Good morning,

Yesterday, we asked readers about the race to be the Texas GOP's nominee for comptroller. You'll find the results below.

This is the Texas Minute for Tuesday, November 18, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Google To Bring More Data Centers to Texas

• Google is making a $40 billion investment in Texas. Paige Feild has the story.
      
• The CEO of Google and its parent company, Alphabet, announced that three new data center campuses would be built in the state. Google has not disclosed if jobs supporting those centers will be filled by locals or individuals brought in from elsewhere.
       
• The push for more data centers has been drawing opposition due to the centers’ consumption of large amounts of energy and unknown amounts of water.
     
• "We must ensure that America remains at the forefront of the AI revolution, and Texas is the place where that can happen." – Greg Abbott

Paxton: State Board of Education Must Set Religious Literature Curriculum Standards 

• Ahead of this week's meeting of the State Board of Education, Attorney General Ken Paxton says the members are legally required to adopt standards for “religious literature” as a mandatory component of the public school enrichment curriculum. As Addie Hovland reports, the SBOE is meeting this week in Austin.
     
• Paxton's legal opinion came in response to a request for legal clarification from SBOE Chair Aaron Kinsey about the board's responsibilities in the matter. The attorney general said the SBOE does have discretion in whether to incorporate religious literature into English or social studies classes or as stand alone courses.

Runoff Date Set for North Texas Senate Special Election

• Gov. Greg Abbott has set Saturday, January 31, 2026, as the date for the special election runoffs in two major Texas races. Brandon Waltens has the details.
        
• The Senate District 9 race will see Republican Leigh Wambsganss face Democrat Taylor Rehmet after the two advanced from November’s special election to complete the unexpired term of former Sen. Kelly Hancock, who resigned earlier this year to become acting comptroller.
      
• In Congressional District 18, which covers parts of Houston, Democrats Christian Menefee and Amanda Edwards are vying to replace the late Sylvester Turner.
     
• Both seats will also be on the General Election ballot in November 2026.

UPDATE: Celina ISD Coach Now Faces Federal Child Exploitation Charges

• Erin Anderson reports that the Celina ISD middle school coach at the center of an illicit locker room recording scandal now faces federal felony child exploitation charges. These new charges are in addition to criminal and civil cases.
      
• Caleb Elliott, the son of the Celina's head football coach, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on eight counts of sexual exploitation of children. The first seven counts cite seven individual victims exploited by Elliott. The eighth count is for attempted exploitation.
     
• Victims allege that district officials were not only aware of past predation of young boys by Caleb Elliott, but deliberately covered it up to protect the legacy of Celina ISD’s famed football program—allowing the man ongoing access to young male students.

UT System To Grant Award to ‘Environmental Justice’ Advocate

• A professor from the University of Texas-Arlington campus with an extensive history of advocacy for left-wing environmental causes is set to be honored by the UT System, reports Adam Cahn. 
     
• At this week's meeting of the UT System Board of Regents, Karen Magruder will receive the Outstanding Teaching Award. Dr. Magruder’s profile on the UT System’s website lists “environmental justice” as a component of the “broad social service background” that “she brings to the classroom.”
     
• In 2020, for example, Magruder hosted a discussion on “Green Social Work” in partnership with the “climate reality project.” The video explored themes such as “environmental justice,” “climate forced” migration, and “reduc[ing] your carbon footprint.”

Texas A&M Student Calls Out Campus Newspaper’s Bias

• Robert Montoya reports that a Texas A&M student is accusing the university's student newspaper of having a left-wing bias. According to Justino Russell, "there was an almost 17 (16.7) to 1 liberal to conservative article ratio."
     
• In an open letter to the A&M community, Russell explained that he analyzed The Battalion’s opinion section, reading 196 opinion, review, satire, and criticism pieces published since last year’s federal election.
      
• "A publication supported by student tuition and directly and indirectly by taxpayer dollars is actively discriminating against conservative voices on campus while presenting itself as a neutral, non-profit, student-run press." – Justino Russell

Quote-Unquote

"This idea [standardized time zones] was first advanced and fought for by Sandford Fleming of Canada and Charles F. Dowd of the United States. I mention them chiefly because like so many benefactors of mankind they have been rewarded by total obscurity." – Isaac Asimov​

Y'All Answered

Filing for the 2026 primary nominating contests is underway, continuing through Dec. 8. Among the statewide races on the 2026 GOP ballot will be the open race for state comptroller. We asked who readers would select if that election were held today.

Here is a sampling of the responses I received:

• "On the Comptroller position, I would like to know if anybody else is tired of Greg Abbott picking the person he wants for various positions in Texas by appointing them to the position?" – Wanda Dietel
      
• "I picked one at random today, BUT will evaluate them all before the election: 90% based on what they have DONE & 10% based on what they SAY!" – Kermit Heaton
     
• "Don Huffines is the only real conservative in the comptroller’s race.  The icing on the cake is his proven record of rooting out corruption." – Kim Spain
      
• "There has been no other elected official looking out for Texas taxpayers like Don Huffines. He has earned my vote." – Susan Fountain
      
• "Since there isn’t a 'None of the above' category, I’ll vote for Craddick." – Shelby Trial
      
• "Of course I chose Kelly Hancock. It’s a family tradition." – Rich Hancock

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