That means that Texas could pass school choice legislation as early as January or February 2025. Texas's legislative session begins Jan. 14, and while normally new bills can't pass within the first 60 days of the session, Abbott could name school choice an " emergency item " to allow it to pass sooner.

With Donald Trump returning to the White House, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have both recently signaled new openness to winding down the state’ border security operation.

Texas’ strict abortion bans made it “ground zero” for Democrats hoping to rile up their base, but voters prioritized economic issues.

A Texas woman pleaded guilty on Wednesday after being charged with threatening to kill individuals including the federal judge overseeing the 2020 election subversion criminal case against Republican President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump won Texas convincingly with 56.2 percent of the vote, 13.8 percentage points ahead of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris who secured 42.4 percent. Notably this was an improvement on 2020, when Trump beat Joe Biden in Texas by 5.6 points, and 2016 when he bested Hillary Clinton by 9 points.

Ratcliffe represented Texas’ 4th Congressional District until Trump picked him to serve as director of national intelligence in 2020.

At Shell Energy Stadium, Harris addressed a crowd of 30,000, advocating for reproductive freedom alongside Texas Democratic Senate candidate Colin Allred. In Austin, Trump, joined by Sen. Ted Cruz, focused on border security and crimes committed by migrants, reiterating his party's core messages.

With Election Day in the past, the race for Texas House speaker is heating up as the Republican incumbent tries to hold onto the leadership role and a North Texas Republican tries to win it. Speaker Dade Phelan of Beaumont and Rep. David Cook of Mansfield are running for the post, as is Rep. Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos, a Richardson Democrat.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz locked in a third term in Congress Tuesday by defeating Democratic Rep. Colin Allred.

Republicans grew their majority in the Texas House with help from Gov. Greg Abbott, forging a path for a possible school voucher program next year.

Across border counties, Trump's share of the vote rose almost 10 points from four years ago and was about 20 points higher than in his first presidential campaign in 2016.

Mihaela Plesa, a Democrat, will continue to represent District 70. Morgan Meyer, a Republican, will represent District 108, and Angie Chen Button, a Republican who has served eight terms as the only Asian American woman in the Legislature, will represent District 112 in the Texas Legislature, the AP projected.