Abbott sees path for school voucher victory after Texas House runoffs – Washington Examiner

Multiple Texas House Republican incumbents lost the Texas primary, including multiple who opposed Gov. Greg Abbott‘s (R-TX) most coveted policy: school choice.

Six of the eight Republicans in the Texas House lost their runoff elections on Tuesday, adding to the nine who were ousted by challengers in the state’s March primary. If they win their elections come November, Abbott estimates the Texas House will have enough votes to greenlight his measure.

School choice vouchers use taxpayer money to fund private school tuition. It’s had mixed results of success nationwide. Arizona was one of the first states to implement universal school choice in 1998, and now, Arizona is in the top 10 states for student achievement growth. In Florida, however, some of the largest public schools in the state may be forced to close as a result of school choice.

“The Texas Legislature now has enough votes to pass school choice. This is a victory for every Texas family across our great state,” Abbott said. “While we did not win every race we fought in, the overall message from this year’s primaries is clear: Texans want school choice. Opponents of school choice can no longer ignore the will of the people.” 

For months, Abbott has focused on creating a governing body that advances his school choice agenda, and it has created chaos in the Texas House, with expensive primary races challenging incumbents, such as state House Speaker Dade Phelan, who won his runoff election on Tuesday. Abbott has also expanded special sessions to pass school choice vouchers, which have failed.

In March, Abbott said the Texas House was two votes away from having a majority to pass school choice legislation, which Democrats and rural Republicans have shot down in previous votes on school choice vouchers.

While most of Texas’s districts are drawn in a way that makes them almost sure to vote for a Democrat or Republican consistently, Democrats are eyeing one district Abbott is counting on for school choice to pass: Texas House District 121 in San Antonio. 

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There, state Rep. Steve Allison, a Republican, lost to an Abbott-backed primary challenger, Marc LaHood. The district was filled with attack ads, with Abbott spending $8 million of his own campaign funds on the primaries, as well as pro-voucher groups. 

Margins between Democrats and Republicans in the district have grown smaller in recent elections, and Democrats are hoping LaHood will be painted as too extreme for San Antonio.

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