The Blast - April 15, 2025

31 days for the House to pass legislation that originated in the House
48 days until sine die

IN TODAY’S BLAST

• A minority party with big plans

• Budget night 2.0

• Middleton enters the statewide scrum

A MINORITY PARTY WITH BIG PLANS

Welcome to this session’s first Tuesday edition of The Blast! We plan to bring this premium politics newsletter to you five days a week for the rest of session. We also brought you a breaking news Blast Bulletin this morning on Democrats’ efforts to foil the voucher effort by using their votes to spike constitutional amendments prioritized by the GOP.

To start off today’s regular programming, we’d like to follow up on a few notes from the Bulletin.

• At least two of The Blast’s sources put Democrats’ whip count around 57 or 58 Democrats who are holding fast to block all House joint resolutions. Republican leadership is monitoring the situation, but they aren’t certain that Democrats have the votes.

• The effort will come down to whether the majority of Democrats can keep several “leadership” Democrats and moderates in line. Leadership Democrats are a small cohort of the caucus who are closely aligned with Speaker Dustin Burrows when it comes to how to run the Texas House.

• Still, proposed constitutional amendments are on a postponement streak. Today, House members postponed HJRs 2, 5 and 6 for one week. It marked the second postponement for HJRs 2 and 6. Some Republicans are wondering whether the education savings account bill (Senate Bill 2) should’ve been taken up earlier to clear the waters.

• Putting the education savings account program to Texas voters is not the only demand Democrats have. However, several who have signed on to the plan aren’t even sure of their other demands.

• Abbott’s office shot The Blast a statement. “Let’s be clear about what’s happening here: Texas Democrats are preparing to block property tax relief and to allow violent murderers back on the streets with low bail, all to serve their teachers union overlords who think they know better than Texas parents what their children need,” press secretary Andrew Mahaleris said.

• He also said “school choice was on the ballot last November,” when Republicans flipped two House seats and several of his pro-voucher primary candidates secured their offices.

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BUDGET NIGHT 2.0

In trying to get Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton his back pay, House conservative hardliners found a way to relitigate the budget a few days after budget night.

When the House prepared to appoint conferees on Senate Bill 1, the budget bill, Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville, came forward with a “motion to instruct” the conferees to try to get Paxton his lost pay when they go to negotiate with the Senate. The lead conferee, Appropriations Committee Chair Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, told the House he would be voting in favor of the motion and released members to vote their conscience and district.

The motion ultimately passed 88-55, with six Democrats and four Republicans crossing party lines. Notably, former House Speaker Dade Phelan, the Beaumont Republican who led the House through its impeachment of Paxton, voted to get the attorney general his money back.

But members didn’t stop there.

Conservative Republicans offered a half dozen motions “to instruct,” to varying degrees of success. The votes entered into the record a barometer of several of the hardliners’ top issues.

One notable motion called on the House conferees to keep the Texas Lottery Commission defunded, codifying the legislative maneuver Democrats Mary González of Clint and Erin Zwiener of Driftwood pulled on budget night last week. That motion passed 89-57, with Democrats John Bryant of Dallas, Richard Peña Raymond of Laredo and Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos of Richardson in support and no Republicans opposed.

Between the debate, distribution of motions and points of order, the House spent just shy of two hours on SB 1.

“Sounds like budget night 2.0,” one freshman Republican joked on the floor as the House took a break to prep the motions for members’ viewing.

Finally, the House approved Bonnen, Appropriations Vice Chair González, Rep. Stan Kitzman, R-Pattison, Rep. Angelia Orr, R-Itasca, and Armando Walle, D-Houston, as conferees. They’ll negotiate with the all-Republican Senate team, Finance Committee Chair Joan Huffman of Houston plus Sens. Brandon Creighton of Conroe, Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham, Robert Nichols of Jacksonville and Charles Schwertner of Georgetown.

It marked the first time since 2017 that members have filed motions “to instruct” on the budget. Those are nonbinding motions that outline some notes for the conferees when they go to negotiate with the other chamber, but they amount to little more than a wishlist.

It gets the majority will of the House on the record and signals what members may be amenable to. However, it’s also an easy way for the Burrows-supporting rank-and-file to lock arms with the Republican grassroots on a performative vote.

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MIDDLETON ENTERS THE STATEWIDE SCRUM

State Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, launched his campaign for Texas attorney general today, becoming the first sitting state lawmaker this cycle to launch a campaign for statewide office. He likely won’t be the last.

For more than a decade, the 2014 class of major statewide officeholders has blocked most upward mobility for Texas Republicans. With Attorney General Ken Paxton’s decision to challenge U.S. Sen. John Cornyn last week, a second highly coveted statewide office has no incumbent running after Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar was selected to lead the Texas A&M System.

Republican AG candidate John Bash, the Elon Musk attorney and former U.S. attorney for West Texas, said in a statement that he was “a little puzzled” by Middleton’s campaign.

“As far as I can tell, he has no courtroom experience and tried to get rid of the most successful attorney general in the nation, General Ken Paxton,” Bash said.

Middleton had reportedly been among the Republican senators seriously considering whether to vote to convict Paxton during his impeachment trial.

The freshman senator would have been up for reelection next year. That means he’s giving up his seat to make the run for AG. That will trigger a campaign to succeed him in the Galveston-Brazoria-Harris county district. Several state representatives live in the area, like Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, who is rumored to be seeking higher office.

For those curious, neither Middleton nor Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Mineola Republican who is considering an AG bid, were on the Senate floor immediately following Middleton’s announcement.

Maternal health care in Texas presents a stark contrast: the state has world-class medical facilities and specialists, but Texas women are more likely to be uninsured, miss routine check-ups and die during pregnancy and childbirth than in almost any other state.

How can state leaders respond to these growing gaps and ensure all Texas women have access to maternal health care?

Eleanor Klibanoff, The Tribune’s women’s health reporter, will moderate a conversation focused on strategies to strengthen maternal health in rural Texas communities and why improving women’s health outcomes helps all Texans. Confirmed speakers include:

• Lisa Dillard, March of Dimes West Texas, director, Maternal & Infant Health Initiative

• Jill Shanklin, vice president for nursing excellence, UMC Health System, Lubbock

• Dr. Lauren Swartz, family physician at Covenant Health Plainview

The Tribune’s Lubbock-based reporter, Jayme Lozano Carver, will host the event.

Doors open for lunch at University Medical Center in Lubbock at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 22, and the one-hour event begins at noon. Lunch is provided.

RSVP today

• Tomorrow is D-Day in the House, the day the chamber will take up Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 2.

• The House preliminarily passed its teachers’ “bill of rights” measure today, House Bill 6, but not without spirited debate between bill author Jeff Leach, R-Plano, and Democratic Leader Gene Wu of Houston that ended in a fundamental disagreement on “human nature.”

• “Texas time!” The House voted 131-13 to give initial approval to House Bill 1393 by Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe, which would make daylight saving time permanent in Texas.

• Senate Bill 240, which would ban transgender women from women’s restrooms on government property, is scheduled for the Senate intent calendar for the first time tomorrow. That will make it eligible for consideration as early as Thursday.

• Senate Bill 2051, which would update impeachment practices, will also be on the intent calendar.

View the list of upcoming committee notices here and here.

The House will convene at 10 a.m. tomorrow.
The Senate will convene at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

View the House and Senate floor calendars here and here.

• When Rep. Brian Harrison asked Rep. Giovanni Capriglione about the funding mechanism for the Texas Cyber Command created by his House Bill 150, Capriglione informed him that the funding comes from the budget “you didn’t vote for.”

• Capriglione also had some words for freshman Rep. Andy Hopper after the conservative hardliner voted against Capriglione’s bill despite successfully raising an amendment — with Capriglione’s blessing.

TX-28: After losing twice to U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, former U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores, R-Los Indios, will instead challenge U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, in 2026. TX-28 is a top prize for Republicans after coming 5.6 points away from unseating Cuellar with an underfunded candidate in 2024. That candidate, Jay Furman, is already running to win back the Republican nomination. Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina, who recently switched allegiances to the Republican party, has been floated as a potential candidate. A few hours after the announcement, Flores’ team announced that she has been hospitalized.

• Texas GOP Chair Abraham George is trying to build support for bills for close primaries, House Bill 951 by Rep. Mike Schofield, R-Katy, and Senate Bill 2646 by Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston.

Do you or someone in your office have a new job you’d like mentioned? Email us.

• Seth Christensen has been named the communications director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture under Secretary Brooke Rollins. Christensen most recently was an assistant agency director and the comms guru at the Texas Division of Emergency Management. He also previously served as a homeland security and public safety adviser to Gov. Greg Abbott and a chief of staff at the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.

“Trump officials cut planning grant for Texas high-speed rail between Dallas and Houston” by Joshua Fechter of The Texas Tribune

“‘The Valley matters to us’: Texas Democratic Party leader makes first pitch to reclaim South Texas” by Berenice Garcia of The Texas Tribune

“Nvidia’s Made-in-the-U.S.A. move follows a familiar Trump pattern” by Bradley Olson and Rolfe Winkler

“Police investigating ‘shooting incident’ at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in Dallas” by Jamie Landers, Talia Richman, Matt Kyle and Alex Nguyen of The Dallas Morning News

Do you or someone in your office have a birthday you’d like mentioned? Email us.

Former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas

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