You can bet some of your rights were infringed upon in 2025. This year was historic, too many moments to count that will go down in the books as a monumental shift to fascist, auto/technocratic power. We experienced the longest ever government shutdown causing people to go hungry, Texans were segregated by race to prevent retribution at the polls in 2026, and so much more that makes you go: wow, 2025 sucked, I forgot THAT happened TOO.

At the same time, Texans united in unprecedented numbers to stand together against censorship, authoritarian attacks, polluting tech billionaire influence, and for power to be returned to the people.

Here’s a recap in case it’s all a blur, and our Best and Worst Texans of 2025 list, from staff and you! We honestly don’t know what 2026 has in store for us, but we hope it’ll be history-making for the better. 

 

BEST TEXANS OF 2025

1. Somebody you might not expect

Our first named “Best Texan” is you, dear reader. You and every other Texan who took to the streets for No Kings Days 1 and 2 (joining hundreds of thousands!) to demand a halt to the inhumane and illegal kidnappings, and vast executive branch overreach. You who joined the Legal Defense Fund to fight against racial inequality, from the redistricting fight to celebrating the 60th anniversary of the National Voting Rights Act just as it’s on the precipice of being overturned by the Supreme Court. You who joined your neighbor when Big Tech tried to sell you a data center next to your favorite spot on the river. 

Texans are best when we unite, and that we did this year. This year was marked by a rise in Christian Nationalist, billionaire-bought, fascist policy-making, and it takes every single one of us to say no, we do not accept this vision of Texas. We, together, will fight for a more affordable, equitable, and beautiful state that feels like home to every Texan. We can deliver a government for all, for trans Texans, pregnant Texans, those who are forced to live next to refineries, those laid off this year, and everyone else left out of the limited view that our Republican-majority state leadership has put forth. Don’t let them shut you up in 2026 either.

2. Central Texas flood victims and rescue teams

The Central Texas floods of 2025 were devastating. 137 total were lost to us, and the whole state was marked by this injustice, feeling their families’ grief. We want to honor their lives, and the 12,300 Texans that showed up to help. Between dedicated emergency response teams, individuals and organizations donating resources, and on-site volunteers that spanned to include mechanics and teenagers: thank you to those who supported the rescue efforts and flood relief.

3. Powerhouse progressives and government leaders

The nation’s eyes fell to Texas in 2025, watching our most basic rights stripped away. And yet, a brave company of elected state representatives broke quorum and left the state. They called attention to the infection that would come for the rest of the U.S. in the form of gerrymandered, racially redistricted maps—now approved by the Supreme Court. We were lucky to have Rep. Gene Wu, House Democratic Caucus Chair leading the way and joined by 51 others, including Rep. John Bucy III, Rep. Nicole Collier, and members of the Texas Legislative Progressive Caucus.

Meanwhile, a wave of progressive victories swept across the state in May, which followed hundreds of SDEC members of the Texas Democratic Party electing a new (young, progressive) Chair in Kendall Scudder. By the end of the year, he’d brought the party to previously untouched, unengaged regions in the state, and worked with allies to fill every race with Democratic candidates. 

Some of these included special election candidates taking on Trump-endorsed, Republican media machines like veteran and labor leader Taylor Rehmet. Of course, Christian Menefee and Amanda Edwards ran to represent the still disenfranchised residents of CD18, blame due to Gov. Abbott. Others spanned to statewide slates, with bold candidates like Rep. Gina Hinojosa for Governor, Rep. Vikki Goodwin for Lieutenant Governor, Jasarico for U.S. Senate, and so many more who acknowledged the fatigue everyday Texans are feeling by shouting out progressive, populist messages to take on the recipients of our “worst” list. 

4. Nonprofit and public media

Censorship reigned supreme this year, as a top priority and tool for the powerful few to keep you un/disinformed and un/disengaged. From the TikTok ban, to social studies classrooms being mandated to include Ten Commandments posters and PragerU videos, to a mass operation to defund nonprofit and public media, the truth and trustworthy news were harder to find than ever. And still, students protested, radio listeners donated to make up for some of the grant losses and keep operations going, and Progress Texas along with a host of allies trudged through clogged algorithms to deliver rapid response news. 

We want to honor Howdy Politics, Democrasexy, Sofia Mirto, and other online influencers who took public policies and BTS interviews to the people, and made it interesting. In this attention economy, we need so many more people leading the fight against censorship and disinformation in the media; check out our annual report to see how we created accessible, progressive media this year.

5. Your neighbors fighting Big Oil, Big Tech

Trump’s first year in office trickled damage down to Texas quickly. As America’s #1 energy producing and consuming state (that’s for oil, natural gas, AND wind electricity), our lands, water, and air were polluted because of his devastating rollbacks for environmental protections. Climate allies like the Sierra Club held him and Congress members accountable by stopping the largest public lands sell-offs in U.S. history. Meanwhile, the South Texas Environmental Justice Network and indigenous leaders with the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe decried the unregulated, unrelenting buildout of the LNG industry on our coastline and its sprawling pipelines—leeching into groundwater and poisoning sea turtles and other marine life.

2025 also saw huge investments that allowed Texas to become the second-largest market for the data center boom (to match the AI bubble’s demands). With it, our neighbors have had their drinking water stolen and polluted, and electricity bills skyrocket. Groups in Round Rock, the Panhandle, San Antonio, and more fought back, in what looks to be a major concern for Texas energy and even more pollution for marginalized Texans. 

 

WORST TEXANS OF 2025

1. Texas Governor Greg Abbott: the winner and loser

Gov. Greg Abbott is the worst of the worst, and unfortunately, he had a good year. After spending bundles to force out dissidents last year, and after not one, not two, but three sessions total, Abbott succeeded. He shoved through his number-one priority: keeping his mega-donors happy (as Public Citizen showed,) with the passage of the voucher scheme. Because of him, Texas students will be subjected to Turning Point USA chapters joined by a privatized education system that leaves our most vulnerable excluded. 

Greg acted when it benefitted him and the voucher scheme passed, but when Central Texas flood victims’ families demanded a response, he refused. A telling choice, to abandon grieving families, while calling them “losers” for demanding a response. 

We also experienced Trump’s return to power with Abbott as his lackey, and felt the terror firsthand of watching families ripped apart, targeting Texans of color and U.S. citizens deprived of due process. Greg was happy to lead the effort, bulldozing the backbone of our communities—one approved, deputized kidnapping at a time.

There is just one year until we can vote him out, currently the longest sitting Governor in the U.S.: and look at the damage he’s done in only ten years! We’d be remiss not to mention that you can support the fight to 2026, and tell Greg he’s got to go by grabbing our “Humans Against Greg Abbott” merch to match your values.

2. Elon Musk and the tech takeover of Texas

Guy sucks. And he’s weird. And a Nazi? That could be enough to say about this “Roman-salute-ing” Texas transplant freak, but let’s go further. 

Elon Musk is the richest man in the world and with that power he’s taken the U.S. government hostage and shaken it upside down for free change, all the while, killing hundreds of thousands of the world’s poorest children by leaving them to succumb to starvation and disease. 

He is a bad guy, if not THE bad guy: the villain of the 2020s. And we get to have him as a neighbor: polluting the RGV and our coastlines with the black mark of SpaceX, allowing other Big Tech titans to steal our water, and he’s not alone. The tech takeover of Texas is only beginning with data centers popping up like hives, an itch that won’t go away unless we treat the infection. 

3. The “Religious” Right

Texas won’t be bought by billionaires, but man, they sure are trying. These powerful few, including Tim Dunn, the Wilks brothers, and other fanatics, are dead-set on making the 99% of other Texans submit to their white supremacist, Christian Nationalist hate. When you ask yourself: “why were vouchers such a priority?," know it’s because their money is trying to make it happen.

Texas politics are a pay-to-play game, and the religious right is trying to stuff the ballot box with their cash, their candidates, their policy priorities (DEI bans removing Texans of color from public life and economic mobility, 10 Commandments bills that force one religion upon the diverse range of our state’s youngest and most impressionable, abortion bans that keep Texas women at risk, voucher scams, culture wars against Texans using the bathroom, and more!) which all end up with them richer, and you poorer. Here we thought sharing was caring, but it seems a few want to hoard the wealth. 

4. Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick

Our Lieutenant Governor threw a box of weed gummies at the press pool. We live in a weird time. At the same time, Dan’s ban was not some random act, it was clear that among other priorities, Dan Patrick was trying to appease his donors by pushing unpopular policies like the voucher scam and ban on THC products. 

5. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton

On biblical grounds, or whatever that means, we think “Crooked Ken” (as John Cornyn has coined) is a bad person. This bulldog holding the largest legal office in the state, has wielded this power to perpetuate culture wars against immigrants, nonprofits, and LGBTQ+ Texans instead of holding other corrupt officials accountable.

The bathroom bill, or SB 8, is now law, and he launched a tip line to keep anyone using a restroom on edge. He has targeted civil rights groups and threatened nonprofits like Jolt with lawsuits to enact a culture of silence, censorship, and fear of retribution. Ken Paxton does not want every Texan to have the full range of the law at their disposal, and has time and time again, turned it against specific populations in our state to further his own agenda.

 

What’s Next:

• Throughout this year, we covered it all. Check out our rapid response coverage and more statewide impacts on the largest progressive audience online in Texas, by clicking here to read our annual report. 
• Grab newly-released “Humans Against Abbott” merch to match your values, on our webstore.
• Listen to our Best and Worst Texans of 2025 podcast, and follow our channels on podcast platforms here, and on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Bluesky, and Twitter
• Support our peerless work in 2026 by becoming a monthly donor!