Texas Democratic Party's Propositions

Dem Primary Prop 1 - Survey: Texas should expand Medicaid and ensure access to affordable healthcare for all.

Dem Primary Prop 2 - Survey: Texans should support humane and dignified immigration policies and pathways to citizenship.

Dem Primary Prop 3 - Survey: Texans should have the right to make their own healthcare decisions, including reproductive rights.

Dem Primary Prop 4 - Survey: Texas should address the state’s housing crisis in affordability and access in both urban and rural communities.

Dem Primary Prop 5 - Survey: Texas should fund all public schools at the same per-pupil rate as the national average.

Dem Primary Prop 6 - Survey: Secure online voter registration should be accessible to all eligible Texas residents.

Dem Primary Prop 7 - Survey: Texas should have a clean and healthy environment that includes water, air, and biodiversity. Texas must preserve the state's natural, cultural, scenic, and recreational resources.

Dem Primary Prop 8 - Survey: Texas should legalize cannabis for adults and automatically expunge criminal records for past low-level cannabis offenses.

Dem Primary Prop 9 - Survey: Texas should raise salaries to at least the national average and should provide a cost-of-living increase based on the national Consumer Price Index every two years to current/retired school and state employees.

Dem Primary Prop 10 - Survey: Texas should ban racially motivated redistricting, ban mid-decade redistricting, and create a non-partisan redistricting board to redraw lines every 10 years.

Dem Primary Prop 11 - Survey: The Working Class should be eligible for greater federal income tax relief and have their tax burden fairly shifted onto the wealthiest.

Dem Primary Prop 12 - Survey: Texas should expand accessible public transportation opportunities in rural and urban communities so residents can get to their workplaces, schools, and healthcare.

Dem Primary Prop 13 - Texas should prevent individuals with a history of domestic abuse from purchasing firearms by implementing “red flag” laws.

Expanded Survey Items

Prop 1 - Survey: Texas should expand Medicaid and ensure access to affordable healthcare for all.

Texas state government should do what it can to support affordable healthcare for all Texans. Texas republican administrations have denied Texans access more federal help for healthcare just because federal funds have come with tie-ins that republicans do not like. Democrats want to allow more access to Medicaid benefits.

Dem Primary Prop 2 - Survey: Texans should support humane and dignified immigration policies and pathways to citizenship.

Democrats recognize the positive contribution of immigrants to our state. There is a need to fund and institute a stronger system for orderly immigration. This would decrease impetus for human trafficking. The terrible policies of the current administration need to be reversed, and not just ending the atrocious behavior of I.C.E. We can do better.

Dem Primary Prop 3 - Survey: Texans should have the right to make their own healthcare decisions, including reproductive rights.

Texas has had a libertarian tradition, except where it abuts some religions’ doctrine. We should not place young women in double-jeopardy. Beyond that, Many patients say that their insurer placed barriers to timely treatment of their illness. Insurance should be a bridge, not a barrier.

Prop 4 - Survey: Texas should address the state’s housing crisis in affordability and access in both urban and rural communities.

Texas Democrats recognize that affordable housing is an issue across the state. The state has tools including funding and regulation to help citizens find affordable housing. This is not just a big-city problem.

Dem Primary Prop 5 - Survey: Texas should fund all public schools at the same per-pupil rate as the national average.

Texas currently ranks 42nd among states in per-student funding for public schools. We know that the foundation for a sound democracy rests on an educated public. Texas is a rich state, but has not invested in her human resource for the future. The situation has worsened in the years republicans have been in control in Austin. This needs to change.

Dem Primary Prop 6 - Survey: Secure online voter registration should be accessible to all eligible Texas residents.

Forty-two states have one type or another online voter registration. Texas does not. Texas allows us to complete other official tasks online, why not registration?

Over the years, Texas has weakened enforcement of environmental standards by the responsible agencies. We now have more miles of polluted waterways, and less clean air than we did 40 years ago. Governing boards of environmental agencies need new people. Rules need to be enforced. Corrections are needed for years of neglect.

Dem Primary Prop 8 - Survey: Texas should legalize cannabis for adults and automatically expunge criminal records for past low-level cannabis offenses.

Recreational use of marijuana in Texas is illegal, though 24 states now permit it. Approved medicinal use of marijuana has been expanded a bit. The basis for restrictions in Texas need to be examined critically. The continued detention people convicted of no-victim drug offenses is nonproductive and should be stopped.

Prop 9 - Survey: Texas should raise salaries to at least the national average and should provide a cost-of-living increase based on the national Consumer Price Index every two years to current/retired school and state employees.

Texas does not have a minimum wage set, so defaults to the national $7.25, even though many states have adopted higher minimums. A higher minimum helps raise wages across the board. This has been shown to boost the general economy. The state should also help people on fixed retirement incomes. This is best done through an automatic adjustment mechanism, rather than depending on sporadic legislated updates.

Dem Primary Prop 10 - Survey: Texas should ban racially motivated redistricting, ban mid-decade redistricting, and create a non-partisan redistricting board to redraw lines every 10 years.

Sixteen states use commissions to create or guide creation of districts for congressional and state legislative districts. Texans need districts that better reflect the original constitutional vision for representative democracy.

Prop 11 - Survey: The Working Class should be eligible for greater federal income tax relief and have their tax burden fairly shifted onto the wealthiest.

Democrats ask for a system more fair to the average person. During the decades when America built a prosperous middle class, the tax rate on the wealthiest was much higher than it is now. We need to return to that. The wealthy need to do their share to lift everyone else.

Dem Primary Prop 12 - Survey: Texas should expand accessible public transportation opportunities in rural and urban communities so residents can get to their workplaces, schools, and healthcare.

We recognize that some of our local economic health depends on people living here but being able to work in the larger metropolitan area. State aid for transportation initiatives helps us here.

Dem Primary Prop 13 - Texas should prevent individuals with a history of domestic abuse from purchasing firearms by implementing “red flag” laws.

Also known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders, red flag laws have great public support and have been shown to reduce both homicides and suicides. The 2025 Texas legislature banned them, unfortunately. Almost 20% of domestic violence involves a weapon. The presence of a gun in a domestic abuse situation increases the risk of homicide by 500%.