Republican State Senator Larry Taylor, who oversaw a sweeping reform of the state’s school finance system in 2019, announced today that he won’t seek reelection, reversing an earlier decision to seek a third term.
Taylor cited stress and the demands of the job as reasons for stepping down. “This has been a very difficult decision, as having the privilege of representing my community in the legislature for nearly two decades has been the biggest honor of my life. However, public service also requires sacrifice. It is a major commitment of time away from your family and friends. There is also stress brought on by the responsibilities of the job and wanting to make sure you are making the right decisions,” he wrote in a statement.
Since 2013, Taylor has represented Senate District 11, which includes Pearland, Friendswood, Galveston, and Angleton. From 2003 to 2012, he served in the Texas House of Representatives.
Taylor was the senate sponsor of House Bill 3, the education finance reform, and he played a key role in crafting the bill and securing its passage through the senate. The bill boosted teacher and librarian pay by $5,000 and increased the state’s share of funding for public education, alleviating some of the burden on local taxpayers.
The same year, he authored Senate Bill 11, a school safety bill, which passed with near unanimous support. The bill came in the wake of the Santa Fe High School shooting that killed ten children. SB 11 boosted mental health services at Texas schools, expanded safety training, and required school security audits.
During his years in the senate, Taylor’s own party sometimes divided on questions of public education, with some GOP lawmakers advocating for school vouchers while others opposed them. Taylor authored a voucher bill in 2017 that would have allowed the use public school funds to enroll children in parochial schools.
Taylor argued that the bill would “provide a small number of students the chance to consider something different,” without harming public schools financing overall. The bill passed the senate with three GOP senators opposed, before dying in the Texas House without even being given a hearing.
Taylor is also known for his work on tort reform and coastal issues, including storm surge infrastructure and reform of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association.
According to Mark P. Jones, a political scientist at Rice University’s Baker Institute, Taylor’s exist could push the GOP senate caucus further to the right. “With the decisions of Kel Seliger, Eddie Lucio Jr, and Larry Taylor to not seek re-election in 2022, the Texas Senate will be losing three of its four most centrist senators.”
Jones’s ranking of Texas lawmakers from right to left puts Taylor as the second most centrist GOP senator.
Senate District 11 was a safe Republican district in past elections, with Taylor winning 59.5% of the votes in 2020, 100% in 2016, and 66% in 2012.
Prior to Taylor’s announcement, nobody had filed yet to run in Senate District 11. But within hours of his announcement, State Rep. Mayes Middleton (R-Wallisville) said that he would seek the position.
Middleton, 40, is wrapping up his second term in the House and chairs the Freedom Caucus, which is socially conservative and libertarian-leaning in some respects. Middleton is President of the Middleton Oil Company and donated more than $600,000 of his own money to his previous campaigns.
Taylor didn’t say what he would be doing next, saying only, “For me, this has been a fulfilling and worthwhile season of my life, and I now look forward to seeing what God has in store for me in the next season.” According to the news release, the senator has three adult children and four grandchildren and is the owner of Truman Taylor Insurance Agency in Friendswood.
