As anti-Sharia politics intensify in Texas, Muslims prepare for the vote
Ahead of the US midterms, Texas Republicans are proposing to criminalize advocacy of Sharia and to denaturalize and deport its proponents. In response, the Muslim community is registering voters and fielding dozens of candidates.
Ahead of the November 3, 2026 US midterm elections, politics and rhetoric targeting the Muslim community have intensified in Texas. As state leaders call for banning Sharia, Muslims are responding by boosting political engagement — registering voters and putting forward their own candidates.
The 'ban Sharia' politics
In June 2026, the Texas Republican Party adopted a priority titled 'Don't Sharia My Texas' at its convention. The platform declares Sharia 'seditious' and a 'competing enemy' of the state and federal constitutions, and calls for making its advocacy or implementation a crime, barring proponents from public, military or law-enforcement service, and asking the federal government to denaturalize and deport them. In the March 2026 Republican primary, an advisory proposition asking whether 'Texas should prohibit Sharia law' passed with 95% support.
The caucuses
In March 2026, State Rep. Brent Money (R-Greenville) formed the 'Sharia-Free Texas' caucus; founding members include State Rep. Carrie Isaac (R-Dripping Springs). According to Al Jazeera, the caucus has 38 members in the 150-seat state House. Earlier, Texas Reps. Chip Roy and Keith Self launched a 'Sharia-Free America' caucus in Congress — 68 Republicans from 25 states as of June 2026. Brent Money called Sharia 'threatening because it explicitly claims supremacy over all man-made law, including the US Constitution.'
Government measures
Texas Governor Greg Abbott pledged a full ban: 'We are not waiting on Washington, DC. We will fully ban Sharia Law in Texas,' he said. Abbott declared the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) a terrorist organization, while state Attorney General Ken Paxton sued to force it to stop operating in Texas. Abbott had earlier threatened to withhold funding from Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston airports over ablution washing stations. US Senator Ted Cruz said: 'Sharia law is fundamentally inconsistent with the Constitution and we need to stand together and stop it now.'
The Muslim response
Muslims make up about 2% of Texas — roughly 300,000–500,000 people in a state of 32 million. The Islamic Society of Greater Houston oversees more than 30 mosques. Ahead of the vote, Houston mosques have become voter-registration centers; community leaders say about 1,000 people are being registered each week. A mosque in Frisco held a 'BBQ and Ballots' event.
Candidates on the ballot
According to Muslim Network TV, at least 51 Muslim Americans are running across about 23 states in the 2026 midterms, concentrated in Minnesota (8), Michigan (6) and Texas (4). Houston dentist Letitia Plummer, if she wins, would become the first Muslim county executive in Texas and the American South. State Rep. Salman Bhojani (D-Euless), the first Muslim elected to the Texas Legislature, said of Sharia: 'It is a personal moral code, and not something that I can impose on anybody else.' Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed could become the first Muslim US senator if he wins.
