Gov. Greg Abbott outlined several priorities for the 2027 legislative session during a Thursday appearance on The Chris Salcedo Show, including closing Texas’ Republican primaries, regulating data centers, and expanding school choice. Abbott also criticized Democrat U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico, who will face Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in November.
Closed Primaries
“[W]hat I know is that we’re going to be able to go into this next session and pass laws, making sure that we have closed primaries in the state of Texas, that we will set up a structure so that only Republicans are going to get to vote for Republicans,” said Abbott.
Chris Salcedo questioned why the government should determine how political parties conduct their primaries.
Abbott said Republicans should ultimately determine participation in their own elections, but cautioned that any new system must clearly establish who qualifies as a Republican
“And there are ways in which a primary can utterly fail if it’s not structured properly, and that’s why we need everybody weighing in and being thoughtful about the process, so that we’re not setting up a system that’s doomed to fail, but setting up a system that’s prepared to succeed,” said Abbott.
The Texas GOP sued the Secretary of State last year in an attempt to force closed primaries, but as the court case continues, Texas officials are urging the Legislature to handle the issue in 2027.
Data Centers
Abbott has recently established new standards for data centers to follow, including requiring facilities to pay for their own infrastructure, use water-efficient cooling systems, and reduce their impact on the surrounding communities.
“[The] fact of the matter is this: what these data centers have realized, and that is the standards I’ve laid down are standards that they know they now need to live up to. They saw one thing that I did, and that is I was involved in shutting down a data center that was trying to get going up in East Texas because they were not in compliance with these standards. And it was after that when I made clear what these standards were, and because we were able to shut down one in the past, they know that all these data centers have to comply with this if they expect to exist in the state of Texas,” Abbott said.
Tax incentives for the projects are also under scrutiny ahead of the next legislative session.
School Choice
Salcedo asked Abbott how Texas would meet school choice demand after applications for the program far exceeded its initial capacity.
“This is a very positive development. For one, it’s positive because we have parents so engaged in this that they are robustly applying for school choice in the state of Texas, and that’s a signal that legislators need to know that we need to step up and fund it even more and expand the program. And hopefully, when we get into and through the next session, we will double the program from what its current breadth is,” Abbott replied.
Senate Race
Abbott also took aim at Democrat U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico, who is facing Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in November.
“Talarico is the farthest left communist Marxist candidate we’ve ever seen in the state of Texas. He’s Mandani without the beard is what we’re dealing with in Texas. He’s for open borders. He’s for eliminating prisons. I’ve never seen any candidate twist the Bible as much as he has. I think it’s blasphemy what he’s doing,” said Abbott.
But let’s be clear about what he’s voted on. Putting aside the crazy, wacky things you guys have been talking about what he said, he voted to defund the police. He voted against border security. He voted in support of transgender surgery for minors. He voted in support of a state income tax in the state of Texas. He voted for boys in girls’ sports, and so the contrast between common-sense values in the state of Texas and this crazy ideology that the communists are trying to impose has never been clearer.
Abbott said he expected Texans who know Talarico’s record to reject him in November.
