#TexasSenate

Rep. Jasmime Crockett (D-TX) says in new interview that the Black community isn't interested in James Talarico.

"I personally don't feel like the excitement necessarily exists within the Black community ... I don't feel like they're excited."

Link to interview:… pic.twitter.com/aqUMQgMCIe

— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) August 22, 2026

Karl: "You said recently that the price of gas in Texas would be below $2 by the end of the summer. Are voters gonna punish you and other Republicans if it's not? Because right now the average is $3.60."

Gov. Greg Abbott: "The answer to that's far more complex than just one… pic.twitter.com/gJmDA7945v

— BulwarkClips (@BulwarkClips) August 23, 2026

Seems like politicians on both sides have been trying to course correct a stance on this issue. I'll be curious to see where politicians stand on this in a year or so.

It seems DCs are necessary evils to keep us competitive in the international AI race... but have possibly been rolled out too aggressively without enough guard rails to protect local communities.

Paxton now drawing a line on data centers in Texas. pic.twitter.com/Gc6k2UxGs3

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) August 24, 2026

Most of the job growth is just temporary though during the construction phase right?

Trump on Data centers:

“If you pick the right location, what it means for a community is jobs and lots of money and lower taxes.” pic.twitter.com/DyYtwo6Yen

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) August 23, 2026

boognish_bear said:

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Most of the job growth is just temporary though during the construction phase right?

Trump on Data centers:

“If you pick the right location, what it means for a community is jobs and lots of money and lower taxes.” pic.twitter.com/DyYtwo6Yen

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) August 23, 2026

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Hyperscale data centers dont create jobs, they remove jobs.

The_barBEARian said:

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boognish_bear said:

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Most of the job growth is just temporary though during the construction phase right?

Trump on Data centers:

“If you pick the right location, what it means for a community is jobs and lots of money and lower taxes.” pic.twitter.com/DyYtwo6Yen

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) August 23, 2026

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Hyperscale data centers dont create jobs, they remove jobs.

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Not true
Stats show more jobs , not fewer

boognish_bear said:

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Most of the job growth is just temporary though during the construction phase right?

Trump on Data centers:

“If you pick the right location, what it means for a community is jobs and lots of money and lower taxes.” pic.twitter.com/DyYtwo6Yen

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) August 23, 2026

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The property tax boom can turn a poor rural school district into a rich school district. Like a power plant does. It's going to practically be a power plant as it must generate its own power now.

May not be any such thing as a rich school district soon. Public school enrollment plummeted last year (down roughly 80k students over prior year). The numbers are shocking since Texas was #1 in population growth last year (roughly up 400k) if you just look at the gain and #4 if you use percent growth. It's looking to be the start of a bleak 10 year run if something doesn't change soon.

El Oso said:

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May not be any such thing as a rich school district soon. Public school enrollment plummeted last year (down roughly 80k students over prior year). The numbers are shocking since Texas was #1 in population growth last year (roughly up 400k) if you just look at the gain and #4 if you use percent growth. It's looking to be the start of a bleak 10 year run if something doesn't change soon.

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Education is going to see some serious belt tightening (bordering on crisis in some areas) over the next 20 years

Not enough kids to fill the class rooms or colleges

Fort Bend ISD just closed 4 elementary schools.

Multiple districts in Collin County are closing elementary schools

Where I live the local districts have been building new schools at all levels in recent years, especially elementary.

That's pretty good considering these numbers state wide. Nearly 60% of the current decline is concentrated in grades K-5.

Wow!

New Braunfels was one of the fastest growing cities in the country a few years ago. Thankfully, that's no longer the case but it is still growing with two major developments that started recently.

K-5 enrollment was down about 137 students for NB last year. That's not as alarming as most places on the map. But when your average elementary school in NB has 437 students, 137 students overall is a big number. Especially when your average class size in those schools is 19.

Now Comal ISD is exploding (in a good way). I'm not sure how the lines are drawn, but it could explain the new schools.

Depends on how many schools: 137 is not much when spread out among dozens of elementary schools. It is depends on the district: NBISD is about half of the city but not much else. They have only 2 high schools, the second only recently opened. CISD is the rest of the county and consists of 5 high schools, 2 of which have been around for over 40 years.

The Verimendi development is in NBISD while Mayfair (newer and on IH 35) is in CISD.

There are nine. 10 if you count the pre k only center. On average it comes out to 13.7 kids per school. Basically 2/3 of a class. It's a big number.

Paxton is a terrible candidate... but there's no way the split is that big

New - Senate poll - Texas 15

🔵 Talarico 50%
🔴 Paxton 42%

🔴 2024 - Cruz +9

TSU #B - LV - 8/22 pic.twitter.com/1fCob9pQjL

— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) August 26, 2026

boognish_bear said:

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Paxton is a terrible candidate... but there's no way the split is that big

New - Senate poll - Texas 15

🔵 Talarico 50%
🔴 Paxton 42%

🔴 2024 - Cruz +9

TSU #B - LV - 8/22 pic.twitter.com/1fCob9pQjL

— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) August 26, 2026

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I agree with you it will be closer

What I'm hearing from R leaning Independents is : they won't vote for Paxton & can't vote for Talirico

A non-vote is a vote for Low-T.

GrowlTowel said:

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A non-vote is a vote for Low-T.

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It's not a vote for Paxton, nothing more

I have not counted lately but I'm pretty sure CISD has more than 9 elementary schools alone. NBISD has several more. It's a pretty big county with a sizable population.

The fascists are trying to suppress voter turn out by normal people because they have an awful candidate who cannot win unless they can trick normies into staying home.

It won't work.

It's 10. But yes, CISD makes it seem more.

Carl Schurz
County Line
Klein Rd
Lamar
Legend Point
Memorial
Seele
Veramendi
Voss Farms
Walnut Springs

I live here and graduated from one of those high schools and haven't spent any time counting. In the big scheme of things, the number isn't important. I don't follow those developments closely. I am aware, however, that the population has grown dramatically. When my family moved here in 1977 NB was about 20-25k. Today it's about 110k and the county is about a quarter million. The city has quintupled in 50 years. That's serious growth. I'm glad it's not as fast as it was a few years ago. We have more traffic issues today, greater demands on water & other infrastructure, and other issues.

GrowlTowel said:

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A non-vote is a vote for Low-T.

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Folks are telling me that a non-vote is a vote for slime P

Nobody is disputing that Texas is growing. Number one in the state if you use numbers. #4i f you use percent growth as i stipulatedin my first post. There's three problems with this growth though.
1. People in the 30+ age group who are moving here have no kids. (Hang on for #3 to come back to this.)
2. People in the 25+ group aren't having kids. The death rate is higher than the birth rate. Its the import rate helping our record breaking growth.
3. People are pulling their kids out of public schools and putting them in charter, private, or home schools or the people in number one who do have kids when they move here don't trust our public schools

Your area might be growing in sheer numbers, but your schools are not.

New: Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board on Wednesday to work on pathways for students to earn bachelor’s degrees in three years.

State leaders say such a program could ease student costs and allow the state to respond to workforce demands…

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) August 26, 2026

FWIW...Patrick getting ratioed here

If Texas falls to the Democrats, everything changes.@tedcruz and I discuss why 2026 is the most important election in Texas history.

Watch or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Link in bio. pic.twitter.com/f4TDn9jzAg

— Dan Patrick (@DanPatrick) August 26, 2026

🚨 JUST IN: President Trump is headed to a KEN PAXTON RNC fundraiser TOMORROW in Texas — and his White House schedule was just released confirming he’ll be in Houston at 6PM

LFG! WAR CHEST is OPENING to keep Texas red 🔥

Talarico is a psycho who needs to be destroyed. pic.twitter.com/pzhUZxzhaA

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 27, 2026

All good points. To be honest I don't know the specifics about growth here. I know what I see when I'm around town: traffic, new housing, new residents, new schools and older ones expanding. Maybe there was a brief drop off but maybe that was temporary. A lot of people I see around town are young families with children, sometimes 3 or 4. And I see them every time I go to a store or restaurant. They are everywhere. I know the high school I graduated from has 3 times the student body compared to when I was there in the 1980s and the district has built 3 more high schools in that time, all 4A or higher.

I should have mentioned that CISD also has 2 college prep high schools and there are multiple private schools in town.

The districts have built new elementary schools in recent years, including one under construction in the new Mayfair development. By all appearances the school districts are growing.

boognish_bear said:

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New: Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board on Wednesday to work on pathways for students to earn bachelor’s degrees in three years.

State leaders say such a program could ease student costs and allow the state to respond to workforce demands…

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) August 26, 2026

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Three year college programs are an interesting idea. The biggest pushback is what gets cut.

Electives? I enjoyed my electives. I even used what I was learning in them when I changed my major. If we eliminate them, how do students broaden their horizons and explore things?

Basics? I never use what I learned in biology, chemistry, or geology. Sure, I learned study skills, and how to work through things I may not have initially understood, but as far as content--I would say I wasted 12 hours of money. But here's what's hard. Some would say I am wrong, and they may be right. But let's assume I'm right. How many of what we call core classes can really be eliminated based on what a student plans to do with their degree? Because for me, I don't use my math classes either except on the rare occasion I try to help one of my own kids with their homework.

Redrawing degree programs could get interesting. And then how many faculty lose jobs when your core class is no longer needed? My job is relatively safe from everything. Every degree requires at least one English class and as many as four. But, start redrawing programs to get things done in three years, and my job may not be safe anymore.

historian said:

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The fascists are trying to suppress voter turn out by normal people because they have an awful candidate who cannot win unless they can trick normies into staying home.

It won't work.

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Are the fascists in the room with us right now?

Freakin' Kari Lake all over again, but with an even more unlikeable candidate.

Looks like GOP will not be taking this race lightly

Trump: I’m going to help Ken Paxton. I’m going to spend a lot of time in Texas. pic.twitter.com/dGMW4yw1NR

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 27, 2026