Democrat Leads Final Unofficial Count by 564 Votes, Putting Texas Education Board Control Within Reach
With every precinct counted, Democrat Dana Van De Walker leads Republican Audrey Young by 564 votes in District 8. If it holds through the canvass, Democrats would control the State Board of Education 8-7.
The Texas State Board of Education decides what millions of Texas public school children are taught, which textbooks their schools can buy and which charter schools may open. Control of that board came down to one Houston-area race, and the final unofficial count gives Democrats the edge by 564 votes.
With 100% of precincts reporting at 4:48 p.m. Wednesday, unofficial Texas Secretary of State returns show Democrat Dana Van De Walker with 300,108 votes in District 8 and Republican incumbent Audrey G. Young with 299,544. That is about 50% each. Dock Line's election results page lists Van De Walker as the winner on that count.
The results are not final until they are canvassed. The Texas Tribune reported Wednesday that provisional and mail-in ballots were still pending and that a candidate can request a recount in an election this close. Neither candidate had publicly asked for one as of Wednesday evening.
What the count means for the board
Not counting District 8, Democrats and Republicans each hold seven seats on the 15-member board, the Tribune reported. If Van De Walker's lead holds through the canvass, Democrats would hold an 8-7 majority. If Young overtook her in a recount, Republicans would keep an 8-7 edge. Either way, the board's current 11-4 Republican majority is gone.
Young, a Houston-area Republican, has served on the board since 2021 and brings experience as an educator and school trustee. She frequently votes with Julie Pickren, a member of the board's most conservative faction. Van De Walker is part of a slate of teachers who ran this year, many of them unhappy with the direction of the board.
Results reported Wednesday have not all agreed. At least one outlet's midday table showed Young ahead in District 8. The Secretary of State's 100% count, released later in the afternoon, shows Van De Walker in front.
For background on the down-ballot contests, see our Election Day preview of the Texas races most likely to change hands.
Who won
According to the Associated Press, as cited by the Tribune, Democrats Thomas Ray Garcia, Coretta Mallet-Fontenot, Allison Bush and Michelle Palmer won their races, and Democratic incumbent Tiffany Clark held her seat.
On the Republican side, newcomers Kason Huddleston and Mindy Bumgarner won, and incumbent Julie Pickren was re-elected in District 7, 362,554 votes to 343,370 for Democrat Tiffany Perkinz, according to unofficial Secretary of State returns at 100% of precincts.
Several of the races were open because three Republicans the Tribune described as middle-of-the-road chose not to run again. Huddleston and Bumgarner won two of those seats. In a third, Palmer appeared to defeat Republican Tiffany Nelson. In the Rio Grande Valley seat, where Republican incumbent LJ Francis lost his March primary, Garcia won by a wide margin.
What is at stake
Members serve four-year terms. In the coming years the board is set to overhaul the state's math standards, approve social studies textbooks and review new charter school applications. It also oversees a school fund worth billions of dollars.
The current Republican majority took some of the most closely watched votes in recent Texas education history. This year it approved a rewrite of social studies lessons that critics called anti-Islamic, and a mandatory reading list for public school students that includes passages from the Bible. Those meetings ran hours into the early morning, and a Democratic member threatened to sue two Republicans over what she called harassment, according to the Tribune.
Board members have also fielded complaints about the Texas Education Agency's learning materials, which bring Bible teachings into elementary reading lessons and which critics say are riddled with errors.
A board with Democrats in the majority, or one split 8-7 either way, will have a far stronger say over whether those policies stand.
The governor's role
There is one more lever. State law lets the governor appoint the board chair from among its elected members, with the Texas Senate's approval. Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Republican Aaron Kinsey earlier this year to a second term as chair.
Gina Hinojosa, the Democrat elected governor Tuesday, will eventually hold that appointment power. But the Texas Senate, which the Tribune reported Republicans will likely keep controlling, must confirm her pick. That is one more place where divided government in Austin will force the two parties to deal with each other.
A word to parents
Reasonable Texans can disagree about how much of the Bible belongs on a required reading list. But it is hard to understand Texas, its laws or its literature without knowing the Scriptures that shaped them. Parents who believe that should not wait on a canvass or a recount to make their case. Board meetings are public, and the board takes public testimony.
The deeper truth is simpler. No board in Austin was ever meant to be the main teacher of a child's faith. That job belongs to fathers and mothers and to the church. A board can help or hinder, but it cannot replace a family that opens the Bible at the kitchen table.
Elections have consequences, and this one will reshape how Texas children are taught. Both parties now share the responsibility. The fair thing is to count every lawful ballot in District 8, finish the canvass, respect the result and then hold whoever wins to the standard of telling children the truth: about history, about math and about the faith that built this state.
We will report the District 8 result when the canvass makes it official.
