CAIR Action, the political arm of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, has released a 17-page Texas voter guide that marks dozens of Democratic candidates as “preferred” or “endorsed” for the Nov. 3 election.
Among the statewide “preferred” candidates are U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico, gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa, attorney general candidate Nathan Johnson, agriculture commissioner candidate Clayton Tucker, and railroad commissioner candidate Jon Rosenthal. Lieutenant governor candidate Vikki Goodwin received an outright endorsement. The guide also lists 26 U.S. House candidates and 55 Texas House candidates as endorsed or preferred. All of them are Democrats. CAIR Action says endorsed candidates are strongly aligned with its priorities and preferred candidates are closer to those priorities than their opponents.
CAIR, founded in 1994, describes itself as the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization. It has chapters across the country, including CAIR-Texas, and says it works on discrimination, immigration, free speech, and government policy. Federal prosecutors in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism-financing case identified CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator and described it as part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s support network in the United States for Hamas. CAIR has long denied that characterization and has not been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
Gov. Greg Abbott designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations under Texas law in November 2025. The designation bars the groups and their affiliates from acquiring real property in the state and authorizes the attorney general to seek their dissolution. Abbott’s proclamation cited the Holy Land Foundation record, the conviction of CAIR-Texas founder Ghassan Elashi on terror-financing charges, and public comments by CAIR executive director Nihad Awad after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. Abbott also directed the Department of Public Safety to open criminal investigations and asked the U.S. Treasury to review CAIR’s tax-exempt status.
CAIR Action is the group’s 501(c)(4) political affiliate. Its stated mission is to engage, educate, and mobilize Muslim voters, train candidates, and build Muslim political influence in local, state, and federal elections. Its policy list includes civil rights, immigration, domestic policy, economic justice, and student rights. On foreign affairs, CAIR Action has called for ending U.S. weapons sales and military aid to Israel and has backed congressional resolutions to block those transfers.
No recommended or endorsed Democrats have rejected the support of CAIR. Election Day is November 3rd.