Lubbock will probably lose political influence in the State Capitol after the Democratic takeover of the Texas House.
Lubbock’s Dustin Burrows is not expected to be speaker of the House – the third most powerful person in state government – when the new legislative session begins in January.
Lubbock’s Republican legislative delegation survived the “blue wave” across Texas putting Democrats in all statewide offices for the first time in decades.
Burrows (House District 83) and Tepper (House District 84) keep their seats but are in the minority party.
Charles Perry keeps his seat in the Senate, a chamber that holds a GOP majority, as it had before the election.
Tepper and Perry told Lubbock Report said the region can still compete for state funding and legislative priorities through bipartisan cooperation.
“We will be almost as effective as ever,” Tepper said, explaining how he and incoming Lieutenant Governor Vicki Goodwin have worked together on property tax appraisal caps as House members.
“She and I have huddled several times about how to make appraisal caps work. … her ideas were very good,” Tepper said.
But there could be new challenges for Texas Tech funding, the oil and gas industry, data centers and conservative social policies, such as abortion, DEI and what universities can or cannot teach.
New governor Gina Hinojosa will appoint three new Texas Tech regents next year.
“The social issues will drop off,” Tepper said of the Republicans in the House.
“But there’s always been great bipartisan cooperation for water districts and cities and the public universities,” Tepper said.
“The West Texas delegation works very closely together. We’re effective no matter who’s sitting in higher office,” he added.
A blue ‘dent?’
Even though Lubbock’s legislative delegation kept their seats, some results were not as strong as in the past, as votes in all 254 Texas counties shifted left.
- Carl Tepper kept his House District 84 seat with 53.2 percent of the vote over Maggie Durham. Two years ago he received 64.1 percent.
- Dustin Burrows was reelected to his House District 83 seat with 73.5 percent of the vote. He ran unopposed in 2024 and 2022. In 2020, he won 79.3 percent.
- Charles Perry won his Senate District 28 seat with 69.7 percent and was unopposed in 2022.
In the race for District 19 U.S. House of Representatives, Republican Tom Sell received 69.5 percent to replace Jodey Arrington. In 2024 and 2022, Arrington had just over 80 percent of the vote.
‘We lost a great speaker’
Some of the vote totals were still close in a few districts as of Thursday, but Democrats were on track to control more than 80 House seats – higher than the 76-seat majority.
As of Thursday evening, only two lawmakers, both Democrats, filed paperwork to run for House speaker – chosen by the members.
The Texas Tribune described the speaker’s power this way in 2024: “A speaker has enough power to stop a legislative proposal from becoming law.”
Perry explained, “Part of [being] the majority party in the legislature in the House is you get to pick your speaker. So, it would be political suicide for a Democratic member to vote for a Republican speaker in a Democratic majority house. So, I don’t see a path to success.”
Like Burrows and Tepper, Perry is a Republican, but there’s a big difference. He’s in the Senate which still retains a Republican majority. But that’s not where Perry started.
Perry beat longtime Representative Delwin Jones in the 2010 election for House District 83 – now held by Burrows.
“Dustin [Burrows] was – of the four speakers I’ve served with – the best and most efficient, effective speaker I’ve served under – not because he’s from Lubbock – just because he’s a hard worker. He’s smart on policy and he likes the process. So, we lost a great speaker,” Perry said.
Tepper was a lot more optimistic – saying it would be difficult but not impossible.
“If anybody could, Dustin Burrows could,” Tepper said.
Burrows formed a coalition with Democrats to become speaker in 2025. Maybe he could work out another difficult deal this time too, Tepper thought.
But if not speaker, then maybe speaker pro tempore, Tepper said.
That post is currently held by Joe Moody, a Democrat from El Paso and a Texas Tech graduate. Burrows appointed him in February 2025.
Impact for Texas Tech
Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa will, subject to Senate approval, appoint three regents for Texas Tech early in her administration.
Cody Campbell, chairman of the Board of Regents and Arcilia Acosta – a regent from Dallas – have terms expiring on January 31, less than three months from now. The spot that went vacant when Pat Gordon of El Paso went to the Texas Transportation Commission also expires that same day.
Tech – led by relatively new Chancellor Brandon Creighton – was recently at the forefront in curtailing instruction in transgender studies and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion).
Perry expects those issues to be considered.
“I’d say politically speaking, you’d have to be naive to not think that that’s going to be part of a new trustee appointment conversation. … I hope it doesn’t become a benchmark, if you will, a litmus test that only trustees that support removing those measures would be [appointed], but that’s her call.”
Tech leads the nation in what most parents and students expect, he said.
“But just looking at it from a political lens, truthfully, Chancellor Creighton, [formerly] Senator Creighton, and the trustees have been on the front edge of trying to bring public university systems back to what I’d call common sense,” Perry said.
The Tribune reported on October 29, “As chair of the Senate Education Committee, Creighton spearheaded laws aimed at curbing what GOP leaders saw as liberal influence on campuses.”
Lubbock Report asked Tepper if these issues put a target on Creighton or Texas Tech.
“I don’t think that puts a target on his back. I think it just makes him just one of the other chancellors that they might agree with or might not,” Tepper answered.
As for the Legislature funding Tech, Perry said, “It definitely won’t be as easy.”
Hinojosa’s focus on the campaign trail was K-12 funding, not higher education, he said.
Moody, the Tech grad and Democrat from El Paso who Burrows appointed to House leadership, could be an important ally for Tech funding, Tepper said.
“Texas Tech is one of the most affordable – the most affordable of the flagship universities. So, it would be counterproductive for Democrats not to fund Texas Tech University, which would mean higher tuition for working class families who they claim to represent,” Tepper said.
Other issues
Perry joint-authored the Texas “heartbeat” bill – taking effect in 2021 – prohibiting abortions after six weeks or so. He also cosponsored broader restrictions that took effect in 2022.
That puts him in direct opposition to Hinojosa, whose campaign called for an end to Texas’ abortion ban. She told reporters expanding abortion access would not be her immediate priority as governor. However, she would be willing to sign a repeal.
Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson was quoted as saying he will stop suing out-of-state doctors who prescribe abortion medication by mail to Texas patients.
But Perry says it’s possible Democrats could outrun their mandate.
“Their party can end up where we were Tuesday night in short order if they go crazy,” he said.
Some Democrats might follow the lead of democratic socialism and Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Perry said.
“I think they’ll file every bill that reverses every social policy that we’ve done the last 20 years,” Perry said.
But new legislation needs to pass both the House and the Republican-led Senate before it can reach the governor’s desk. Tepper added one more observation.
“There’s still a lot of Democrats in the Texas legislature that are the Blue Dog Democrats. They’re pro-gun. They’re pro-economic development,” Tepper said.
Both Tepper and Perry worry severe regulation of oil and gas is bad for West Texas. Perry thinks data centers can be a positive addition to the Texas economy and Tepper offers full-throated support of them.
But both men thought there was room to work with the new House majority on funding water projects. Perry has taken the legislative lead on that issue in recent years.
“Water is non-partisan and that’s why I enjoy it. It’s something everybody needs and everybody supports,” Perry said.
Both local lawmakers thought there could be agreement on the privacy issues surrounding Flock cameras.
