The Policies That Drew Millions to Texas Are Now Under Attack

Texas has built a reputation as a bastion of freedom. No state income tax, a low cost of living, and huge corporate growth have drawn millions of people, adding 2.6 million residents since 2020 alone. The Dallas area has even taken the moniker “Y’all Street,” championed as a capitalist refuge from socialism in New York City.

But now, the policies that made the Lone Star State prosperous are under attack.

In the midterm election, Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated three-term Republican incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott, becoming the state’s first Democrat governor since Ann Richards in 1990. Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, delivering the state’s first Senate Democrat victory since 1988.

Unfortunately for Texas, Hinojosa and Talarico are much more radical and unhinged than their predecessors.

Hinojosa has often defended illegal aliens instead of law enforcement, opposed the ban on state income tax, and pushed for unrestricted abortion. Talarico once claimed there are six genders, characterized Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a secret police force, and even called to “dismantle” capitalism.

This is a stark clash with Texas values. As Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said at the Republican midterm convention, “Welcome to America’s sanctuary city from socialism. … Here, our actual political goal is to become America’s safest and most business-friendly city.”

In large part, people move to Texas for capitalism. The state consistently ranks first in the nation for job growth, with more than 14.4 million jobs in industries like manufacturing, aerospace, and life sciences. Low taxes and light regulation keep creating the opportunity that draws workers and companies. 

Despite this, Talarico will go on to represent the state in the Senate after having called capitalism an oppressive system linked to climate change and white supremacy.  

“I think only [by] ending the ways that all three of those oppressive systems work together are we going to be able to begin the process of dismantling them,” he said.  

Another reason why so many people love and move to Texas is because there is no state income tax. In her campaign, Hinojosa denied wanting a state income tax, but her record raises concerns. In 2019, she voted against HJR 38, a proposed constitutional amendment to ban an individual state income tax.  

“We rely so heavily in this state on property taxes, too heavily in my opinion, because we don’t have the third leg of that stool that’s required to have a robust and strong and resilient economy, which would include income taxes,” Hinojosa said.  

Hinojosa has also supported allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the country, consistently placing them above law enforcement, and even more importantly, everyday Texans. 

As recently as 2025, she voted against creating a homeland security division in the Texas Department of Public Safety. And in 2023, she voted against a bill to build the Texas border wall and pay law enforcement. The same year, she opposed a bill making it a state crime to illegally enter Texas from another country, and she opposed a bill to raise criminal penalties for human smuggling and running a stash house. As far back as 2017, Hinojosa voted against banning sanctuary cities in Texas.  

Despite coverage from legacy media, this immigration extremism also clashes with the Texan value of citizenship. According to one 2025 survey, 60% of Texans supported the mass deportation of most illegal aliens, 72% supported increasing targeted deportations of illegal aliens with denied asylum claims, and 73% supported limiting the number of asylum claims.  

Hinojosa’s support of keeping illegal aliens in the country could potentially make living more expensive, due to a shortage of housing. In September 2026, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that states with higher illegal alien deportations are seeing the largest rent decreases.  

“Research shows that illegal-worker inflows push rents and home prices up. That inflow has been reversed in the states running the hardest interior enforcement,” the agency posted on X. “Want lower cost of living: support mass deportations.” 

State Rep. Brian Harrison called on Abbott to convene a special session to rein in executive emergency powers before Hinojosa takes office. He said he filed legislation to limit Texas governors’ emergency powers starting in 2022, after he was elected.  

“People are shocked to learn that in Texas we have these absurd and unconstitutional laws that give the governor the power to just govern by edict the way Joe Biden did and govern by executive fiat,” Harrison told the Daily Signal. “Hinojosa has pledged to use them starting on day one to manipulate our electricity markets.”  

Harrison also said when he served with Hinojosa, she wanted to work with him to repeal these laws, but we will see whether she was sincere or not when she takes office.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.

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