Texas Democrats are close to controlling the State Board of Education for the first time since 1994, after unofficial returns showed five new Democrats winning seats on the panel that sets what public school students are taught.
Everything hinges on District 8 in the Houston area. There, Democratic challenger Dana Van de Walker is ahead of Republican incumbent Audrey Young by under 600 votes, with about 1% of the vote still uncounted. Young said Thursday morning that she had not conceded.
Provisional and mail-in ballots are still outstanding, there is no clear date for final results, and a race this close can be sent to a recount at a candidate's request. Walker claimed the flip in a Facebook post late Wednesday while acknowledging the outcome is not official until certification.
Without District 8, the 15-member board stands at seven seats for each party. Republicans currently hold an 11-4 edge.
Even if Republicans keep the seat, an eight-member majority would be fragile. It would require every Republican to vote together on every question, and Fairview Republican Pam Little has a history of breaking with her colleagues when she disagrees.
Preliminary results show Democrats Thomas Ray Garcia, Coretta Mallet-Fontenot, Allison Bush and Michelle Palmer won, and Democratic incumbent Tiffany Clark held her seat. On the Republican side, newcomers Kason Huddleston and Mindy Bumgarner won, along with incumbent Julie Pickren, a member of the board's right-wing faction.
Much of the shift came in seats left open by three middle-of-the-road Republicans who did not run again. Huddleston and Bumgarner captured two of them, but Palmer defeated Republican Tiffany Nelson. In the Rio Grande Valley, a seat seen as a toss-up after Republican incumbent LJ Francis lost his March primary, Garcia won easily.
The stakes are concrete. In the next few years the board is set to overhaul math standards, approve social studies textbooks and review new charter school proposals. Earlier this year, its Republican majority approved a social studies rewrite and a required reading list for public school students that included Bible passages.
Walker ran as part of a slate of teachers, and many Democratic candidates have active classroom experience. Felicia Martin, executive director of the Texas Freedom Network, a progressive group that monitors the board, said families had repeatedly asked the board to teach the truth and that voters had made their mandate clear.
Board leadership could also change. Democrat Gina Hinojosa won the governor's race, and state law lets the governor name the chair from among elected members, subject to state Senate approval. Republicans are expected to keep the Senate, though Democrat Vikki Goodwin will preside as lieutenant governor. The current chair, Republican Aaron Kinsey, was reappointed by Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this year.
Even if the vote count is not favorable, I will use every available procedural tool to make passing that harmful agenda as cumbersome and painstaking as possible.
Brandon Hall, Republican Texas State Board of Education member
Republican board member Brandon Hall has already signaled resistance, writing on Facebook that he would give Hinojosa and her appointees no passivity and that any Democrat leading the board should expect late nights in Austin.
