After years of pushing to the right on social issues and immigration, Texas Republicans have shifted their tone
understanding Texas is the state Capitol in Austin. It is there that legislators meet only every other year to pass new laws and set the state budget. The elegant domed building is several feet taller than the Capitol in Washington, and that matters to Texans. Gun-owners with a concealed-carry licence can enter through a separate security lane and do not have to go through the indignity of a metal detector, as lowly journalists do.
Republicans “have moved over to our issue set and the things we had been talking about,” says Manny Garcia, executive director of the Texas Democratic Party. Culture wars are still playing out in this legislative session, including over abortion, but they are fewer. Republicans are “not talking about divisive social issues any more,” says Joe Straus, who served as Speaker of the Texas House for a decade before stepping down in January.
Donald Trump has also cast a shadow over state Republicans. “The worst thing that ever happened to Texas Republicans was the election of Donald Trump,” says Mark Jones of Rice University in Houston. Mr Trump has alienated many white Republican women in Texas, and has also pushed away Hispanics, who account for around 40% of the state’s population.
Mr Abbott has suggested capping the rate by which local governments can raise taxes at 2.5% without a special vote ; this is probably just a starting point for negotiation. But how the state will manage to reduce property-tax growth rates while doing more to fund public schools equitably and boost their performance—another legislative priority—is unclear.
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