AUSTIN — Texas Republicans approached the legislative session as if they had a mandate to implement a conservative agenda tinged with issues pushed by supporters of Donald Trump, with bread-and-butter necessities like stabilizing the state’s electric grid added to the mix.

With those goals in mind, the session was largely successful for the GOP, as Republicans in the Legislature are near unanimous that they met their political obligations.

Their confidence will soon be tested, as the legislative session is about to give way to the midterm election season, where the state’s GOP leadership and scores of lawmakers are on the ballot.

While the first political priority of Republicans is to protect against serious primary challenges, their major concern — if they have one — will be how the feeding of red meat issues to an insatiable GOP base, including “election security,” the permitless carrying of handguns and a failed but sensationalized sports bill aimed at transgender athletes will play to a general election crowd.

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan said he led a historic session in the House, adding that the Legislature did more than pass issues that thrilled Republican activists.

“It’s true that we have made significant strides in defending our liberties, protecting Texans, and restoring our economy,” Phelan said. “The Texas House also led the charge to fully fund our public education system, to prevent police defunding, to reform criminal justice to afford second chances, to pass Bo’s Law and other legislation aimed at smarter, more transparent policing, and — perhaps most importantly — to extend Medicaid eligibility for new mothers.”

While Republicans in rural and small-town areas are considered safe, the large cities and their suburbs are likely staging grounds for renewed efforts by hobbled Democrats to make political gains in the Lone Star State, including seizing the Texas House.

Republicans have a trump card that’s visible to everyone involved. This year they’ll redraw the congressional and Texas legislative boundaries for the redistricting process, a power that will give their candidates, particularly incumbents, a strong advantage.

The stakes are high for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who is seeking a third term and will be challenged in the primary by several conservatives. The governor, who typically runs up the score in his statewide elections, also has an eye to the general contest, where he’s thrived since winning a 2014 race against former state Sen. Wendy Davis by 20 percentage points.

“It’s an excellent session,” said Dave Carney, Abbott’s chief political strategist. “We had a great number of items that are attractive to Republicans and independents. We’re in great shape.”

Carney said the governor and other GOP candidates will be helped by the session in the primary and general election arenas, adding that the drama captured during and at the end of the session had no relevance to average voters.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has called on Abbott to convene a special session to address more red meat issues, including requiring transgender student athletes to compete on teams matching the sex on their birth certificates instead of those corresponding to their gender identity.

Whether that happens or not, Carney said, Republicans have a lot to brag about.

“What everyone in the pink palace forgets is the voters are looking for results,” he said. “We’re well-positioned.”

Meanwhile, Democrats are bracing for a fight.

“They voted as though they have already gerrymandered the maps,” said Democratic strategist Matt Angle. “They quickly abandoned everything they talked about during their own campaign about education and health care. Instead they attacked voting rights. There’s no longer a Texas Republican Party. It’s the national party of Donald Trump operating in Texas.”

Criticism is also evident within the party. Former state Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas, is challenging Abbott for governor.

“From the beginning, Greg Abbott refused to designate GOP priorities as emergency items, which led to many of them dying in the final weeks of this session,” Huffines said. “This is the reason that Dan Patrick and I have called for an immediate special session to address Abbott’s failures.”

Enjoying the spoils of victory

In 2020 Texas Republicans staved off efforts by Democrats to take control of the House. Their stand was largely made in North Texas, where they held critical seats in Dallas, Tarrant and Collin counties.

Coupled with Trump’s victory over Democrat Joe Biden in the Texas presidential primary, Republicans viewed their successes as a political mandate. And they were secure in their prognostication that Texas, while competitive, is a red state.

But when Trump lost the White House to Biden, Texas Republicans fell in line with the national agenda pushed by the former president’s loyalists in other states. That led to controversial bills being filed that parroted Trump’s contention that the election was stolen from him, though Republicans here said they were simply moving to make sure the mail-in and early voting process is uniform and secure.

Other Trump-related proposals followed, including the ill-fated effort to rein in the social media companies that kicked Trump off their platforms for spreading false and inflammatory information. There were also conservative bills that further restricted abortions, mandating the playing of the national anthem at sporting events and —against law enforcement warnings — a proposals to allow Texans to carry a gun without a permit.

But there was also critical business to address. February’s winter storm exposed a fragile electricity grid, which lawmakers have sought to address. Whether their actions — criticized by some as not enough — work could play out this summer, when some experts expect a Texas hot spell to test the state’s infrastructure.

Whatever the case, Abbott and other Republicans are poised to take a victory lap after the session adjourns sine die. Then the election season begins in earnest.

“It’s already been a historic conservative session in terms of items that we were able to take home,” said Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco. “There are wish-list items that conservatives have wanted for decades, and I’m excited about the progress we’ve made this session.”

Patterson said the public reaction to the session would be positive.

“Folks are going to be happy with the product that we end up with on sine die,” he said.

Contested primary for Abbott

After the session ends, Abbott will prepare for a primary race against several conservatives, including Huffines, who called Abbott and some Texas leaders “cowards in Austin.”

The primary field against Abbott could get crowded. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller could announce a run for governor in the coming days, and Texas GOP Party Chairman Allen West is contemplating challenging Abbott as well.

While Abbott has always been mindful of mollifying the GOP’s hard right, his political team is confident he’ll get past the current field of challengers.

The general election has always been the biggest threat for statewide Republican candidates. In 2018, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Patrick and Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton all won with smaller than expected margins.

But Abbott, who got a gift-horse challenge by former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, easily won his contest.

Democrats are hoping that former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of El Paso will be their standard bearer against Abbott in 2022. After his close race against Cruz in 2018 and a failed bid for president in 2020, O’Rourke has been non-committal on running for governor.

The wildcard is Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, who’s also considering running against Abbott. The Austin resident hasn’t said which major party, if any, he would champion.

“You have to tell me what he believes in and what he’s all about,” Carney, Abbott’s strategist, said of a potential challenge from McConaughey.

Vulnerable in the urban areas?

The question for Abbott and Republicans: Will the Legislature’s hard turn to the right impact the general election?

That question is especially relevant to legislative candidates running in urban areas.

“On balance this is, without a doubt, the most accomplishments we’ve had from a conservative Republican Party standpoint than any session we’ve ever had,” said Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth. “We can point to a litany of things that we did that we came through on whether it’s pro-life issues, whether it’s election integrity, whether it’s Second Amendment, whether it’s education reform. Go down the list.”

Krause, who was unsuccessfully targeted by Democrat Lydia Bean in 2020, said Republicans did enough to satisfy a general election audience.

“We’ve done a lot of things that I think primary voters are going to love, but we’ve also done a lot of things that I think general election voters are going to appreciate, whether it’s health care reforms, whether it’s criminal justice reform. There are a lot of issues we tackled in the House and in the Legislature that I think it doesn’t matter which side of the aisle you’re on, they were good public policy for Texas.”

Angle disagreed, saying Republicans had failed to expand access to health care and provide needed funding for public education.

“It doesn’t pass the smell test,” he said of Krause’s comments.

Rep. Matt Shaheen, R-Plano, has survived close challenges in 2018 and 2020.

“We preserved education funding and health care funding, so yeah, we got a lot to go back to our districts,” he said. “I just always rely on my record, and I got a great record to run on. The last two years in general elections were tough, and the next one is going to be challenging too, but we’ll be ready.”