Texas GOP fight on Islamic schools, vouchers is really Paxton vs. Abbott | Opinion
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Paxton publicly attacked Hancock after Hancock blamed him over voucher eligibility.
- Hancock blamed Paxton for allowing a Houston Islamic school to qualify.
- Conflict reflects GOP struggle between Paxton’s MAGA wing and Abbott’s allies.
The Battle of Baylor broke out in Texas politics last week.
I’m not sure state campaigns will ever be the same.
Two Baylor University alumni, acting state Comptroller Kelly Hancock and Attorney General Ken Paxton, went after each other like college guys brawling in Penland Hall or fighting over too many “Big O” goblets at George’s.
They were bickering over private school vouchers.
Or was it really over Gov. Greg Abbott?
Let the textbooks show that in 2026, the attorney general of Texas (Paxton, Baylor Class of 1985) called the acting Texas comptroller (Hancock, Class of 1986) an “incompetent loser” and said he ought to be removed.
That was after Hancock issued a letter basically blaming Paxton, now in a U.S. Senate runoff against incumbent John Cornyn, for botching the state’s legal case against a Houston Islamic school.
Hancock’s letter asked why Paxton hasn’t ordered the school closed and instead let it qualify for the state’s new $10,000-plus-per-year private school vouchers.
There’s a history here.
Three years ago, Hancock, now a resident of Westlake in north Tarrant County, was the state senator from Fort Worth.
He voted to remove Paxton over impeachment charges of bribery, misuse of public office and property, false statements and unfitness for office.
Paxton kept his job by what one senator said was originally two votes.
That was partly because fake judge Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick presided over the hearing himself, blocked potentially damaging testimony and allowed a barrage of jury tampering.
Hancock has since landed a new job. Now, he’s acting comptroller, the state’s chief financial officer.
He was hired under former Comptroller Glenn Hegar before Hegar left to become chancellor of the Texas A&M System. Hancock has been serving with the blessing of Gov. Greg Abbott.
And there is almost nothing Paxton likes better than tormenting Abbott, a subtle but sometimes open opponent of the AG.
“This is a full-out proxy war between Abbott and Paxton with Hancock caught in the middle,” University of Houston political science professor Brandon Rottinghaus wrote by email.
Rottinghaus called the exchange “an arm-wrestling match over who will run the Texas GOP” and also over who scores the most political points for bringing school vouchers to Texas.
Hancock’s office has the job of carrying out the new voucher program. He and Abbott wanted to prevent Islamic schools from participating in the state-funded program, claiming all had connections to Islamist terrorism.
But after a federal judge ruled that Houston Quran Academy should be eligible for vouchers, Hancock issued a letter saying Paxton has been too lenient with Islamic schools and should have outright canceled the school’s charter.
Paxton had issued a ruling earlier saying it’s the comptroller’s job to decide which schools qualify for vouchers. Hancock wrote back that Paxton should crack down on the schools.
Hancock was hoping Paxton would help exclude certain schools, Rottinghaus wrote.
“Paxton could have done the governor’s bidding ... but he didn’t,” he said, and that led to the friction.
This intra-Baylor brouhaha will be short-lived. Hancock tried to run for comptroller but lost the March primary.
He didn’t have the statewide profile of former state Sen. Don Huffines of Highland Park, who ran against Abbott four years ago. Huffines will face Democratic state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt of Austin in November.
Now, Paxton vs. Hancock is a warmup match in the ongoing struggle between Texas Republicans’ MAGA populist faction (for Paxton) and business Republicans (for Abbott).
Most of the state’s Republican candidates are preaching hard about how they’re fighting Islamist religious influence. Some of them outright oppose the faith itself as a threat to conservative Christian dominance.
It’s a new twist on Republicans’ old game of “Who’s the Top Christ Following Man?”
But Paxton’s open backlash against a Fort Worth-area politican and Abbott ally only enforces some local Republicans’ determination to bypass his name in November if he is the party’s nominee for Senate against Democrat James Talarico.
In the March primary, Paxton won just 38% of the Tarrant County vote to Cornyn’s 45%.
“I think Paxton is screwing with Abbott through Hancock,” SMU political science professor Cal Jillson wrote by email.
Abbott worked to get Hancock into the comptroller’s office and then supported his losing race against Huffines.
Paxton detests Hancock, Jillson wrote, “because he voted to uphold Paxton’s impeachment and Abbott stayed mostly quiet during the impeachment. ... We get to enjoy another round of Republican-on-Republican knife fighting.”
Fifteen years ago, Paxton and Hancock were both in the Texas House.
But then, 15 years ago, Baylor was also still good at football.
This story was originally published March 26, 2026 at 10:57 AM.
