AP: “Far from tiptoeing toward the middle to appease the Democratic-leaning Texans driving population growth, the party is embracing its base and vowing to use a new round of redistricting to ensure things stay that way through 2030 – becoming a national model for staying on the offensive no matter how political winds may eventually shift. ‘Texas, obviously, is a national leader as it concerns the laws that we pass and other states follow,’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who is fond of vowing to make Texas the ‘freedom capital of America,’ said Tuesday. Abbott, who is up for reelection next year and often mentioned as a possible 2024 presidential contender, signed voting legislation Tuesday that empowers partisan poll watchers and prohibits a host of measures that made casting ballots easier in heavily Democratic cities amid the coronavirus pandemic.”

“Republicans argue that the new rules boost election security and charged ahead to pass them, even as Democratic state lawmakers fled the state for weeks to block them. The voting law was nearly overshadowed by national debate over another new Texas law – the nation’s toughest set of abortion restrictions. By banning the procedure in most instances and leaving no exceptions for cases of rape and incest, the state has mounted perhaps the strongest threat yet to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision establishing a woman’s right to an abortion.”

“Another new law allows virtually any Texan age 21 and older to carry guns without licenses. Other legislation banned schools from teaching about institutional racism and limited the state’s own cities from making decisions on police funding, environmental budgeting and mask mandates. These policy victories are poised to become cemented for the foreseeable future. Because Republicans control both chambers of the Legislature, the party will decide new congressional and statehouse districts based on 2020 census figures – seeking to make the boundaries as favorable as possible so the GOP can hold statehouse majorities for the next decade and beyond.”