Election season is as high-stakes as it gets for our Editorial Board. Our readers, no matter their political leanings, are civically minded people who care deeply about their communities and feel a great deal of responsibility about their votes. It’s our duty to inform them about candidates and ballot proposals so they can make informed decisions.
Even if readers disagree with our choices and reasoning, our recommendation process and Voter Guide often provide a deeper understanding of candidates than what’s publicly available, especially about down-ballot races.
This cycle, we interviewed candidates in 33 races. Here are some of the themes that stood out:
Democrats shelve culture wars
Democrats are putting away the culture wars that defined previous campaigns. Two years ago, the left tried to hammer the GOP on abortion rights, highlighting Texas’ near-total abortion ban. This time, candidates avoided the issue altogether. Concerns about the right’s restrictions on transgender interventions for minors were also cast aside. Border enforcement was embraced as a clear necessity. Democrats largely focused on affordability and public education. The phrase “voucher scam” has become ubiquitous. This change of strategy led to higher-quality Democratic candidates compared to previous elections, particularly in statehouse contests.
Marquee Republicans fail to engage
GOP candidates running for statewide office have become insular, rarely giving interviews unless they are to friendly right-wing outlets. Outside of judicial contests, the only Republican running for statewide office who interviewed with us was Nate Sheets, the nominee for agriculture commissioner. We recommended him over his Democratic opponent. Republicans in down-ballot races, however, were more willing to meet with us.
Vouchers are the new litmus test
Democratic candidates universally reject the state’s new voucher-like program that gives money to low-income families to pay for private-school tuition. Several candidates cited school closures in their communities, even though many school districts have been reassessing facilities in recent years given demographic trends and falling enrollment that preceded school vouchers. In contrast, Republican nominees were reluctant to question the program or a request by interim Comptroller Don Huffines to double its budget to $2 billion. State data shows that most awardees were low-income or disabled students who were already in private school.
Parties overlap on property taxes
Democrats and Republicans largely agreed on either lowering or outright eliminating school property taxes. Ideas varied on how we would get there. Some candidates point to revenue from Texas’ economic growth. Others backed raising the homestead exemption or capping appraised values to give homeowners relief. Gov. Greg Abbott and his Democratic opponent, Gina Hinojosa, overlap on their support for getting rid of school property taxes. Abbott has said he would rely on the surplus and other sources, while Hinojosa wants to throw out corporate subsidies and what she calls corrupt contracts. Neither of their plans seems realistic.
Attack mailers are not real life
In many races in which both candidates attended our interview, it was refreshing to see how the candidates interacted with one another and spoke respectfully of their opponent. Even those candidates who criticized an opponent’s record did so politely, for the most part. Candidates talked policy, not slogans. That’s what we should all expect from our democracy.
View the Editorial Board’s slate of recommendations for the 2026 general election here.