The votes are counted. The questions aren’t answered.
Texans elected a new governor, a new U.S. senator, a new lieutenant governor and a new comptroller. In one Houston-area city, they also voted to take down the cameras that had been tracking their license plates.
Now comes the part that affects your everyday life.
KPRC 2’s ENOUGH team sat down to sort through what happened at the ballot box and what it means for the stories we’ve been following. Four questions stood out.
They’re coming down, and there’s a deadline.
League City voters chose to remove the city’s Flock license plate cameras. The city is now working to cover all 55 of them, ENOUGH reporter Rilwan Balogun said.
That doesn’t apply only to cameras the city bought. The city manager says Flock cameras purchased by homeowners associations and placed on the city’s right of way must be removed, too.
Under the proposition, League City has until Nov. 17 to remove the cameras. The city manager says the city is reviewing its Flock contract and talking with the company.
The ENOUGH community had plenty to say.
“The people have spoken. As it should be in every jurisdiction,” Kevin Newsom wrote on Facebook.
Kyle Gamble saw it differently, writing in part: “The problem isn’t really the cameras, it’s the misuse of the cameras.”
Residents there are trying to make it happen.
Conroe’s City Council voted against putting a Flock measure on the November ballot. So residents have spent the better part of a month gathering signatures for their own proposition to end the city’s contract.
The group behind the petition told Balogun it has been notarized and will soon go to the city.
Another question is still open. On Facebook, Rosa Hinson asked what happens to the data the cameras have already collected. ENOUGH is working to find out whether removing a camera means its data is deleted.
That’s the $33 billion question, and the rules still aren’t written.
CenterPoint and other utilities want to build new high-voltage transmission lines across Texas. ENOUGH’s Amy Davis said viewers want to know whether Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa will put the brakes on those projects, and on utilities buying up rural land for them.
“We still need to know how large load users, like data centers, will pay for these new transmission towers and lines,” Davis said. The Public Utility Commission is still writing those rules.
Days before the election, Davis asked Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick how he would keep residential customers from paying more than their fair share. His answer included a story about a visit from Pablo Vegas, who runs ERCOT, the state’s grid operator.
“He said to me, our grid is under pressure,” Patrick said. “He said, we’re under great pressure because of the data centers. So here’s the person who’s in charge of ERCOT telling us they’re under great pressure, and yet they want to keep building them.”
Patrick’s conclusion: “We’ve got to just stop, take a breath, pause, and let’s go back. And if we’re going to do anything, do it right.”
Patrick won’t be the one to act on it. He lost his bid for a fourth term to Democratic state Rep. Vikki Goodwin.
That leaves the question with the incoming administration. If data centers get paused, Davis asked, will Hinojosa also pause the 765-kilovolt transmission projects? That’s $33 billion in construction scheduled to be divided up on Texans’ electric bills.
ENOUGH’s Joel Eisenbaum asked Sen.-elect James Talarico what role government should play as artificial intelligence becomes part of daily life. Talarico took the answer straight to Texas land and water, and to Elon Musk.
“He wants our water for these AI data centers. And we’re seeing them pop up all across the state,” Talarico said. “We need to have a senator who’s going to stand up against Big Tech.”
He spoke in broad terms in the interview. But in July, he called for federal standards for new data centers, including protections for the power grid and the environment.
His campaign website is more specific about cost. It says if a data center needs grid upgrades, the company should pay, so the cost doesn’t land on your electric bill.
Talarico’s website also proposes a tax on profits attributable to AI. The money would fund annual dividends for Americans and grants for entrepreneurs.
So far, one thing has changed: who runs it.
Democratic state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt was elected comptroller and takes over the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program in January. She replaces Republican Don Huffines, whom Gov. Greg Abbott appointed.
Eckhardt is not a supporter of the voucher-like program. But ENOUGH’s Kelly Wiley said Eckhardt has been clear that it is the law and she will follow it.
The logistics matter, too. More than 100,000 students are already using TEFA. Hinojosa has said she will push public money to public schools but doesn’t want to harm families in the program.
Eckhardt also wants more detailed data than the state’s TEFA dashboard currently shows. So does a Republican colleague, state Sen. Paul Bettencourt. He wants to know why more than 33,000 eligible participants chose not to take the money.
One Houston-area mom showed ENOUGH what can go wrong. Records show Brianna Ledet’s son, who has autism, was withdrawn from a TEFA-approved private school after she had paid for part of the school year.
“Yes, you can get the voucher. Yes, your child can get more because he’s disabled. Yes, you can have those supports in place and it can still fall through,” Ledet said.
A TEFA spokesperson said parents in that situation have 30 calendar days to find a new TEFA-approved school or they have to opt out.
Viewers are split on what should happen next.
“Gina will start with fixing our educational systems,” Terry Gilbert wrote on Facebook. On YouTube, Omar Viengar wrote: “Leave school vouchers alone.”
She hasn’t said in detail.
ENOUGH’s Brandon Walker said the governor-elect has not presented a detailed border plan. What she has done is criticize how much Abbott spent on the border and how he spent it.
She has also questioned the arrests of people who may have been in the country illegally but had no criminal record, held a job and had family here.
That amounts to a rebuke of Operation Lone Star, the border security effort Abbott launched in 2021. As a state representative, Hinojosa voted against it, calling it too expensive and cruel.
Part of that effort was a state-built border wall. So far, 82 miles have been built at a cost of about $3 billion.
“Greg Abbott spent our taxpayer dollars — billions — like $20 billion prosecuting immigrants for trespassing, and then also using that same taxpayer money to pay for their defense so that they would go right back into our communities,” Hinojosa said. “It was political theater and nonsense.”
Hinojosa has also criticized the Biden administration for not doing enough to secure the border.
Walker noted that crossings are down significantly, and apprehensions with them. Hinojosa says she can secure the border without spending as much and without separating families who have been in Texas for decades.
How she plans to do that is the part Texans are still waiting on.
What’s not getting fixed? What’s not adding up? Send ENOUGH your questions, story ideas and tips.
