The mask sat quite lightly upon their faces.
Running for office this year, Democrats pretended to pivot to the center. This was especially true in Texas, where the Democrat running for governor said that the culture wars are over, and Democrats have no time for that noise.
They pinky-swore: There was only one thing they cared about, and it was affordability. A new era of common sense was beginning, and Democrats were turning away from other stuff to deal with middle-class economic issues. Then Democrats won a majority in the Texas House, and all of the statewide offices, starting with governor. You’ll be shocked what happens next, I guess.
Texas allows legislators and legislators-elect to pre-file bills for the next legislative session, so they can hit the ground running when they show up in Austin. And November 9 was the first pre-filing day for the January 12, 2027 session when the newly elected legislature starts its work. Monday was the first day we could see what the new Democrat-led Texas House, and their allies in the Texas Senate who know they have a majority in the other chamber, intend to do.
Short answer: They hate guns, they adore transgender everything, they very much want to trans kids, they want more illegal immigrants, they want much more abortion, and they want a much bigger welfare state. See, no more culture wars, just good common sense stuff for the middle class.
Start with HB 126, pre-filed by Rep. Donna Howard, a Democrat from Austin. If you read the bill, it ends with a laundry list, identifying a bunch of existing state laws that it proposes to repeal. The transgender journalist Erin Reed, explaining the bill as an exciting development, has done us the favor of figuring out which laws HB 126 proposes to get rid of:
The abortion ban repeals in the bill are sweeping….It also targets provisions that have restricted trans youth care. The bill would repeal Subchapter X of Chapter 161, the core of SB 14, the 2023 law that bars doctors from providing puberty blockers and hormone therapy as well as surgical care to transgender youth. It would also repeal the Medicaid exclusion from SB 14.
So this is Democrat Day One: Repeal all abortion restrictions, and restore transgender medical and surgical procedures for minors, with government funding. That’s the new, post-culture war, common-sense era Texas Democrat will focus on. The bill, Reed concludes, “would signal that Democrats are willing to make transgender youth care and the repeal of anti-trans provisions part of their messaging.” And that’s not wrong.
Also on Monday, the NRA identified 35 anti-gun bills pre-filed in a single day for the next state legislative session. Among the most radical, SB 80, introduced by Laredo Democrat Sen. Judith Zaffirini, would ban all “assault weapons” in the state. Read the bill, because we’ve traveled down this road before. If you own “a semiautomatic centerfire rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine,” that’s a problem. The bill proposes to add other conditions to make that rifle an “assault weapon,” but they’re things like “a folding or telescoping stock” or “a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the firearm.”
Seven other bills propose limitations on the ownership of firearms by adults under the age of 21. Among the more aggressive examples, HB 173, introduced by El Paso Democrat Rep. Joe Moody, would make it a crime if anyone “intentionally or knowingly sells, rents, leases, or gives” a semiautomatic rifle “that is capable of accepting a detachable magazine and that has a caliber greater than .22” to an adult under that age.
Restoring DEI in higher education, SB 125, introduced by San Antonio Democrat Sen. José Menéndez, would repeal the state’s ban on DEI offices and programs.
And so on. Medicaid expansion. Repeal of the Texas law requiring sheriffs to cooperate with ICE, allowing sheriffs to terminate those agreements. Texas Democrats were common-sense centrists right up until the morning of November 4. Consider that a preview of the national political environment next year.
A total of 1,262 bills were pre-filed on Monday alone, and pre-filing in the Texas legislature continues through the start of the January session.
