Since 1995, Republicans have held uninterrupted control of every statewide executive office in Texas. The Governor’s office has been held by Republicans for three decades — from George W. Bush (1995–2000), to Rick Perry (2000–2015), to Greg Abbott (2015–present). The Texas Senate has been under Republican control since the mid-1990s. The Texas House has been under Republican control since 2003. Every statewide elected office — Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor, Comptroller, Agriculture Commissioner — has been Republican for years.
At the federal level, both of Texas’s U.S. Senate seats have also been held by Republicans continuously since 1993. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (1993–2013), John Cornyn (2002–present), and Ted Cruz (2013–present) have represented Texas in Washington during this same period of state-level dominance.
This is not divided government. It is consolidated political control stretching across state and federal representation for nearly thirty years.
And that makes the campaign messaging cycle especially worth examining.
Because election after election, political ads insist Texas is broken — that crime is rising, schools are failing, property taxes are crushing families, the border is chaotic, infrastructure is strained, and economic stability is at risk. The message is urgent: “Vote for us so we can fix it.”
But when one party has governed for three decades, governance outcomes are not theoretical. They are measurable.
So what does the data show?
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The Power Grid and Energy Policy
Texas operates its own independent electric grid (ERCOT), largely deregulated under policies expanded during Republican control in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The goal was market efficiency and lower prices through competition.
In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri caused catastrophic grid failure. Over 4.5 million homes lost power. Hundreds of Texans died, according to state and independent analyses. The storm exposed vulnerabilities in weatherization requirements and grid oversight.
In response, the legislature passed reforms requiring some weatherization standards and created the Texas Energy Fund. But the broader deregulated market structure remains largely intact.
When campaign ads warn that the grid is fragile or energy security is under threat, the system in place is the product of decades of state policy decisions made under one-party control.
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Property Taxes
Texas has no state income tax — a long-standing Republican policy position. Instead, local property taxes fund schools and municipalities.
Property tax burdens have risen significantly over the past decade, largely due to rapid population growth and property value increases. Between 2012 and 2022, total property tax levies in Texas increased by tens of billions of dollars statewide.
The legislature has passed various tax compression and relief packages, including large-scale property tax cuts in 2023. Yet rising valuations have continued to push homeowner bills upward in many areas.
If ads promise to “finally deliver property tax relief,” voters must consider that property tax structure — including school finance reliance on local property values — has been shaped by the same governing majority for decades.
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Education Funding and Outcomes
Texas public schools serve more than 5 million students. State per-pupil funding historically ranks in the lower half nationally when adjusted for inflation and cost of living.
The 2019 school finance reform (House Bill 3) increased funding and teacher pay, but inflation has eroded much of that gain. Ongoing debates about school vouchers and education savings accounts have dominated recent sessions.
Meanwhile, standardized test scores in math have declined nationally post-pandemic, including in Texas. Teacher shortages have grown in rural and urban districts alike.
When ads declare that public education is failing, it is worth noting that curriculum standards, funding formulas, and accountability systems have been designed and overseen by the same legislative majority since the early 2000s.
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Border Security Spending
Texas has significantly increased state-funded border security operations under Governors Perry and Abbott. Operation Lone Star, launched in 2021, has cost taxpayers billions of dollars in state funds.
Republican U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz have consistently campaigned on federal border enforcement failures while also advocating for national policy changes.
Yet border security messaging often frames the crisis as exclusively federal, even as Texas has invested unprecedented state resources into enforcement.
The question is not whether border issues are complex — they are — but whether three decades of representation at both state and federal levels should produce measurable policy resolution rather than perpetual campaign messaging.
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Healthcare Access
Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the nation. As of recent census data, roughly 16–18% of Texans lack health insurance — significantly higher than the national average.
Texas is also one of the states that has not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. That decision, maintained under Republican leadership for over a decade, affects coverage for low-income adults.
Rural hospital closures have also been a growing concern.
When healthcare access appears in campaign ads as a systemic failure, the policy decisions shaping that system are not recent or bipartisan. They are long-standing.
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Crime and Public Safety
Texas has experienced fluctuations in crime rates consistent with national trends. Violent crime rose during the pandemic years across the country and has since declined in many areas.
Campaign messaging often highlights crime surges in major cities. However, state criminal justice policy — including sentencing laws, bail reform debates, and law enforcement funding — is shaped at the state level.
Texas has also implemented criminal justice reforms in the past, including reduced incarceration rates during the Perry years through diversion programs. That history complicates simple “tough on crime” narratives.
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Economic Growth
Texas has experienced strong population growth and business relocation over the past 20 years. It regularly ranks high in business climate surveys. Job growth numbers are often cited in campaign messaging.
Those are measurable successes.
But rapid growth also strains infrastructure, housing affordability, water supply, transportation systems, and public services. These pressures are the downstream effects of policy choices around zoning, taxation, and regulatory frameworks.
If Texas is booming, leadership deserves credit.
If growth is creating structural strain, leadership also owns the consequences.
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The Core Accountability Question
When one party controls:
The Governor’s office (since 1995)
The Texas Senate (since the 1990s)
The Texas House (since 2003)
Every statewide executive office
Both U.S. Senate seats (since 1993)
— campaign messaging shifts from opposition politics to performance politics.
If ads say: “Texas is broken.”
Then the next logical question is: Broken compared to what — and under whose watch?
Democracy requires contrast. But when contrast disappears, accountability should take its place.
After nearly 30 years, Texas’s infrastructure, tax system, healthcare access, education funding model, and energy grid are not inherited systems from a rival party. They are the product of sustained Republican governance.
That does not automatically mean failure. It does mean responsibility.
Voters deserve advertising that reflects that reality — not messaging that treats long-term incumbents as outsiders still waiting for their chance to lead.
Because at this point, the record is not hypothetical.
It’s historical.
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