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Republican factions united to pass most but not all of their conservative priorities in this year’s legislative session, illustrating the limits of right-wing governance.
June 3, 2025Updated 9:08 p.m. ET
For weeks, Republicans lawmakers in Texas had promised that they would require proof of citizenship to vote in most elections, hoping the 2025 Legislature would be a vanguard for other conservative states considering similar measures.
Voting rights groups cried foul. An analysis showed that the bill could disproportionately harm Republicans, who were less likely than Democrats to have the required documents. Then, as the Texas legislative session ended on Monday, the bill died.
Its failure was one of the many surprising results of this year’s legislative session, which was among the most conservative in recent memory. The Legislature passed measures requiring the Ten Commandments in every classroom and creating publicly funded vouchers for private-school tuition.
But the session also revealed the limits of right-wing governance, even in a state that President Trump won decisively and that is controlled by Republicans at every level of power. Lawmakers failed to pass strict curbs on wind and solar energy, and a tightened ban on abortion pills from out of state.
Texas was a particularly good test case for the G.O.P.’s reach because for the first time in years, Republicans in the Legislature were not actively warring. Gone were the internal fights between House and Senate Republicans that had marred the last several sessions, which occur every two years.
Instead, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who controls the State Senate with a firm hand, got mostly what he wanted, a more compliant Texas House.
