Running in a contentious race to keep his seat, Sen. John Cornyn put out an ad vowing to fight “radical Islam.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Cornyn’s opponent in the May 26 runoff, accused his rival of helping “radical Islamic Afghans invade Texas.”

Rep. Chip Roy, running to replace Paxton as attorney general in a runoff next month, has alleged without evidence that parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, home to thousands of Muslims, have become what some Texas women believe to be “no-go zones” in which they are “increasingly feeling uncomfortable, as if they are somehow immersed in the Middle East.”

Certain Republicans in Texas have made anti-Islamic rhetoric part of their primary campaigns, arguing that Muslims have made the state less safe. That’s a notable message in the nation’s largest conservative state and one that’s echoed by a handful of Republicans nationally, including members of Congress.

Border issues have long animated conservatives – particularly in Texas, which has the longest section of US-Mexico border of any state – and were seen as critical to President Donald Trump’s 2024 victory.

Vinny Minchillo, a Republican strategist based in Plano, Texas, said that with illegal immigration hitting lows during Trump’s presidency, it made sense for GOP candidates to drive at another immigration-related concern and that opposition to Sharia law, or Islamic religious law, in particular was a winner in primaries.

“It is playing as well as anything I have ever seen with Texas Republican voters,” said Minchillo, who worked on the media team for Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign and Mitt Romney’s 2012 bid. “It’s solid gold.”

Muslim leaders living in Texas argue that the ramp-up of rhetoric endangers their communities and spreads misconceptions about Sharia law and about Islam in general.

“These congressmen and these state representatives live in neighborhoods where Muslims live. They shop at stores where Muslims shop,” said Sameena Karmally, an Indian American Muslim who lives in Collin County and previously ran for the state House in 2014.

Particularly with the outbreak of the war with Iran, Karmally argued, “They need some kind of demon and we’re going to be it.”

The recent Conservative Political Action Conference in Grapevine, Texas, leaned into the issue, featuring a panel called “Don’t Sharia My Texas,” in which one speaker, former Tarrant County GOP chairman Bo French, denounced what he called the “Islamification of Texas and America.”

And a number of national Republicans, meanwhile, have called for the deportation of all Muslims or their exclusion from public life. Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee wrote: “Muslims don’t belong in American society. Pluralism is a lie.” Texas Rep. Brandon Gill said, “We will never stop Sharia law until we stop Muslim immigration.” Rep. Randy Fine of Florida posted: “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”

Several candidates in Texas have pointed to a deadly shooting in Austin, the state capital, in which the suspect, a naturalized US citizen from Senegal, attacked a nightlife district wearing a hoodie emblazoned with “Property of Allah.”

Roy noted that the gunman in the Austin shooting became a legal permanent resident in 2006, during Republican President George W. Bush’s presidency. He reflected on the past “GOP celebration of the joys of ‘melting pot’ legal immigration” and added: “This is why we are losing our country, our immigration system is a joke, and should PAUSE ALL immigration.”

“Sharia law is incompatible with the Constitution and cannot supersede Texas or US law, and I will continue to stand unapologetically for the rule of law and in defense of Western Civilization against the Islamists who attack it,” Roy told CNN in a statement.

The Paxton campaign did not respond to requests for comment, and the Cornyn campaign declined to comment.

Paxton’s allegation that Cornyn helped “radical Islamic Afghans invade Texas” was an apparent reference to legislation Cornyn co-sponsored in 2021. Cornyn co-sponsored the HOPE for Afghan SIVs Act, which accelerated the immigration process for Afghan interpreters and translators who assisted US forces in Afghanistan.

A source familiar with the legislation told CNN that the vetting and number of visas available to Afghans are separate from Cornyn’s Hope for Afghan SIVs Act, which only pertained to the timing of a medical exam for Afghans and has since expired.

Muslims in Texas: EPIC City and allegations of Sharia law

Muslims have long been a part of public life in Texas, making up roughly 2% of the state.

But concerns about Sharia law in the state reignited in recent years with the proposal of an Islamic community development in North Texas, which has faced pushback at the state and federal level after the site was purchased in fall 2024.

The East Plano Islamic Center, known as EPIC City, is a 402-acre Islamic-focused planned development near the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area that would include 1,000 homes, a mosque, K-12 religious school, senior living center and retail space.

Texas leaders, including Cornyn and Paxton, have pursued investigations into the community. Cornyn previously called upon the Justice Department to explore allegations of religious discrimination, while Paxton has focused on alleged violations related to state oversight and Texas securities law.

Dan Cogdell, an attorney for EPIC City who formerly represented Paxton during his impeachment trial, dismissed claims of Sharia law in a news conference last April: “No one associated with EPIC, no one associated with that community, follows Sharia law or is in favor of Sharia law or is implementing Sharia law.”

Dr. Mehmet Salih Sayilgan, an assistant teaching professor at Georgetown University’s Department of Theology and Religious Studies, says he has not seen or heard of any attempt to enact Sharia law anywhere in America.

Sayilgan says Sharia law, which he defines as a set of rituals Muslims follow, has coexisted with the US Constitution since the time of the Founding Fathers.

“Following the Constitution is also part of Islamic law,” he added.

Still, among the 10 non-binding propositions on this year’s Republican primary ballot was a question asking voters if they thought “Texas should prohibit Sharia Law.” The proposition yielded overwhelming support for prohibiting Sharia law in Texas, with nearly 95% of primary voters voting “yes,” while 5% said “no.”

While the results don’t trigger immediate action, they do indicate to lawmakers how voters feel ahead of the next legislative session in January 2027, where bills to address Sharia law could be on the agenda. In 2017, the Texas Legislature passed a bill that addressed religious legal frameworks – House Bill 45 – that prohibits the Texas Supreme Court from applying foreign laws in certain family law cases.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil liberties group formed to challenge anti- Muslim discrimination nationwide, has also drawn the ire of Texas leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott, who designated the group, along with the Muslim Brotherhood, as a foreign terrorist organization and transnational criminal organization last November.

Shaimaa Zayan, the operations manager for CAIR Austin, accused Republicans of “dehumanizing” Muslims. “They are using us as a boogeyman to scare people so that they can vote for them. They are using us as a scapegoat to gain political positions and power,” Zayan said.

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, says that politicians previously took “polite steps” of telling Muslims they are not the enemy domestically.

Trump notably launched his first campaign with a vow to bar all Muslim immigrants and instituted several visa bans on majority Muslim countries.

“The boldness in the thesis of a Christian America has moved,” Abou El Fadl said, adding, “Those who wanted to change the jurisprudence of separation between church and state were still shy about it and still unsure about their ability to do so, and they would, you know, it would come out in indirectly, suggestively. But things have changed.”

Democratic state Rep. Salman Bhojani, who is one of two Muslims in the Texas state House, says there has always been Islamophobia but noted it is “more shameless and scary than ever.”

But Fort Bend County Constable Ali Sheikhani, a Pakistani American and a Republican, said he is a prime example that Muslim people are welcome in the GOP.

Sheikhani told CNN he has never experienced any type of retaliation for his faith but rather felt welcomed by the diverse set of individuals who voted for him.

“They never let me feel like, you know, I’m from outside and I’m from Pakistan or anything. They just treat me like one of them,” he said.

The question of how much anti-Islam messaging will factor into the midterm elections – both in Texas and nationally – prompts different responses even among Republican strategists who are immersed in campaigns statewide.

Minchillo believes the issue will nationalize, particularly as a “differentiator” between Democrats and Republicans.

“If it’s an opportunity to rev up Republicans and get them to come out and vote, you’re going to see this,” Minchillo said.

Brendan Steinhauser, a Republican strategist based in Austin, Texas, and Washington, DC, thinks the issue won’t last through the midterms. Steinhauser said by talking about Sharia law, campaigns may lose some voters in the middle, especially if they are not touching on pocketbook issues like the economy and jobs.

“I think it’ll be quite limited in the general. I don’t expect Republican candidates to talk about it as much in the general,” Steinhauser said. “Because I think that this issue is a niche issue among kind of hardcore Republicans, conservatives in primaries.”

The Texas State Board of Education voted Friday to approve an early draft of the state’s new social studies plan, but not without clashes over the portrayal of Islam and the history of Black and Hispanic Americans.

A Republican majority voted to approve the changes to social studies standards — known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS — proposed during a marathon meeting that stretched all of Thursday and into early Friday. All five Democrats voted against the preliminary changes. Earlier in the week, they called for an investigation into a potential conflict of interest.

A 2024 tax filing from the Texas Public Policy Foundation shows the conservative activist organization paid the Texas Center at Schreiner University $70,000 to develop state learning standards. Donald Frazier, a historian advising the State Board of Education on social studies changes, runs the Texas Center.

As the board continued its business Thursday and Friday, its right-most conservatives proposed significant changes to how students will learn about Islam and adamantly opposed Democratic attempts to expand lessons on the history of Hispanic and Black Americans.

The board scrapped a standard that required students to learn about Muslim contributions to algebra and astronomy. Some Republicans unsuccessfully pushed for students to learn that Muhammad, the founder of Islam, married a minor and that sexual assault, torture and the “killing of Christians and Jews” occurred under his leadership. Muslim Texans disputed that portrayal during public testimony.

Republicans also attempted to block students from learning about influential labor activist Dolores Huerta, whom Republican member Brandon Hall criticized for her politics and for not previously revealing allegations of wrongdoing by Cesar Chavez.

The New York Times recently uncovered allegations that Chavez sexually abused young girls during his career as a prominent labor activist. Huerta alleged that Chavez also sexually assaulted her nearly 60 years ago, keeping the secret out of fear that people would not believe her and that the allegations would undermine the farmworker movement.

On Friday, some Republicans on the State Board of Education tried to limit what schools teach about the Black Power movement, arguing that students need exposure only to its contributions to art, music and fashion — not to its politics.

“It seems as if, when it comes to Black and brown information being in these TEKS, we continue to undermine our experiences,” said Democratic member Tiffany Clark of DeSoto, who is Black. “If we dig up everything that the founding fathers did…”

Member Brandon Hall, R-Aledo, moved to cut her off.

“Our great founding fathers are being derided,” said Hall, appealing to board chair Aaron Kinsey. “It is not germane to the topic at hand.”

After a back-and-forth, members settled on a requirement for students to learn about “self‑respect, self‑determination, self‑reliance and the cultural pride of African Americans” during the Black Power movement.

Such disputes have largely defined Texas’ overhaul of social studies standards over the past year as the board’s Republican majority has approved plans to focus on Texas and U.S. history while placing less emphasis on world cultures, world history and geography.

Democrats argue that conservative activists and the board’s advisory group have assumed control of Texas’ social studies rewrite and minimized teacher expertise. In previous years, teachers have normally guided the process.

Draft proposals of the social studies changes, critics argue, prioritize memorization over critical thinking and simplification over accuracy. They also note that the current plan focuses heavily on Western civilization over other cultures, lacks historical perspective of people of color and prioritizes Christianity above other major world religions.

“This is the opportunity,” said Houston Democrat Staci Childs. “We get to teach students something about Black people that’s powerful outside of slavery and being enslaved in shackles and chains.”

This week’s meetings featured scores of people testifying on the board’s current approach, with students calling for instruction that includes diverse perspectives and challenges them to think critically.

Hall in recent months has unsuccessfully attempted to prevent testimony from Muslim activists representing the Council on American-Islamic Relations. He and Pearland Republican Julie Pickren have pointed to Gov. Greg Abbott’s designation of the group as a foreign terrorist organization. CAIR has sued the governor over the label, calling it defamatory and false.

Muslim advocates have continued arguing in favor of social studies instruction that portrays their religion accurately, fairly and without prejudice.

“I ask you to choose academic integrity over political comfort,” said Sameeha Rizvi, a civic engagement organizer for CAIR-Austin. “Despite the false allegations being made, I, nor CAIR, nor those of diverse faiths are pushing any agenda.”

The board is expected to finalize social studies standards in June, with classroom implementation set for the 2030-31 academic year.

Disclosure: New York Times, Schreiner University and Texas Public Policy Foundation have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina will play its final tune-ups for the World Cup at the college football stadiums of Texas A&M and Auburn.

Lionel Messi’s team will face Honduras on June 6 at the Aggies’ Kyle Field, which has a capacity of over 102,000 in College Station.

Argentina will then play Iceland at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium on June 9 — two days before the start of the 48-team tournament co-hosted by in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

The Argentine Football Association announced the details on Thursday.

Argentina’s title defense begins on June 16 against Algeria in Kansas City, Missouri. Its other two Group J games will be played in Arlington, Texas — against Austria on June 22 and against Jordan on June 27.