Greg Abbott

Rule Changes

Requested the review in August.

Austin ISD stopped cooperating with a Texas comptroller review of school spending on Nov. 6. Comptroller Don Huffines says the review of Austin and three other districts will continue, and a report will publish by Dec. 31 with or without the district.

Updated Yesterday

Rule Changes

Lost reelection in November 2026

Houston police will no longer call federal immigration agents when they stop someone for a minor traffic violation. Mayor John Whitmire's Nov. 6 executive order, numbered 1-74, lets officers contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement only if the person is already going to jail on new charges or other warrants and a records check shows an administrative ICE warrant.

Updated 3 days ago

Rule Changes

Leaves office January 2027; his office is taking part in the transition and he has not said whether he will call a special session

Gina Hinojosa, an Austin state representative, defeated Gov. Greg Abbott on Nov. 3, becoming the first Democrat to win the Texas governor's office since 1995 and the state's first Latina governor. She has started a bipartisan transition and named former Republican state Rep. Ernest Bailes, who helped block Abbott's school voucher plan in 2023, to her team.

Updated 3 days ago

Rule Changes

Lost reelection bid in 2026

James Talarico, a 37-year-old state legislator and former middle school teacher, beat Republican Ken Paxton in Texas's Senate race on November 3, 2026. Final returns showed Talarico with 55.1% to Paxton's 43%, a 12.1-point margin and the first Democratic Senate win in Texas since 1988.

Updated 5 days ago

Rule Changes

Lost reelection bid to Gina Hinojosa

Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress on Nov. 3, 2026, flipping at least seven Senate seats and more than two dozen House districts, the Associated Press reported. The Senate wins included Kansas and Texas, where Democrats had not won Senate seats since 1932 and 1988, and South Carolina, where Annie Andrews was projected to become the state's first Democratic senator in almost three decades.

Updated 6 days ago

Force in Play

Declared statewide disaster; deployed state resources to Zavala and Uvalde Counties

Mexican cattle began crossing at Columbus, New Mexico, on October 26, ending a closure of nearly two years at a port that normally handles about a third of US cattle imports from Mexico. The same week, the USDA confirmed screwworm in a dog in Arizona and reported 71 US cases since June, 18 of them still active.

Updated Oct 30

Built World

Ordered the grid audit in August and a halt on environmental permits in September

Texas has widened its freeze on data centers from the power grid to environmental permits. On September 21, Governor Greg Abbott told the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stop approving data center permits until the Electric Reliability Council of Texas finishes auditing the projects waiting to connect.

Updated Oct 23

Built World

Championed the project at the state level

America built its last major federal shipyard during World War II. On September 30, 2026, Saronic broke ground on Port Alpha, a shipyard designed to end that drought, and construction on the first phase began October 6.

Updated Oct 13

Built World

As of July 2026: Directed PUCT and ERCOT to require data centers to fund their own grid infrastructure; set July 31 deadline for transmission cost action

In February 2021, a winter storm knocked out the Texas power grid and hundreds of people died in the cold. On July 22, 2026, that same grid pulled its heaviest load ever, about 91,089 megawatts, and nobody was asked to turn down the air conditioning.

Updated Jul 30

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Signed the redrawn map into law; defending it in court

States usually redraw congressional districts once a decade, after the census. Texas just redrew its map four years early—and the U.S. Supreme Court has now cleared it for the 2026 midterm elections.

Updated May 31

Built World

As of May 2026: Leading state nuclear expansion campaign

Texas has opened applications for a $350 million fund to jumpstart advanced nuclear reactor construction — the largest state-level investment of its kind. The Texas Advanced Nuclear Energy Office, created by legislation that Governor Greg Abbott signed in June 2025, is accepting proposals from companies to build reactors, manufacture components, or rebuild the fuel supply chain. Only two state projects currently meet the fund's requirement of having a construction permit application filed with federal regulators.

Updated May 31

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Leading aggressive TPUSA expansion effort

Nebraska became the sixth state to announce an official partnership with Turning Point USA to bring the conservative organization's Club America chapters to every public high school. Since founder Charlie Kirk's assassination in September 2025, Republican governors have lined up to formalize state support. Some have threatened disciplinary action against schools that resist.

Updated May 27

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Managing state response to winter storm

Winter Storm Fern killed over 150 people by early February 2026, following 106 deaths on January 28. The storm brought ice and heavy snow across a 2,000-mile path from Texas to Maine, prompting President Trump to declare federal emergencies in 10+ states as peak power outages exceeded 1 million, 14,000+ flights were canceled (the worst aviation disruption since COVID-19), and wind chills dropped to minus 50°F. Fatalities came from hypothermia, traffic accidents, and ice-related incidents: Tennessee reported 29 deaths, Mississippi 28, Louisiana 8, New York City 8 people frozen outdoors, with additional deaths in Kentucky and in Texas where 3 boys drowned after falling through pond ice.

Updated May 26

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Signed Texas Responsible AI Governance Act

The DOJ's AI Litigation Task Force began operations January 10, 2026 with one mission: kill state AI laws in federal court. Attorney General Pam Bondi's team, consulting with AI czar David Sacks, will challenge comprehensive AI regulations from California, Texas, and Colorado that President Trump's December executive order called unconstitutional burdens on interstate commerce.

Updated May 20

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Authorized Texas National Guard deployment to Illinois and Oregon

The Supreme Court told President Trump he can't send National Guard troops to Illinois. The 6-3 decision on December 23 marks the first time the modern court has blocked a president from federalizing state Guard units over a governor's objections. Trump claimed protests at an ICE facility in suburban Chicago constituted a rebellion, and the court wasn't buying it.

Updated May 16

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Facing federal lawsuit over CAIR terrorist designation and land-ownership ban

In less than a month, Texas and Florida governors branded CAIR, the country's largest Muslim civil rights group, a "foreign terrorist organization." Both states ordered cuts to contracts, jobs, and funding. CAIR calls it a smear campaign; the governors say they're targeting Hamas-linked extremists.

Updated May 10