About Texas Stands Together
Is Texas Stands Together partisan?
No. We are a nonpartisan, grassroots effort organized around specific statewide issues, not candidates and not parties. We are not an arm of either major party.
We are not asking anyone to pick a side. Every candidate gets the same five minutes, the same rules, and the same question. The ten line items we organize around are what shows up, year after year, when Texans are asked what actually worries them.
Who runs Texas Stands Together?
Texas Stands Together operates as a DBA of Temple Stands Together, a Texas nonprofit corporation with a 501(c)(4) application pending with the IRS.
Temple Stands Together’s core work is local, focused on issues specific to Temple, Texas. Texas Stands Together is a deliberate expansion of that same organizing model to statewide line item issues, the ones that land on every district rather than one city. Read more about the Temple Stands Together relationship.
How is it funded?
By individual Texans. We do not accept corporate or business funding, and we do not accept corporate PAC money. See how we are funded.
Is this a PAC or a scorecard?
Neither. We are not a PAC, and we are not a partisan scorecard operation. We publish where a legislator stands on one bill. We do not tell you how to vote on the person.
Tracking and publishing legislators’ positions on a specific bill is ordinary, well established issue advocacy for a 501(c)(4). The line we hold is the framing: the tracker says here is their position, never vote for or against this person because of it. Because the 501(c)(4) determination is still pending with the IRS, we operate by that stricter line now. Read how we stay in our lane.
The Trust Texans Initiative
What are initiative and referendum?
Initiative is the ability to propose a law or a constitutional amendment by petition. Referendum is the ability to repeal a law the Legislature has already passed.
The Trust Texans Initiative is a proposed Texas constitutional amendment that would restore both rights at the statewide level. Texans do not currently have them. Many states already give their voters one or both of those tools. Texas gives them neither.
What would it take to put a measure on the ballot?
- Signatures. A petition would need signatures equal to 5 percent of the vote cast for governor for a statutory measure, or 6 percent for a constitutional one, gathered statewide and within each state senate district. That district requirement stops a handful of large metros from qualifying a measure the rest of the state never saw.
- Filing fee and review. A $1,000 filing fee, refundable on certification, plus a State Bar advisory review and a Legislative Budget Board fiscal note. These are nonbinding safeguards. They inform voters about what a measure would do and cost. They do not block a petition.
- Disclosure. Any entity spending or receiving more than $1,000 on petition or ballot activity must register with the Texas Ethics Commission, and contributions over $1,000 are publicly disclosed.
What happens if the Legislature doesn’t act?
If lawmakers do not act on a qualifying petition, it goes to voters at the next general election. That is the point of the amendment: Texans could place measures directly before the Legislature and, if needed, before voters themselves.
When would voters decide on the amendment itself?
The underlying constitutional amendment itself is slated for the November 2, 2027 ballot. Before then, we are asking every sitting member of the Texas House and Senate to state publicly, before the Legislature convenes in January 2027, whether they will vote yes.
The pledge tracker
Why does everyone start as Undecided?
Every sitting member of both chambers, all 150 Texas House seats and all 31 Texas Senate seats, is added to the tracker on day one, defaulted to Undecided. As each legislator responds to the pledge, their name moves into Yes or No.
That way anyone can see at a glance which representatives are still Undecided, the people they need to call, and which have already stated a position either way. There is no clock on an individual answer: a seat stays Undecided until that person responds, however long that takes. The date that matters to voters is Tuesday, October 27, 2026, one week before the election, so every answer received by then is posted while people are still voting. See how the tracker works.
What does it take to be listed Yes or No?
The legislator’s own statement, in their own writing or in recorded audio, that they will vote yes or no on the amendment. That statement is kept on file, dated and linked, so every entry holds up if someone challenges it.
Does silence count as a No?
No. A legislator who has not responded stays Undecided. The tracker never implies refusal from silence.
Are candidates tracked with sitting legislators?
The pledge goes out to every incumbent and every challenger. The tracker follows a candidate from the primary through the general election under one continuous record rather than resetting, so a pledge made in the primary still counts if that candidate advances.
Sitting legislators and challengers are listed as two clearly labeled groups, because only sitting members currently hold a vote. That way nobody confuses a candidate’s pledge with a sitting member’s actual vote.
The radio debates
Is this a debate?
No. It is not a debate and not a forum for attacks. Each candidate picks their top five of the ten line items and speaks five uninterrupted minutes on each, in the order of importance to them. The recording airs unedited and in full. The opposing candidate is then given time to respond to those same five topics, on policy and position only, not rebuttal or attack.
Every candidate is also asked one direct question on the record: do you support the Trust Texans Initiative, yes or no. Nobody is being cross examined and nobody is being set up. It is a structured, honest look at where each candidate stands, in their own words. See how a segment works.
What if only one candidate accepts?
The segment still airs, with a clearly stated on-air notice that the other candidate was invited on equal terms and may respond in a future segment. That keeps the format fair without letting one candidate veto the other’s airtime by simply declining.
Declining is also on the record. We will note that an invitation went out on equal terms.
How does equal time work?
Under the FCC Communications Act, Section 315, once a station airs one candidate, it generally must offer equivalent time to opponents. This format satisfies that by design: same structure, same length, and both candidates invited on the same terms.
We provide the equal-time language in the Broadcast Kit, so a station’s compliance team can clear it quickly. See what is in the Broadcast Kit.
Does airtime mean the station endorses anyone?
No. An on-air disclaimer is read at the top and bottom of every segment:
“This broadcast is presented in full and without editing. Airtime does not constitute an endorsement by this station or by Texas Stands Together. Statements made are the candidate’s own.”