Republican power politics setting tone for 2026, beyond

By Gromer Jeffers Jr., The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS — The art of persuasion and compromise were once essential elements for political success.

Those skills are no longer necessary to succeed.

In this political era, where politics is mostly a power game, those without clout either get in line or get rolled over.

Leading Republicans, perhaps realizing power doesn’t last forever, have tried to maximize their strength by pushing through ambitious agendas without reaching out to Democrats on the other side.

That hardball philosophy starts at the top and is especially relevant in Texas. The Lone Star State has been a laboratory on the gathering and use of political power. The conservative shift further to the right, along with its embrace of Trump-style populism, has profoundly changed Texas politics and left Democrats searching for ways to respond.

Much of the recent power play has started at the top of the GOP.

President Donald Trump’s second term has been defined by an aggressive expansion of executive powers. He issued 24 executive orders in his first 100 days. Many of them tested the limits, including the establishment of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency and his tariff policies.

Trump has been successful in expanding the power of the president because he’s the undisputed leader of the Republican Party. His power doesn’t come from his alliances with elected Republicans. He’s most popular with Republican voters who will toss the few GOP rivals he’s had out of office or into retirement.

Trump’s reach has extended to Texas. This spring he asked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to put the redrawing of congressional boundaries on the agenda for a special legislative session.

It’s a power move designed to offset potential losses in the 2026 midterm elections. Historically, the party that controls the White House loses ground in midterms and Trump is trying to use his political muscle to buck the trend and stop Democrats from seizing the House.

Though Trump has often tried to influence Texas politics from his White House perch, Lone Star leaders have been aggressively using their power for decades. It went to another level in 2015, when Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick took office.

In his 2026 reelection campaign kickoff last week, Patrick recounted the accomplishments of the Texas Senate since he’s been in office. It included passage of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country, significant property tax relief and rolling back regulations that get in the way of economic growth.

Republicans responded to Trump’s 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden by passing a slew of election law changes that critics say were aimed at depressing the vote in urban areas like Houston. Republican leaders counter by saying they want to make it harder to cheat and easier to vote. Texas Republicans, in contrast to Trump, won big in the 2020 elections.

This year’s redistricting fight is a continuation of how Republicans dominate the state and how desperately Democrats are trying to blunt their momentum.

No matter if the new congressional boundaries approved last week hold up in court, the path to power for Texas Democrats is clear. They have to start winning more elections, particularly statewide and in the suburbs.

It’s a daunting task because of redistricting and gerrymandering. The Texas legislative boundaries are so heavily Republican or Democratic that most elections are not competitive. It’s the same across the country, where it’s estimated that less than 40 congressional districts are competitive.

If Democrats can’t control either the House or Senate, they won’t be able to stop objectionable legislation from becoming law. That makes it necessary to win statewide offices to develop a check on GOP legislative activity.

That’s also a heavy lift.

Texas Democrats haven’t won a statewide race since 1994, and the Texas electorate has between 750,000 to 1.5 million more Republican voters than Democrats. Apathy could also be hurting Democrats. In the 2024 election more than 610,000 of Dallas County’s eligible voters skipped the election. That total included about 213,000 casual voters who leaned Democratic. Also, the rate of “hardcore” Democrats participating in the election dipped from the usual rate of around 90% to 83%, analysts said.

If the urban areas can’t increase voter participation at a higher level, there’s little chance for Democrats to beat a Republican in critical races for governor, lieutenant governor, Senate or attorney general.

Democrats got a taste of success in 2018, when a backlash against Trump and unsuccessful efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act resulted in Republicans losing 12 seats in the Texas House and two congressional districts, including one that Democrat Colin Allred flipped in the Dallas area. Democrats also won the U.S. House in those midterm elections.

Will next year be more like 2018 or 2024?

Many Democrats are encouraged by the large rallies and “No Kings” protests this year designed to resist Trump and his policies. And they hope the redistricting fight will provide energy and outrage, though Texas voters are probably more concerned with pocketbook issues.

Still, Republicans have proven to be much better at campaign messages and turning out their supporters.

Those skills, along with their power game, make them tough to beat.

https://www.courant.com/2025/08/26/republican-power-politics-setting-tone-for-2026-beyond/