Serious Legislating: Bringing Urgency to the Issues that Matter to Everyday Texans

It's a rare opportunity these days, but occasionally I get alone time with my dad in the cab of his pickup. It happened this weekend as we drove to Oklahoma City for a family event. On these drives, Dad and I tend to talk a lot of politics, inspired by our surroundings, and in this case, with almost four hours of quiet time as we drove across the High Plains and through Oklahoma towns. 

My dad is your typical rural Texas Republican. He's a farmer and rancher who works sunup to sundown, checks the weather and the markets on his phone, and listens to talk radio in the pickup. I, on the other hand, spend my days editing a newspaper and following politics from the local to the national level. It's interesting that even with our different levels of information, we share a common concern about the future. Rural Texas is the best Texas, but we face many threats to our way of life. Many of us are losing faith in our elected officials to bring urgency and deliver on the issues that matter to our everyday lives. 

And we are not alone. According to a poll done in early August by the Texas Politics Project, for the first time since August 2023, a majority of Texas voters, 53%, say that the state is on the wrong track, with only 38% saying that the state is headed in the right direction. 
In the early 1990s, the Republican Party in Texas was a minority party that flipped Democratic rural counties because it placed a focus on economic prosperity and laid out a plan to help hard-working Texans. That was the winning ticket for claiming Rural Texans, and we need our legislators to get back to serious legislating.

The recently ended regular session and the two subsequent special sessions placed too much emphasis on culture wars, which should be fought in our churches, not our government. There was not enough concern with the struggles Texans are facing related to rising costs and high taxes. The state's political leadership has adopted Washington-style politics, undermining bipartisanship, challenging leaders who have demonstrated independence, and advancing legislation that erodes local control. 

There were a few serious deliverables this past session, not surprisingly led by rural Republicans, including a much-needed plan to fund current and future water projects across the state, and, during the special session, camp safety and flooding measures in response to the tragic July 4th flood. Lawmakers also made important investments in rural healthcare by directing new resources to hospitals, clinics, and mental health services, while expanding broadband access through faster speeds, greater transparency in funding, and targeted tax relief for underserved areas. These steps, along with new commitments to strengthen water, wastewater, and flood infrastructure, stand out as meaningful wins for rural Texas.

Overall, Governor Abbott and GOP leadership have hailed the 2025 session as a victory, celebrating school vouchers, a Parents' Bill of Rights, Ten Commandments in classrooms, and other culture-war headlines, with property tax relief and rural health grants added to the list. But for rural Texans, the reality is far different. Families in small towns aren't asking for symbolic battles -- they're asking for affordable groceries, relief from rising property taxes, access to healthcare as hospitals close, and reliable water and infrastructure to keep their communities alive. Our schools are losing teachers, our towns are losing young people, and our leaders in Austin are more focused on political talking points than the urgent, everyday challenges that define rural life. Until state leadership turns its attention to the kitchen-table struggles facing rural Texas, this "victory lap" rings hollow.

At the end of the day, no matter what's passed in Austin or celebrated in press releases, the true measure of success is whether families in rural Texas feel the difference at their kitchen tables or in their pickup trucks. At least, that's the conclusion I gather from my conversation with my dad.

About the Author 
Suzanne Bellsnyder is editor and publisher of the Hansford County Reporter-Statesman and Sherman County Gazette. A former Capitol staffer with decades of experience in Texas politics and policy, she now focuses on how state decisions shape rural life through her newspapers and the Texas Rural Reporter. You can subscribe to the newsletter at www.TexasRuralReporter.Substack.com.