It’s Gaslighting Season in Texas
April 21, 2025 | Media Inquiries: press@mctxgop.org
By now, you’ve probably experienced the deluge of social media posts, emails, and texts telling you that Democrat chairs were banned in the Texas House, conservative House Rules were adopted, and that our Representatives just passed the most conservative budget in Texas history.
What they’re not telling you, however, is that an Obama White House attorney wrote those House Rules, granting unprecedented power to Democrats—and those rules were rammed through by Speaker Dustin Burrows and his team without debate. Then, with a straight face, they reported that this was a great win for Conservatives as the Democrats cheered the passing of the rules.
But even a cursory review of the budget the Texas House just passed makes it abundantly clear that the budget is not very conservative at all. So how can you tell if your Representative is truly a Conservative and survive “Gaslighting Season” in Texas?
Tracking the Gaslighting
Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for the dissemblers in Austin, there is an organization called Grassroots America - We the People that pulls data from Transparency USA and the Texas Legislature Online websites and then compiles and publishes that information here: Grassroots Priorities. You can follow legislation, see how your Representative voted, and even see who donated to your Representative.
But perhaps the most unique feature of the website is the tracker that allows constituents to see which lawmakers their House Rep disagrees with most often. For example, if your Representative was truly a Conservative, you would expect to see your Rep disagree with the liberal Democrats in the Texas House most often on the tracker.
Let’s take a look at the Representatives for Montgomery County to see who they are opposing in the Texas House.
Important: In the tables below, the more conservative the Representative, the more BLUE you will see.
Rep. Cecil Bell, Jr., Texas House District 3
As you can see, Rep. Bell DOES NOT consistently vote with the Conservatives in the House—he disagrees with them more than he does Democrats. The top Representatives he disagrees with are the Republicans below, highlighted in RED.
Rep. Steve Toth, Texas House District 15
How about Steve Toth? Rep. Toth is known as one of the most conservative members of the House, so it is no surprise to see that he disagrees most with the House Democrats listed below, highlighted in BLUE.
Rep. Will Metcalf, Texas House District 16
Who does Representative Will Metcalf disagree with most? For all his talk about being a Conservative, you would think it would be the Democrats, but you can see that’s not the case. He disagrees MOST with those who are ranked as the most conservative members of the Texas House.
Rep. Janis Holt, Texas House District 18
Finally, let’s look at freshman Representative Janis Holt. How is she doing in her first legislative session? Looks like Janis Holt is representing her constituents well, as she is opposing the most liberal Democrat lawmakers in Austin consistently.
How did your Representative do?
Representatives whose trackers are mostly RED are opposing Republicans more than they are opposing Democrats. If this is the case for your Representative, you may want to consider whether your Rep is shooting straight with you about his “conservative” voting record.
So the next time you see a social media post or receive a text or email touting a great conservative piece of legislation that was passed, just remember it’s “Gaslighting Season” in Texas and don’t take anything at face value.