The new year has arrived, so just what kind of a year will we see in 2023, for Texas Politics?
"The biggest story of 2023 will be undoubtedly, the legislative session" said Brad Johnson, reporter with The Texan, "How do legislators respond, especially Republicans, after the election results? Do they move forward with more conservative GOP priority type issues? Or do they try and move back towards kitchen table type issues?"
Some of the major issues include the nearly $30 billion dollar budget surplus, property tax relief, the border, education, school security, CRT and gender issues, and maybe even marijuana and legalized gambling.
Here in Houston, this the final year for mayor Sylvester Turner, who has reached his term limit. The election will be in November, but don't get your hopes up for a Republican possibly taking over.
"We're not going to have a strong Republican candidate in the 2023 mayoral race" said Mark Jones, Rice University professor, "Right now, the real front runners are state senator John Whitmire, Chris Hollins, followed by Amanda Edwards. But right now, I think the strong favorite to be the next mayor of Houston is John Whitemire."
But, before we can get to the next election, we still have to finish up this past election, which is not over yet in Harris County.
"We know how screwed up the November 8th election was, in terms of how it was being run" said Harris County GOP Chair, Cindy Siegel, "So, obviously as we look to the new year, our litigation will continue to wind it's way through the courts, we're working with our attorney's on that."
Lots of lawsuits, including the one involving Harris County judge Lina Hidalgo, and her 3 indicted staff members.
All the action for Texas politics starts later this month, in Austin.