Abbott Accuses Texas Airports of Religious
Discrimination as He Targets Muslim Ritual
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Capitol Inside
August 18, 2026
As Fox News moved the U.S. Senate race in Texas from leans GOP to toss up on Tuesday, Governor Greg Abbott portrayed himself as a warrior for religious liberty and policies that end discrimination based on religion with a crusade he launched to chase Muslim ablution rooms out of the state's largest airports.
"I just STOPPED plans for an Islamic wudu footwashing station at DFW Airport," Abbott claimed in an email. "Plain and simple: Government-owned airports must not favor one religion over all others. I will not allow illegal religious discrimination at taxpayer-funded facilities. Religious liberty must be protected!"
But the Republican governor appeared to be doing exactly the opposite of what he claimed with rhetoric that falsely depicted the situations at the DFW and Houston Intercontinental airports involving the Islamic prayer ritual that piqued Abbott's wrath. Abbott offered no examples of religious groups that airport officials had discriminated against while giving Muslims preferential treatment. The governor gave the false impression that he'd prevented the installation of the foot baths that are a ritual for some Muslims when they pray. The state's largest airport already had the Islamic foot-washing stations before Abbott raised objections in the wake of an announcement late last week that officials were planning to add more.
Abbott's newfound opposition to ablution facilities in public buildings is similar to the approach he's taken on the rapid proliferation of data centers across the Lone Star State. Abbott promoted data centers and helped them get established in the Lone Star State. But the governor did an abrupt about-face on data centers in June in the midst of a fierce public backlash - and he ordered a pause on new data center hookups for electricity and water here late last week.
Abbott's team has quietly attempted to get Republican state legislators to quit going public with their own concerns and criticism on data centers and the massive drain on resources they cause. Sources say the governor passed the message to GOP Speaker Dustin Burrows' office in the bid to get lawmakers from the majority party to keep their complaints to themselves.
Abbott's belated intervention on data centers and Islam ablution stations appears to be a sign that he's more scared than ever about his prospects for winning a fourth term as the governor in November. The national conditions haven't been as bad for the GOP in 30 years of Republican rule in Texas as than they are now with the 2026 midterm election just 11 weeks away.
The Texas governor's race has been inside the margins of error in six of the eight polls that were taken on the contest since the start of July. Abbott led Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa by 1 point in a Fox News poll that was released last week with Democrat James Talarico leading Republican Ken Paxton by 3 points in the U.S. Senate race at the top of the Texas ticket this fall.
Abbott knows that his fate will be tied to a significant degree to the results in the Senate race - and he's focused almost exclusively on Talarico as a consequence while ignoring his own Democratic opponent as though she did not exist. Fox News - the cable network that's the gospel in the eyes of Republicans - gave Abbott more cause for angst today with the shifting of the Texas Senate fight to the toss up list for the first time in its rankings for the upper house in Washington D.C.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire dismissed the governor's claims on the Islamic prayer ritual room at the airport in the city he leads.
“The ablution room and adjoining prayer room are open to all travelers, employees and stakeholders with access to Terminal D, regardless of faith," Whitmire said in an emai. "Nobody receives preferential access, and nobody is excluded.”
Abbott's rhetoric on opposing religious discrimination and favoritism may seem even more deceptive in light of his unsuccessful attempt to block Islamic schools from participating in the new school voucher program.
more to come ...
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