now trying to tap into those concerns to explain their opposition to school vouchers.

“Last year I stopped a bill that would have handed out school vouchers — your tax dollars — to illegal immigrants,” VanDeaver says to the camera in a new commercial.

Rep. Glenn Rogers, R-Graford, is also running a TV ad that accuses his opponent, Mike Olcott, of supporting a voucher program that “gives taxpayer dollars to illegal immigrants.” It is an apparent reference to the lack of citizenship requirements for the recipients of the proposed initiative last year.

Pro-voucher groups say the argument reeks of desperation. Abbott’s chief strategist, Dave Carney, said Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the talking point was “nonsense” and suggested his side already has a counterargument.

With less than a month until the primary, Abbott has kept the border center stage, visiting Eagle Pass on Thursday with nearly two dozen House Republicans who he has endorsed for reelection. While his office promised a “border security announcement,” they had no such announcement and Abbott said he was there to applaud the lawmakers’ for their help in passing his border agenda.

“The wire that you see preventing illegal entry … the soldiers that you see, the Texas Department of Public Safety that you see — none of that would be here but for the people who stand with me today,” Abbott said.

Abbott has been battling the Biden administration in court to install razor wire at a park in Eagle Pass along the border.

Abbott has spent the past month crisscrossing the state to stump for House incumbents and challengers he has endorsed in the wake of the defeat of his school voucher plan. And while he mentions the plan briefly in his stump speeches, it is often his national-headline-making efforts on the border that get more words — and crowd reaction.

The House GOP does not have many political vulnerabilities on the border given that they virtually all backed Abbott’s proposals. But pro-voucher groups are still seizing on the issue as a means to an end.

The Family Empowerment Coalition PAC recently co-opted the issue in a wave of digital ads against anti-voucher House Republicans. In the spots, a narrator introduces the incumbent and says they “brag he helped close the border, even though he didn’t.”

“That’s why Greg Abbott didn’t endorse him,” the narrator says.

One of the ad’s targets, Rep. DeWayne Burns of Cleburne, recently expressed frustration with the tactic in a Facebook post, saying “these FECPAC characters created an attack ad against me using an A.I. generated voice without any sources or citations.”

Leo Linbeck, one of the PAC’s leaders, said the strategy is simple: They are playing to win, and that means messaging against incumbents beyond just one issue.

“For people who oppose us on school choice, we will use the issues that are most important to voters to communicate our preference,” Linbeck said.

Another pro-voucher group — a national PAC, the School Freedom Fund — is leveraging multiple issues beyond education. It has even launched a TV ad against House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, touting his primary challenger’s endorsement from former President Donald Trump. Phelan declined to stake out a personal position throughout the voucher fight last year.

The polling was clear going into primary season: For Republican primary voters, school vouchers may be popular but not nearly as popular — or top of mind — as securing the border. The border regularly ranks as primary voters’ top concern — often by a wide margin — and they overwhelmingly back specific proposals.

A University of Houston poll released Tuesday found that Republican primary voters support “tax-funded school vouchers to all parents” 64% to 29%. But when it came to empowering state authorities to arrest undocumented immigrants — a new Texas law — the support widened to a gaping 89% to 9%.

“With a Republican primary voter, you can’t go wrong with stressing the border,” said Mark Jones, a political science professor at UH involved in the polling. “They literally all support the same position.”

The ads in northeast Texas are not an outlier. In Central Texas, the first House Republican who got an Abbott-backed challenger, Rep. Hugh Shine of Temple, is also running a TV ad solely about the border, boasting about how he “passed the strongest border security bill in the nation.”

That is a reference to Senate Bill 4, which Abbott signed into law last month. It allows Texas law enforcement authorities to arrest undocumented immigrants anywhere in the state and has already drawn a constitutional challenge from the Biden administration. Every House Republican voted for it, as well as for bills to ramp up state funding for a border wall and to increase penalties for smuggling immigrants or operating a stash house.

It all underscores a great irony for Abbott: As he kept lawmakers in Austin last year for five sessions trying to pass school vouchers, he also tasked them with tough border measures that they are arming themselves with in their reelection campaigns.

To be sure, school vouchers and Paxton’s impeachment are still coming up in primaries — at forums, in mailers and even some TV ads. The most striking example came earlier this week, when Phelanreleased a commercial addressing Paxton’s impeachment head-on, saying “Vengeful Paxton” is the only reason Trump has endorsed Phelan’s primary challenger.

But Phelan has been airing TV ads in his southeast Texas district for over two months, and the earliest ones were exclusively about the House’s border efforts.

For other TV ads, if they even mention school vouchers, the reference is glancing.

“Backed by Greg Abbott and Ted Cruz, LaHood is running to close down our border,” a narrator says, “and protect our kids from woke indoctrination.”

 This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/09/texas-republican-primary-2024-house-border-ken-paxton/.