Bryon Donalds’s election as Florida governor (a DeSantis disciple) likely means no change in the state’s stranglehold on public higher education. But the picture is different in the onerous state of Texas, which has mirrored (if not outdone) Florida’s draconian approach to higher education. The defeat of three-term governor Greg Abbott and the flip of control of the Texas House (to Democrats) means there’s hope for a more inclusive, democratic future for public higher education in the Lone Star State. As Inside Higher Education reported: “The Republicans followed up a sweeping ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion programming with a law last year saying that only an institution’s governing board can create a faculty senate and only college and university presidents can pick its leaders. In 2025, Abbott stated that “professors have increasingly pushed woke agendas” and “have too much influence over who is hired to educate our kids,” necessitating legislation that bars them “from having any say over employment decisions.” But with the Texas Senate still in Republicans’ hands, it will be challenging to execute a rollback or move forward progressively. Read more here.