The following is a list of events of the year 2021 in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Incumbents

State government

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Greg Abbott Gregory Wayne Abbott ( ; born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist who has served since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2002 to ...

( R) *

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

: Dan Patrick (R) *

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

Ken Paxton Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. (born December 23, 1962) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the attorney general of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Texas Senate representing the e ...

(R) *

Comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accountancy, accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior- ...

Glenn Hegar Glenn Allen Hegar Jr. (born November 25, 1970)State Sen. Glenn ...

(R) * Land Commissioner: George P. Bush (R) * Agriculture Commissioner: Sid Miller (R) * Railroad Commissioners:

Christi Craddick Christi Leigh Craddick (born July 1, 1970) is an American politician. She is one of three members of the Railroad Commission of Texas, the elected regulatory body over oil, natural gas, utilities, and surface mining first established in 1891. Aft ...

(R),

Wayne Christian Walter Wayne Christian (born September 26, 1950) is an American politician and financial planner who has served as a member of the Railroad Commission of Texas since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Christian formerly served in the Texas ...

(R), and

Jim Wright James Claude Wright Jr. (December 22, 1922 – May 6, 2015) was an American politician who served as the 48th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 1989. He represented Texas' 12th congressional district as a ...

(R)

City governments

* Mayor of

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Sylvester Turner Sylvester Turner (September 27, 1954 – March 5, 2025) was an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from January 2025 until his death in March 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democra ...

( D) * Mayor of

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

Ron Nirenberg Ronald Adrian Nirenberg (born April 11, 1977) is an American politician who is the mayor of San Antonio, Texas. Prior to his election, Nirenberg served as a member of the San Antonio City Council for District 8 for two terms. In 2013, Nirenber ...

( I) * Mayor of

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

: Eric Johnson ( R) * Mayor of

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

: Steve Adler (D) * Mayor of

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

: Betsy Price (R) (until 15 July),

Mattie Parker Mattie Parker (born November 9, 1983) is an American politician, businesswoman, and attorney serving as the 45th Mayor of Fort Worth, Texas. She was elected in 2021 after serving as Chief of Staff for the Mayor and the Fort Worth City Council for ...

(R) (starting 15 July) * Mayor of

El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

: Dee Margo (R) (until 26 June),

Oscar Leeser Oscar Leeser (born May 7, 1958) is an American politician who served as the 52nd mayor of El Paso, Texas from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 50th mayor from 2013 to 2017. Early life and education ...

(starting 26 June) * Mayor of Arlington: Jim Ross (N/A) * Mayor of Corpus Christi: Joe McComb then Paulette Guajardo (D) * Mayor of Plano:

Harry LaRosiliere Harry LaRosiliere (born May 6, 1962) was the 39th List of mayors of Plano, Texas, mayor of Plano, Texas, the first African-American to hold the office. He was elected in 2013 and served until 2021 after reaching his term limit. Biography LaRos ...

(R) then John B. Muns (R) * Mayor of

Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...

: Daniel Manning Pope (R)

Elections

Events

* January 7 – Texas health officials report the state's first case of a new variant of

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had the Novel coronavirus, provisional nam ...

in a resident of Harris County with no travel history. * January 14 – Texas surpasses two million cases of COVID-19, becoming the second state to do so after

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. *January 23 – Garret Miller, a Texas man who participated in the

storming A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm) ...

of the

United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the Seat of government, seat of the United States Congress, the United States Congress, legislative branch of the Federal government of the United States, federal g ...

, is charged for threatening to

assassinate Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

U.S. Rep.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (born October 13, 1989), also known as AOC, is an American politician and activist who has served since 2019 as the United States House of Representatives, US representative for New York's 14th congressional distric ...

. *February –

2021 Texas power crisis In February 2021, the state of Texas suffered a major Energy crisis, power crisis, which came about during three severe winter storms sweeping across the United States on February 2021 North American ice storm, February 10–11, February 13� ...

, when cold weather and power outages affected millions of Texans *February 3 – Disappearance of Cynthia Bah-Traore from Grandview, Texas. *March 11 – Texas state Rep. Bryan Slaton introduced a bill that would abolish

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

and make it a criminal act, whereby women and physicians who received and performed abortions, respectively, could receive the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

. *October 6 – **

United States federal judge In the United States, a federal judge is a judge who serves on a court established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. Often called "Article III judges", federal judges include the chief justice and associate justices of the U.S. S ...

Robert L. Pitman issues an order to block the

Texas Heartbeat Act The Texas Heartbeat Act, Senate Bill 8 (SB 8), is an Statute, act of the Texas Legislature that bans abortion after the Six-week abortion ban, detection of embryonic or fetal cardiac activity, which normally occurs after about six weeks of p ...

. **Four people are wounded as a gunman opens fire at a high school in

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal c ...

after a fight. The suspected attacker escaped from the scene, but was arrested several hours later. *October 11 – Governor

signs an

executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of the ...

prohibiting all entities in the state, including private companies, from enacting vaccine mandates. *October 13 –

Blue Origin NS-18 Blue Origin NS-18 was a sub-orbital spaceflight mission operated by Blue Origin that launched on 13 October 2021. The mission was the eighteenth flight of the company's New Shepard integrated launch vehicle and spacecraft. It was the second Ne ...

Blue Origin Blue Origin Enterprises, L.P. is an American space technology company headquartered in Kent, Washington. The company operates the suborbital New Shepard rocket and the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket. In addition to producing engines for its own ...

launches four crew into sub-orbit on a

New Shepard New Shepard is a Reusable launch vehicle, fully reusable Sub-orbital spaceflight, sub-orbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism by Blue Origin. The vehicle is named after Alan Shepard, who became the List of space travelers by nationali ...

rocket from its

Corn Ranch Corn Ranch, commonly referred to as Launch Site One (LSO), is a spaceport owned and operated by Blue Origin which is located approximately north of the town of Van Horn, Texas, United States. The plot of land was purchased by Jeff Bezos in ...

spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport''—and even more so ''cosmodrome''—has traditionally referred to sites capable of ...

Van Horn, Texas Van Horn is a town in and the county seat of Culberson County, Texas, United States. According to the 2010 census, Van Horn had a population of 2,063, down from 2,435 at the 2000 census. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census results detailed ...

. The crew includes Blue Origin Vice President Audrey Powers,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

engineer Chris Boshuizen,

space tourist Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism. Tourists are motivated by the possibility of viewing Earth from space, ...

Glen de Vries, and actor

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

. Shatner, best known for his portrayal of

Captain Kirk James Tiberius Kirk, often known as Captain Kirk, is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. Originally played by Canadian actor William Shatner, Kirk first appeared in ''Star Trek'' serving aboard the starship USS ''Enterp ...

in the ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'' media franchise, becomes the oldest ever person in space at the age of 90. *October 18 – Citing ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...

'', the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

requests the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

to vacate the mandate of the

Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: ...

on allowing the Texas Heartbeat Act to remain in effect, thereby blocking the law. *November 5 –

Astroworld Festival crowd crush On November 5, 2021, a fatal Crowd collapses and crushes, crowd crush occurred during the Astroworld Festival, an annual musical event hosted by American rapper Travis Scott at NRG Park in Houston, Texas. Eight people were pronounced dead on th ...

: Eight people are dead and hundreds more are injured during a

stampede A stampede () is a situation in which a group of large animals suddenly start running in the same direction, especially because they are excited or frightened. Although the term is most often applied to animals, there are cases of humans stamped ...

and

crowd crush Crowd collapses and crowd crushes are catastrophic incidents that can occur when a body of people becomes dangerously overcrowded. When numbers are up to about five people per square meter, the environment may feel cramped but manageable; when nu ...

at the Astroworld Music Festival in

. *December 20 – The United States reports its first confirmed death related to the Omicron variant in an unvaccinated man in his 50s in Harris County, who had underlying health issues.

References