The States Project is working to build power for state lawmakers committed to protecting personal freedoms, including abortion access, defending democracy, and other policies that will improve the lives of all Texans. While the rightwing holds majorities in both chambers, we believe our strategic investments in the Texas legislature could help lawmakers stop some of the most harmful, extreme policies from becoming law.

• When lawmakers in the Texas House Minority Caucus walked out to prevent one of the most anti-democratic and anti-voter bills to pass in Texas history, The States Project mobilized to support them. We worked to get a head start on the 2022 elections by ensuring that these lawmakers could get their message out to their constituents about the importance of their action to protect the rights of Texas voters.
• In 2021 we also worked to ensure that our in-state partners remained focused on the 2022 state legislative races by supporting state legislature-specific recruitment. By ensuring the flow of resources into these races, we are laying the groundwork now for elections beyond.

In our first year working electorally in Texas, TSP helped defend the ground gained in 2016; +12 in the State House and came within one percent of the votes needed to flip the chamber. In 2020, a net gain of nine seats was needed to flip the State House and build the governing power needed for lasting change in Texas. We came close.

Thanks in part to the support of The States Project Giving Circles, just 11,000 out of about 11 million total voters would have had to flip to hand over control of the chamber, representing just 0.1 percent of all votes cast in Texas. In these close races, polling error was the difference between achieving the sweep and coming up short, but the narrow margins show exactly how close the minority came to picking up seats in 2020.

• There were several close races, but Representative Ann Johnson was the candidate we supported to win her seat; becoming the first openly LGBTQ+ State Representative to serve her district. She did 11 percent better than the previous candidate in her Houston-based district, flipping it from one of the best-funded opponents in the state.
• Seven candidates we supported lost by less than 5 percent of the vote. These narrow margins show exactly how close the minority was to picking up seats in 2020, and illustrate momentum built from 2018 that can secure opportunities to flip more seats in 2022.