Local Republicans got an unusual visit from Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) on Thursday — the latest sign that party leaders are bracing for some tougher-than-expected state legislative races this November.

Republicans currently hold an overwhelming 88–62 seat majority in the Texas House, where the biggest fights are most often between warring factions of the GOP.

Even in one of the last bastions of GOP moderates, that’s driven the local delegation to the right in recent years, as longtime members lost their primaries or retired.

Now internal polling and early voting analysis indicates close contests in some of those same districts, and Republicans who pushed their party’s conservative reboot are suddenly scrambling to present a united front.

Burrows’ various PACs have poured big money into Bexar County to help state Rep. Marc LaHood (R-San Antonio), state Rep. Mark Dorazio (R-San Antonio) and Jorge Borrego, who is running to replace state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio) in Texas House District 118.

All three San Antonio-area Republicans supported a more conservative nominee for House Speaker last year, but on Wednesday, appeared eager to put aside past differences.

They posed for pictures and signed their names on Burrows’ tour bus, emblazoned with the words, “One Party, One Mission,” and wrapped with the names of the entire Texas House Republican conference.

“[Burrows] helped us get more conservative legislation passed than we ever have in the history of the House in the last I don’t know how many speakers,” said Dorazio, who once led the effort to censure then-Texas House Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) who he chaired the Bexar GOP.

Dorazio won a tough primary to replace moderate Republican Lyle Larson four years ago, and has cruised to reelection easily ever since.

In a sign of times, however, his suburban Texas House District 122 made a list of the most flippable Texas House seats this year — and GOP leaders have been taking it seriously.

Campaign finance reports covering Sept. 25 through Oct. 24 indicate Republicans spent more than a half a million dollars on Dorazio’s behalf in the final month, while his little-known Democratic opponent, Shelly Nickels, spent just $5,600.

“I have never seen anybody work so hard to help us get reelected … even helping us raise funds and getting out the vote,” Dorazio said of Burrows on Wednesday. “He shored us up, and I’m grateful for that.”

San Antonio’s conservative reboot

Republicans carried all three of the GOP’s San Antonio-area seats easily two years ago, while President Donald Trump won the state by a stunning 14 points.

Burrows has been among the party leaders warning GOP members that this cycle could be vastly different, but Texas Republicans haven’t had much practice running tough general elections.

LaHood defeated the more moderate Republican Steve Allison two years ago in Gov. Greg Abbott’s school voucher crusade, and cruised through a November race against a well-funded Democrat.

Now Republicans have spent more than $1 million protecting the first-term lawmaker in his Northside Texas House District 121, which hasn’t elected a Democrat since 1981.

LaHood wasn’t in attendance Thursday, but his wife, Erica, teared up calling Burrows a “the real-life Superman” for his help in their race against Democrat Zack Dunn.

Bexar GOP Vice Chair Kyle Sinclair, who attended Wednesday’s event, said this part of the state is among the places where Republicans should be the most concerned about hanging their hats on their 2024 successes.

The deep blue county swung nine points toward Trump between the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections, he said, but fundamentally remains tough for Republicans whose districts reach into the area.

“The numbers in 2024 were not Republican numbers, those were Democrats and independents getting out that didn’t like [Democrat Kamala] Harris’s plan and they voted for President Trump,” Sinclair said.

“They will go back, and so that’s what you’re seeing.”

A focus on public education

Nevertheless, local Republicans were among those helping push a conservative GOP agenda that’s been increasingly tough to sell on the campaign trail.

Burrows is the chambers’ third speaker in four sessions, elected with the help of local Democrats who hoped he’d be an ally of public education.

Instead, at Trump and Abbott’s urging, last session every Republican in the chamber helped push through a historic school voucher program that’s been a source of criticism from a wide array of voters.

LaHood rode into office on Abbott’s school voucher train. Now he’s struggling to defend it.

Incumbents have faced many questions about it on the campaign trail, as has Borrego, who helped craft the school voucher program while working at an Austin-based think tank.

One national Republican strategist even said the Texas Legislature’s actions last session were so unpopular it made state lawmakers unappealing recruits for their new congressional map — including the new 35th Congressional District, where national GOP leaders backed a newcomer over Lujan.

Speaking to Republicans who were about to go knocking doors on Thursday, Burrows sought to reframe the landmark education legislation as a win-win solution.

In addition to the $1 billion Texas offered families for private school tuition last session, lawmakers put about $7.7 billion into public schools at the same time.

Republicans turn to voucher architect Jorge Borrego for Texas’ toughest statehouse race

“Last session you saw historic investments in our public education system,” said Burrows, who also praised LaHood and Dorazio for adding much-needed accountability to the way the money is spent.

“They made sure it didn’t just go to administration; it went to our teachers,” Burrows said. “They also got to put discipline back in the classroom … And you know what’s happening all around Texas? Test scores are rising.”

He vowed that the Legislature would come back to eliminate school property taxes in the upcoming session, and accused Democrats of twisting the narrative to score political points.

“They cannot beat the two Marks on their record — It is a record of being pro-Texas, pro-business, pro-public education [and] pro-affordability,” he said of LaHood and Dorazio. “You know what happens when they cannot beat them on their records? They lie about them.”

Even if Democrats win all 12 of their targeted Texas House races in 2026, it wouldn’t be enough to flip the GOP’s majority.

But Texas House Speakers are elected by the entire chamber, so a change in the partisan makeup could still shape whether leaders pursue more centrist policies.