Ann Richards was a governor who talked about a “new Texas.” The numbers she presided over suggest she was onto something.
When Richards took office in January 1991 as the state’s last Democratic governor, Texas was far from perfect—a state still working its way out of an oil bust, grappling with poverty, and educational inequity. But it was a state with ambition for its people.
Texas students were making widespread gains in reading and math through the early 1990s, and the state was in competition with its peers, not trailing them. Richards modernized state government, brought women and minorities into positions of power they’d never held, and began pushing a vision of Texas that included the people who had always been left out of the prosperity.
She lost her re-election bid in 1994 to George W. Bush. Republicans have controlled every lever of power in Texas since. The results are in.
Today, Texas ranks dead last in the nation for health system performance, and carries the highest uninsured rate in the country at 16.6%. In the early 1990s, Texas was far from a healthcare model, but it was not the singular national failure it is today, in part due to repeated refusal on behalf of Republicans to expand Medicaid that has left nearly 5 million Texans without coverage.
On education, the slide has been just as stark. After widespread gains in reading and math through the 1990s, Texas has seen little to no progress on key metrics—and reading scores have now fallen to their lowest levels in decades.
The quality of life numbers tell the same story. Texas ranks second-to-last in quality of life—dead last on the composite measure of life, health, and inclusion. The poverty rate has not meaningfully improved across three decades of Republican governance, and when it did it simply mirrored national trends. Today, Texas’ poverty level is higher than the national average. What’s more, nearly 42% of Texas households are classified as either living in poverty or ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), which describes households that earn too much to qualify for public assistance, but still do not earn enough to comfortably afford basic, bare-bones necessities like rent, food, and childcare.
There have been many explanations about the stronghold the Republicans have on the state despite these results, with many opponents pointing to the architecture of suppression they’ve built. Texas has among the most restrictive voting laws in the country—it’s harder to vote here than any other state in the country—and its Republican attorney general argued publicly that Donald Trump would have lost Texas in 2020 had counties been allowed to mail out applications for mail-in ballots to all registered voters. Gerrymandered maps have packed Democratic voters into as few districts as possible, diluting their statewide influence for a generation.
The margins, though, are tightening. Abbott’s gubernatorial margin shrank from more than 20 points in 2014 to just under 11 in 2022. Trump won the state by less than six points in 2020 before rebounding to double digits in 2024. The big cities—Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, El Paso—are deeply blue. The suburbs are shifting as a result of rapid growth. The Rio Grande Valley, once a Democratic stronghold, moved toward Republicans in 2024. But there are several signs the issues that worked so well for the GOP that year (inflation, immigration, cost of living), will work against it this cycle.
As Texans head to the polls this year in one of the most consequential elections in a generation, the numbers of 30+ years of Republican rule in the state are worth a hard look.
EDUCATION
- After widespread gains through the 1990s, Texas has seen little to no progress on key metrics of fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math proficiency. Reading scores have fallen to their lowest levels in decades. Only three states scored lower than Texas in 2024 when it came to fourth- and eighth-grade reading scores.
- In 1990, according to a deep dive by City Journal, 46% of Texas eighth-graders demonstrated at least basic math skills. By 1996—having just gone through the Richards era—59% did. “In 1990, only 18 percent of black 13-year-olds in Texas scored at a basic or better level in math; by 1996, 31 percent did. Hispanics did better too: 30 percent scored at a basic or higher level in 1990; 42 percent did so in 1996.”
- In 2024, 44% of Texas eighth graders scored below NAEP Basic in math—compared to 33% just 24 years earlier.
- The average salary for Texas public school teachers is now approximately $11,000 less than their peers nationwide, when adjusted for inflation.
- Spending per student is $5,000 less than the national average.
HEALTHCARE / UNINSURED
- Today, Texas still leads the nation with a 16.6% uninsured rate and nearly 5 million uninsured residents.
- Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) took effect in 2013, Texas’s uninsured rate had climbed to about 25%—meaning it got significantly worse under Republican governance before federal intervention brought it down. Now, with ACA subsidies set to expire, it could reach as high as 20%, according to a new study from Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government & Public Service, which found an additional 1.45 million Texans could lose their insurance due to an explosion in costs.
- Texas has refused Medicaid expansion, which drove the largest coverage gains in states that accepted it. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called it “a massive expansion of an already broken and bloated Medicaid program.”
POVERTY
- Texas has the 10th highest poverty rate of all 50 states.
- The tax policy in Texas continues to benefit the wealthy and corporations at the expense of working families.
INFRASTRUCTURE
- Texas ranks in the bottom third of states for road quality. In April of this year, 47% of Texas’ major roads were in poor or mediocre condition. Driving on deteriorated roads costs Texas motorists $17.7 billion a year—$923 per driver—in the form of additional repairs, accelerated vehicle depreciation, and increased fuel consumption and tire wear.
- The American Society of Civil Engineers gave Texas a C grade overall in its 2025 infrastructure report card, with several key metrics falling below it. (High scores for aviation and bridges boosted the average.)
- Texas’ drinking water earned a D+ overall. Its wastewater barely passed, receiving a D-.
- Dams: D+
- Drinking water: D+
- Broadband: D+
- Levees: D-
- Transit: D-
- Public Parks: C-
- Roads: C-
