Texas
Texas GOP chairman confident Republican voters will show up in November
DALLAS – Despite a surprising loss already in the 2026 election cycle, the chairman of the Texas GOP is confident Republican voters will turn out when the votes matter most in November.
What we know:
Republicans currently hold a majority in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as the White House. But the party that holds the White House typically loses one of the two houses of Congress in the midterm election.
We’ve already seen an early example of that in Texas. In January, Democrat Taylor Rehmet won a special election runoff for Texas Senate District 9 in Fort Worth, a seat that has been held by Republicans for decades.
Rehmet beat Republican Leigh Wambsganss with 57% of the vote, despite his opponent having the backing of President Donald Trump and being outspent by a considerable margin.
He will have to win a full term for the seat in the November election under the runoff rules, but the shocking result has Democrats thinking of big things to come.
What they’re saying:
Abraham George, chairman of the Texas GOP, told FOX 4’s Steven Dial he’s confident that the GOP will win back that Senate seat and others when the votes matter the most.
“People are looking at it and saying, we’re kind of tired of this, a lot of the policies,” Abraham told Dial. “Then you add personalities like Talarico. Who thinks Jesus is not really God, and quotes the Bible every three minutes he gets to do it. So they just can’t come together on those, get behind these people anymore.”
George also doesn’t think that recent developments with ICE in Minnesota will negatively impact Republicans in the race.
“So I was at a town hall in South Texas. The biggest thing I heard was not about ICE. It was all about property tax.” George said. “Because we asked, and I even kind of preempted in my speech saying, I know some of you may be looking at, and your neighbors are saying something bad about Republicans. And they said, no, we support legal immigration. We support deportation of illegal immigrants.”
What’s next:
Early voting starts Tuesday, Feb. 17 and goes until Feb. 27. Primary election day is on March 3.
Every weekday in February, you can watch Steven Dial and other Texas political correspondents from FOX discuss Texas primary races on Battleground Texas.
The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 4 reporting.
AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Wednesday he has secured a settlement of bankruptcy claims against genetic testing company 23andMe stemming from a 2023 data breach that exposed personal information, including some genetic ancestry data, of 6.9 million customers worldwide.
Paxton’s office said the settlement includes $150 million for a multistate coalition of 42 states. But because of limited funds in 23andMe’s bankruptcy estate and competing claims, the states’ recovery will be $18 million paid immediately, with Texas receiving $1,266,860.
23andMe disclosed in October 2023 that attackers had accessed accounts affecting 6.9 million consumers. Some of the information was later posted for sale on the dark web, according to Paxton’s office, which said the company learned of the breach months after the data became publicly available. The office said 23andMe initially denied a breach and later blamed consumers’ account settings and password practices.
Paxton joined a multistate investigation that concluded 23andMe used unreasonable security practices and failed to implement adequate safeguards against hacking, the office said.
23andMe filed for bankruptcy protection in March 2025. Paxton’s office said the settlement incorporates privacy and cybersecurity requirements, including enhanced security standards, comprehensive risk assessments and creation of an independent advisory board, along with enforcement of state privacy laws and continued consumer data deletion rights.
“Companies that collect and profit from Texans’ most personal information have a legal duty to protect it,” Paxton said in a statement.
The company also agreed to a $46.75 million class-action settlement in the bankruptcy case for affected U.S. consumers who submitted claims by Feb. 17, 2026, Paxton’s office said.
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
The Texas Longhorns entered the 2025 season with more expectations than any team has had to deal with in recent memory.
Many among the media were ready to crown the team and quarterback Arch Manning before they even played one game. Of course, those unrealistic expectations were never met, even though the team finished with a 10-3 record and a Citrus Bowl win over the Michigan Wolverines.
2026 is heading in the same direction for the Longhorns. Many believe head coach Steve Sarkisian has the most talented team in the country. But in order to fix the issues from this past season, the Longhorns needed to fix one issue that has cost them in the past.
Changing The Narrative
One of the biggest issues the Longhorns had last season was the play of the offensive line. It was apparent in the first game of the season against the Ohio State Buckeyes that Manning didn’t have the pocket time needed to make big plays.
This offseason, Coach Sarkisian went out and found two massive transfer portal additions that should completely change the narrative on this offensive line.
It starts with potential starting right tackle Melvin Siani. Siani has spent time with the Temple Owls and last season with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
The Longhorns are set at left tackle with Trevor Goosby, who could play himself into being a top 10 pick in the 2027 NFL Draft. If the team can get competent play from Siani, the offense will be able to open up the playbook, and the world may finally see Manning at his college peak.
The Longhorns also went out and found a potential fix at left guard for the 2026 season. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers transfer Laurence Seymore could be another strong patch for the holes in the offensive line.
After spending the first two seasons of his college career with the Miami Hurricanes, Seymore made stops with the Akron Zips and the Hilltoppers.
Of course, the one concern with Seymore is wondering if he can compete at the SEC level coming from the C-USA.
This season for the Longhorns starts and stops with the play of Manning. Coach Sarkisian and the rest of this coaching staff understood that protecting their quarterback was the most important goal when building the 2026 roster.
The Longhorns are going to be leaning on veteran talent to protect their quarterback, and it may very well be the best decision they made this offseason.
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