I suspect that the people who left California for Texas might be rethinking their decision. On Tuesday, The Federalist posted an article previewing what a blue Texas legislature has planned. This reminds me of what happened in Virginia a few years ago.

The article reports:

The mask sat quite lightly upon their faces.

Running for office this year, Democrats pretended to pivot to the center. This was especially true in Texas, where the Democrat running for governor said that the culture wars are over, and Democrats have no time for that noise.

They pinky-swore: There was only one thing they cared about, and it was affordability. A new era of common sense was beginning, and Democrats were turning away from other stuff to deal with middle-class economic issues. Then Democrats won a majority in the Texas House, and all of the statewide offices, starting with governor. You’ll be shocked what happens next, I guess.

Texas allows legislators and legislators-elect to pre-file bills for the next legislative session, so they can hit the ground running when they show up in Austin. And November 9 was the first pre-filing day for the January 12, 2027 session when the newly elected legislature starts its work. Monday was the first day we could see what the new Democrat-led Texas House, and their allies in the Texas Senate who know they have a majority in the other chamber, intend to do.

The article includes a list of things the new legislature wants to do:

So this is Democrat Day One: Repeal all abortion restrictions, and restore transgender medical and surgical procedures for minors, with government funding. That’s the new, post-culture war, common-sense era Texas Democrat will focus on. The bill, Reed concludes, “would signal that Democrats are willing to make transgender youth care and the repeal of anti-trans provisions part of their messaging.” And that’s not wrong.

Also on Monday, the NRA identified 35 anti-gun bills pre-filed in a single day for the next state legislative session. Among the most radical, SB 80, introduced by Laredo Democrat Sen. Judith Zaffirini, would ban all “assault weapons” in the state. Read the bill, because we’ve traveled down this road before. If you own “a semiautomatic centerfire rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine,” that’s a problem. The bill proposes to add other conditions to make that rifle an “assault weapon,” but they’re things like “a folding or telescoping stock” or “a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the firearm.”

This is obvious ‘bait and switch,’ but unfortunately the voters in Texas don’t get to take back their votes.