Archives for 2026

The primaries and runoffs are completed, and we have a full slate of candidates for the fall elections from both parties.  While there were not many surprises, the margin of General Paxton’s win was probably larger than some might have expected.  Senator Cornyn and the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee spent in excess of $100 million against General Paxton but that did not seem to deter his supporters.  After entreaties from both sides President Trump did finally endorse General Paxton about a week before election day.  It certainly may have added a few points to the final numbers for General Paxton but clearly Senator Cornyn and the Senate Republican Campaign committee saw the writing on the wall well in advance of election day and spent every dollar possible to drive up General Paxton’s negatives, all to no avail.  Going forward, the biggest benefactor of that large spend will be State Representative Talarico, the Democratic nominee for US Senate.  While the negatives brought up by Senator Cornyn’s campaign did not seem to impact Republican primary voters, it remains to be seen how more moderate and independent votes respond to those same issues.  Both campaigns should have sufficient resources to get their messages out, but clearly Representative Talarico is ahead in the messaging, thanks to Senator Cornyn’s efforts.  Current polling (obviously very early) has Talarico ahead but within the margin of error.  We should expect a tightly contested very bombastic few months between now and November. 

Republicans should win the remainder of the statewide races, most of the Democratic nominees will have minimal funds to get their names out much less develop messaging enough to appeal to independent voters.  Further down the ballot in State Senate and State House races may be a different matter, these local races will be highly contested and expect the Democrats to pick up several seats in the Texas House and perhaps hold on to the surprise Senate seat they got in a recent special election in Tarrant County.  While not much of a structural change in the Senate, expect the Speaker to have a smaller margin in the House coming into next session.  All of this is subject to change based on what is going on at the Federal and internation level most of which has little to do with what happens in each of these regions specifically but if people are feeling the pinch or gas prices are high they want to blame someone, and it is usually whomever is currently in office. 

The House Natural Resources committee conducted a hearing yesterday on several Interim Charges.   Items on the agenda included agency updates on HJR 7 and SB 7 implementation and the current capacity of the various finance programs overseen by the TWDB.  Much of the hearing was otherwise dedicated to discussions on DATA CENTERS. 

With more than 120 witnesses and a hard stop at 8 pm, a significant number of public witnesses were not heard despite a 2-minute testimony limit on each witness. With those who are unfamiliar with House and Senate committee testimony, time limits are common to allow as many attendees as possible to speak. It would be fair to say that most if not all of the public comments were anti data centers.  Many individuals had personal stories to tell regarding the impact these facilities have had on them specifically and their communities in general. Data center industry representatives were also present to give the opposing view that “all is well, they are being transparent, etc.  However, some of the most compelling testimony given on data center behalf was regarding national security.

Yet the overwhelming call from the public was the request for some type of moratorium on new data center construction.  Clearly, based on the questions and comments from many of the committee members present they have all received considerable input from their local constituents on these centers and the request, even demand that something be done to slow or limit their proliferation. 

The other notable group of witnesses were local county officials, county judges and commissioners.  Their message was straightforward, “we have no authority to limit or even influence these developers, please give us something.”

It was yet another compelling hearing on water, I think I am seeing a pattern here.  If you have the time and inclination, you can watch the hearing at Texas Legislature Online (capitol.texas.gov).

Based on the questions and comments from both elected officials and the public, I think we can expect 2 significant types of legislation next session. 

• More counties/communities seeking creation of GCDs
• Some effort to give counties very limited authority over certain types of development

Establishing GCDs is always tricky.  Every session there are several proposed, most don’t pass.  This issue could bring opposing sides to the GCD question together. 

Counties have often sought limited “zoning” authority, the Texas legislature has always, regardless of the administration said no. There just has never been an appetite for allowing this type of local authority.  It remains to be seen whether this issue is the one to crack that barrier but listening to the questions and comments from the committee members, expect to see legislation filed (and heard) that gives counties some type of narrow/limited authority to interject themselves into specific types of new developments.  Passing a bill is a different question, certainly urban members will have an opinion on the possible expansion of county authority.

Stay tuned, this issue is just getting started.

Kyle

What an unusually strange world in which we live. Earlier this month the discussions were about the President possibly committing genocide and today we have a ceasefire and attempts to negotiate a peace settlement. Tomorrow, who knows. How this impacts Texas, other than higher gas prices and our military’s increased risk, remains to be seen. Even though Texas has significant amounts of oil refining capacity and produces a large percentage of the gas, diesel and jet fuel for the US, oil being an international commodity, ensures that per barrel price increases will impact our state economy as well.

And increase our state’s tax revenue, the state’s oil severance tax is based on the market value of oil. Certainly a mixed blessing.

Closer to home, here in Texas we have a runoff for a US Senate seat between the incumbent US Senator John Cornyn and our current Attorney General in what will probably be a very close primary runoff to be decided in May. Most experts agree this race is probably a toss-up especially since President Trump did not make an endorsement, at least not yet. Early on the President suggested if he endorsed, the candidate not receiving the endorsement should withdraw, neither Senator Cornyn nor General Paxton would agree to that stipulation, so no endorsement. Therefore close race.

The March primary produced some other surprising results, we will have a new AG Commissioner. Commissioner Sid Miller lost his reelection bid to primary opponent bee keeper/honey producer Nate Sheets from McKinney. He will face democratic primary winner, Lampasas rancher Clayton Tucker in November. We also have runoffs for AG (office vacated by AG Paxton) in both the Republican and Democratic tickets. Current state Senator Mays Middleton will face Congressman Chip Roy on the Republican ticket and State Senator Nathan Johnson will face Galveston attorney Joe Jaworski on the Democratic ticket.

There is also a runoff for Lt. Governor on the Democratic ticket between State Representative Vicki Goodwin and Marcos Velez, the winner will face current Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright will face Bo French in the Republican primary runoff for Commissioner Wright’s current Railroad Commissioner seat as well.

There are also several regional runoffs for both Texas Senate and Texas House seats on both the Republican and Democratic side. To access additional information on the runoffs in your area go the Texas Secretary of State Elections division which offers an easy to use update on all our statewide, regional and local elections.

Both the House and the Senate have published the Interim Charges for their respective chambers. The issues covered in these charges range from high profile subjects like Data Center power usage and fraud and abuse within the state’s Medicaid system down to the obscure study of the state’s Cultivated Oyster Mariculture (which if you are in the oyster business or like to eat them is not obscure at all). If you are interested in seeing all the Interim Charges you can find these documents on the State House and Senate websites.

The hearings on these Interim Charges have already begun, the House hearing on data centers actually occurred late last week. If you are interested in either attending or just watching any of these hearings you can get scheduling information on both the House and Senate websites. The video is free and easy to use. I am including the website here: capitol.texas.gov

A very specific charge in the Senate Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee Interim Charges deals with desalination.

The Texas Desalination Association has been contacted to provide testimony at this upcoming hearing as have several other members of the Texas Desal family. The hearing is on Monday May 11th beginning at 9:00am. You can either attend the hearing in person at the Texas State Capitol or watch online on the website referenced above.

This interim promises to be an active and possibly impactful one for the future of desalination in Texas. Our ongoing drought conditions have focused state leadership on the need to find meaningful and long term answers to Texas’ water needs. Desalination, both inland brackish and marine will be part of that answer.

Kyle

There is a big election on the horizon.  It is big because lots of folks are on the ballot, the Democrats have managed to find someone for nearly every position on the ballot, which is quite unusual.  It is also big because of the races that are on the ballot.  Every congressional seat, all of our statewide office holders (including our senior US senator, John Cornyn), half of the Texas Senate and all of the Texas House of Representatives.  That is a lot of races to consider, candidates to vet and voting decisions to be made and I have not even mentioned the judicial races on the ballot. 

What’s a voter to do?

Don’t be overwhelmed.  Pay attention. Participate in the process.  If you are happy with everything that is going on within our state and nation, go support those candidates who will continue these policies.  If you are unhappy with what is going on within our state and nation, then find a candidate who you feel will attempt to address issues in a different way that you can support. 

Here are the important voting dates for 2026:

• Tuesday February 17 – First day of Early Voting
• Friday February 20 – Last day to apply for Ballot by Mail
• Friday February 27 – Last Day of Early Voting
• Tuesday March 3 – Election Day/ Last day to receive Ballot by Mail

The US Senate race is very competitive in both the Republican and Democrat primaries. Significant sums of money are being spent by incumbent Senator John Cornyn and the Senate Republican Campaign Committee (SRCC) on his behalf.  The latest polls as of today show our current AG Ken Paxton leading the race with Senator Cornyn coming in 2^nd.  This race will more than likely head to a runoff and be decided this spring.  On the Democratic side, the 2 opponents seem pretty evenly matched, but this race will be decided on election day March 3.  The winners from each of the primaries will face off this November. 

While our current Governor does have competition from within his party and on the Democratic party ballot,  he remains the odds-on favorite to win his primary without a runoff and will be difficult to defeat this November, regardless of his Democratic opponent.

The current Lt. Governor is also running for reelection and faces 2 primary opponents while the ultimate Democrat nominee will be decided from among a group of 3 candidates where there will most likely be a runoff.  The current Lt. Governor will no doubt emerge from his primary without a runoff and will meet the Democratic nominee in the fall.    

Another high-profile statewide race is the race for AG Commissioner.  Long time incumbent Sid Miller is facing a stiff challenge in his primary after the Governor endorsed his opponent.  There is also an unopposed Democrat who will face the winner of the Republican primary.

The Attorney General’s race has no incumbent (current AG Ken Paxton is running for US Senate) and there are 4 Republicans running and 3 Democrats.  Both of these primary races will go to a runoff with the victors facing off in November.

Current Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is running unopposed in the Republican primary and will face the winner of the Democratic primary in November.

In the race for Comptroller, there are 3 Republicans running including Governor appointed Comptroller and former State Senator Kelly Hancock, current Railroad commissioner Christi Craddick and former State Senator Don Huffines.  There are 2 Democrats running as well including current State Senator Sarah Eckhardt.  The winner of the Republican runoff will meet the Democrat in November.

In the Texas State Senate there are 5 open seats.  The Senators have 4-year terms and half run each election cycle.  A normal turnover rate is 2 to 3, this year with 5 open seats we know for sure we will have 5 new senators.  Perhaps more if an incumbent were to lose, all but 1 are opposed.  Regardless, the Texas Senate will look much different in 2027.

All Texas House seats are for 2-year terms so all 150 are up for election.  There are 21 open House seats so at a minimum we will have 21 new House members.  That is about the normal average turnover. Virtually every House seat has a contested election either in the primary or the general election and there is a realistic chance that some incumbents will also be defeated. There could be some additions to that guaranteed  21 new House members. 

 The House is always different after every election.

As you can see, there is much to consider.  To a greater or lesser degree all these elected officials can impact your business and your personal life.  Take nothing for granted, meet, listen and ask questions of those who ask for your vote.  Your vote matters a great deal, money does not decide elections, voters do. Go beyond the slick ads that dominate the airwaves right now.  Dig, do research call people you trust and ask their opinion.  Never think that your vote does not count, it does.  Many of these races will be close, especially in the primaries so participate.  Once you have made a decision on who you wish to support and why, let your family, friends and neighbors know.  Encourage them to participate as well.

Go Vote!