03/12/2026
We Need the Right GOP Candidates in November
Those doing it right deserve a party worthy of their effort
By Dade Phelan
March 9th, 2026
The Dallas Morning News - Editorial
Early Sunday morning in downtown Austin, a man opened fire on a crowd of Texans who were innocent bystanders to a hateful act of violence. Within a minute, brave Austin police officers ran toward the gunfire. They killed the shooter after he robbed three people of their lives and futures, including a young man, Ryder Harrington, who was part of the extended family of the Texas Capitol.
The officers who ran toward that gunfire did not do so because of a slogan. They did it because they were trained to do it, because their department was funded and staffed to do it, and because the people of Texas have insisted that public safety is not negotiable. It was not long ago that voices within the Democratic Party called for defunding the very institutions that put those officers on that street at that hour. Their response — fifty-seven seconds — meant everything. Three lives were taken and 14 more were forever changed in under a minute. Every additional second would have meant more bloodshed and more families destroyed.
The officers' training and the investment this state has made in law enforcement are the only reasons we are not mourning dozens more. That happened because Texas chose to fund and support its police, rather than dismantle them. We should remember that in November.
The election in November is coming at a moment when the stakes extend far beyond our borders. American and Israeli forces have struck Iran and killed its supreme leader. The consequences will reverberate for years in the Persian Gulf, in global energy markets, in the security of every American military installation overseas, and in the daily calculations of Texas families with sons and daughters in uniform. This is not a moment for politics as usual. It is a moment that demands seriousness and credibility from everyone who asks voters for their trust. We cannot afford to enter it weighed down by self-inflicted wounds.
Those wounds have real consequences at the ballot box. This week's primary results should alarm every Republican in this state. Democrats cast more early ballots than Republicans statewide, a 119% increase over 2022. In Tarrant County, a capable Republican candidate lost a special election by 14 points in a district the president carried by 17 points because of national headwinds. A sitting congressman dropped out of a runoff after allegations of preying on a staffer dominated the final weeks of early voting. Across the ballot, Republican voters told us they are tired of the chaos and leaders who treat public office as a personal entitlement rather than a public trust.
I talk to lifelong Republicans every week everywhere, from GOP events to HEB or at the Little League field. They are the ones who have knocked on doors, shown up to Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinners, written small checks when they can, and voted in every primary for 30 years. What I hear from them is not anger - it is exhaustion.
They are tired of defending conduct they did not condone. Tired of explaining away headlines they did not create. Tired of being asked to rally behind candidates whose behavior they would not tolerate in their own families or businesses. These are not people becoming Democrats. These are people running out of reasons to keep showing up. And if they stop, no amount of money or organization will save us in 2026.
That is what makes the United States Senate race in Texas this November so consequential. I served with James Talarico in the Texas House. He is a serious, thoughtful person skilled at connecting with voters who have tuned out traditional politics. He will be well-funded and disciplined on the trail. Anyone who underestimates him is making a mistake. But a Senate seat carries responsibilities that a state House career, however impressive, does not fully prepare you for. The next senator from Texas will cast votes on Iran, on energy security that directly affects the refineries and export terminals along our Gulf Coast and my home of southeast Texas. At a moment when American forces are engaged abroad and the world order is shifting, those votes require a depth of experience that cannot be acquired on the campaign trail. Our nominee must be someone who enters that chamber ready on day one, not because Talarico is unworthy of respect, but because democratic policies are wrong for Texas and the moment is that serious.
I was raised to believe that what you do when no one is watching matters more than what you say when everyone is. The Republican Party in Texas was built by men and women who believed the same thing. They built a governing majority by earning it, through fiscal discipline, accountability, and the simple insistence that the people who hold power be worthy of it.
President Ronald Reagan called this version of our nation and its people a shining city on a hill. He did not mean perfection. He meant aspiration. It is the standard you hold yourself to because you believe the country is watching and that what you build matters. With a razor thin majority in both congressional chambers, the country is watching Texas again.
Trust is not lost overnight. Each instance is small. They accumulate. And there comes a point when the damage cannot be reversed. We are not there yet. But we are closer than we have ever been, and this moment does not allow for indifference. The Republican runoff voters who go to the polls in May will make choices that determine whether we enter November with candidates who can earn the trust of every Texan, not just those who agree with us. The candidates doing it right deserve a party worthy of their effort. The Texans who built this majority deserve a party worthy of their trust. November is coming. Let us be worthy of that moment.
Dade Phelan represents Jefferson, Orange and Jasper Counties in the Texas House of Representatives. He served as the 76th Speaker of the Texas House and currently chairs the House Committee on Licensing & Administrative Procedures.
