Statement from Daniel Miller on the November 3 Election

Last night, more than 9.5 million Texans voted, more than in 2018 or 2022, and power changed hands in Austin. By early this morning, 15 incumbents in the Texas House were trailing in the unofficial count.

Every member of the Texas House who has signed the Texas First Pledge and was running for re-election is leading. The pledge, published in full at taketexasback.com, begins: “I pledge to place the interests of Texas and Texans before any other nation, state, political entity, organization, or individual.” Brent Money in House District 2 leads with 75.6 percent, and Wes Virdell in District 53 with 72.9 percent. AJ Louderback in District 30 leads with 71.7 percent. All three have every precinct counted. Janis Holt, Andy Hopper, Mitch Little, David Lowe and Keresa Richardson are ahead as well. Richardson’s margin in District 61 is 134 votes, so the canvass will have the final word. Shelley Luther leads in District 62 with 73.5 percent.

The same was true up and down the ballot. Steve Toth leads for Congress in District 2. Julie Pickren and Kason Huddleston lead for the State Board of Education. Shannon Birkelbach leads for commissioner in Waller County with 74.2 percent and every precinct counted. In all, pledge signers are ahead or unopposed in 18 of the 28 races we tracked, and 4,369,413 Texans voted for a pledge signer for comptroller.

For years, some political consultants have told candidates that standing up for the right of Texans to decide is a risk. We checked. In the House districts where we could compare county by county, signers ran within a point of their own party’s ticket. The pledge cost them nothing. Perhaps the consultants will find a new argument. The old one didn’t survive the night.

There’s a larger point here, however. Some Texans woke up this morning happy and some woke up angry. Two years ago it was the other way around, when control of Washington changed. Last night, the networks projected that control of both the U.S. House and the Senate had changed again. There’s an old saying about Texas weather: if you don’t like it, wait a few minutes. Washington works the same way, except the hail always lands on Texas.

Meanwhile, the federal debt stood at $40,502,080,966,097 on Nov. 2, according to the Treasury. If the projections hold, Washington will spend the next two years divided, with a Congress of one party and a president of the other. That means two years in which nothing serious gets done about the debt or about Social Security. By the trustees’ own 2026 report, the retirement fund runs dry in late 2032, and benefits would then be cut by 22 percent. Texas can’t afford to spend those two years waiting.

That’s why the Texas Nationalist Movement has never tied the future of Texas to a party. Since 2005 we have said that winning the next election won’t secure Texas for good. Only Texans deciding their own future can, through a peaceful vote of the people.

Texans aren’t alone in reaching that conclusion. In October, Quebec elected a government whose new premier has committed to a referendum on independence. In May, the Scottish Parliament voted 72 to 55 to seek the power to hold one.

On Monday, Nov. 9, members of the 90th Legislature can begin filing bills. If the count holds, the session that opens on Jan. 12 will have a new majority in the House and a new presiding officer in the Senate. The bill we will ask them to pass sets the vote for November 2027. Twice before, in 2021 and 2023, Speaker Dade Phelan sent a bill to let Texans vote on independence to the House State Affairs Committee, chaired first by Chris Paddie and then by Todd Hunter, and both times it died there without a hearing. In 2022, SurveyUSA found that 73 percent of Texas Republicans, 54 percent of Texas Democrats and 53 percent of independents supported Texas peacefully becoming independent. A bill to put that question to Texans will need members of both parties, and Texans of both parties have already said yes. We will ask every member, new and returning, to take the pledge. We will also ask the new leadership of both chambers for one thing: a public hearing.

Party control will keep changing in Austin and in Washington. The right of Texans to decide their own future won’t. If you’re tired of waiting on the next election to protect Texas, join us.