Interview with Chris Ehlinger

Posted on September 17, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Chris Ehlinger

My next two interviews for the week will be for the HCAD Board of Directors. You may recall that after last year’s very low turnout special election runoffs, we had one Democrat and two Republicans in those seats. The Democrat, Kathy Blueford Daniels, is running for re-election in Place 1. Running in Place 2 for an open seat – incumbent Kyle Scott did not file for re-election – is Democrat Chris Ehlinger. (There’s a second Democrat as well, Jordyn Wilson, to whom I have not yet spoken.) Ehilnger is a CPA/MBA with 20+ years’ experience in Auditing, Appraisal Valuation, Real Estate, Banking, and Executive Management. He’s also a Texas A&M grad who grew up poor in rural South Texas, a Democratic precinct chair, and a volunteer for groups like the Timbergrove Manor Civic Association and Super Neighborhood 14. Here’s what we talked about:

Here’s the transcript, courtesy of Greg Wythe. I’ll have the other HCAD interview for you tomorrow and then we’re on to The Lege. Let me know what you think.

PREVIOUSLY:

Rep. Jon Rosenthal – Railroad Commissioner – Transcript
Sen. Nathan Johnson – Attorney General – Transcript
Clayton Tucker – Ag Commissioner – Transcript
Sen. Sarah Eckhardt – Comptroller – Transcript
Commissioner Adrian Garcia – Harris County Commissioners Court, Precinct 2 – Transcript
Shaun Finnie – CD02 – Transcript
Michelle Palmer – SBOE6 – Transcript

From the primaries:

Leticia Gutierrez – CD09 – Transcript
Christian Menefee, CD18 (from the special election) – Transcript
Rep. Sylvia Garcia, CD29 – Transcript
Melissa McDonough – CD38 – Transcript
Justin Early, CD31 – Transcript

Staci Childs – HD131 – Transcript

Letitia Plummer – Harris County Judge – Transcript
Abbie Kamin – Harris County Attorney – Transcript
Traci Gibson, HCDP Chair – Transcript

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Judicial Q&A: Judge Kelley Andrews

Posted on September 17, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for Democratic judicial candidates. I ran a series of these for candidates in contested primaries, and now these are for the rest of the candidates. I am running these responses in the order that I receive them from the candidates. Much more information about Democratic candidates, including links to interviews and judicial Q&As, can be found on Erik Manning’s spreadsheet.

Judge Kelley Andrews

1. Who are you and in which court do you preside?

My name is Kelley Andrews. I am the presiding judge of Harris County Criminal Court at Law No. 6.

2. What kind of cases does this court hear?

Harris County Criminal Court No. 6 is a misdemeanor court. We hear Class B and Class A misdemeanor cases which are cases that have a potential sentencing range of up to 180 days or up to 1 year in the Harris County Jail, respectively. The types of cases misdemeanor courts hear include, but are not limited DWIs, domestic violence cases, violations of protective orders, thefts, trespasses, unlawful carrying of firearms and criminal mischiefs.

3. What have been your main accomplishments during your time on this bench?

Since taking the bench in January 2019, I have remained focus on addressing this issues that factor into a person’s arrest and subsequent criminal charge. Addressing issues like mental health, substance abuse, and housing insecurity can change the trajectory a person is on within the criminal justice system and in doing so, help them to have a better/healthier future, lower recidivism rates, and address safety concerns of the community. I also preside over the Misdemeanor Women’s Sober Court in addition to my regular docket. There I work with a specialized team that acutely focuses on recovery for women that have entered into the Sober Court program.

4. What do you hope to accomplish in your courtroom going forward?

I would like to continue the work that I have been focused on since beginning my tenure as judge of Harris County Criminal Court at Law No. 6. I will remain focused addressing factors that encourage a person’s contact with the criminal justice system and balancing that with the needs of the community to ensure its safety.

5. Why is this race important?

Misdemeanor courts are often the place where a person who finds themself in criminal trouble will land first. The are also the place where people are first diagnosed with mental health and/or substance abuse issues. The misdemeanor courts are uniquely situated to help redirect people out of the criminal justice system and in doing so can be tools that work to benefit and protect the community as a whole.

6. Why should people vote for you in November?

I have devoted 100% of my legal career to the area of criminal law. I have worked in the Harris County criminal courthouse as an attorney and then as a judge for 19 years. I am familiar with all the many departments that courts need to work with to move cases along, to address mental health issues, housing issues and substance abuse issues. I have experience and that experience is coupled with compassion-a necessary trait for balancing the rights of a person with the safety and welfare of the community. I treat every person that finds themselves in Court 6 with dignity and respect and believe in equal access to justice for all.

PREVIOUSLY:

Judge Damiane Dianne Curvey, 280th Family District Court
Judge M. Monica Singh, Harris County Civil Court at Law #4
Judge Cory Sepolio, 269th Civil District Court
Samantha Davis, 313th Juvenile District Court
Judge Melissa Morris, 263rd Criminal District Court
Judge Toria J. Finch, Harris County Criminal Court at Law #9
Judge Linda Marie Dunson, 309th Family District Court

From the primaries:

Judge Kristen Hawkins, Supreme Court Justice, Place 7
Sarah Beth Landau, Chief Justice of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals
Judge Tanya Garrison, 157th Civil District Court
Julia Maldonado, 183rd Criminal District Court
Judge Brian Warren, 209th Criminal District Court
Judge Josh Hill, 232nd Criminal District Court
Judge Leah Shapiro, 315th Juvenile District Court
Judge James Horwitz, Harris County Probate Court #4
Ebony Williams, Harris County Civil Court at Law #2
Judge Andrew Wright, Harris County Criminal Court at Law #7

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Two more polls show Talarico leading

Posted on September 17, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

They’re a little weird in different ways, but here they are. First, Mason-Dixon:

Texas Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico is leading in another consecutive poll against Republican Ken Paxton, and the poll breaks down which Texans are backing who.

A Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. poll released Sept. 15 showed Talarico leading Paxton 46% to 43%, with Libertarian Ted Brown at 3% and 8% of voters undecided.

Talarico’s lead is within the poll’s 4-point margin of error, as it surveyed 625 registered Texas voters from Sept. 8-10 who said they are likely to vote in the November 2026 election.

Here’s a breakdown of where Paxton and Talarico are pulling their support less than two months from Election Day and how it compares to recent polling in August and September.

By demographics, the Mason-Dixon poll shows Talarico’s lead is driven by strong support from women, younger voters, Black voters, Hispanic voters, and independents. Talarico wins women by 16 points (52%-36%), voters ages 18-34 by 14 points (51%-37%), Black voters by 75 points (85%-10%), Hispanic voters by 18 points (54%-36%) and independents by 21 points (51%-30%).

Paxton, by contrast, is anchored by Republicans, white voters, men and older Texans. He wins Republicans 88%-5%, white voters 54%-36% and men 51%-39%. He also performs best among voters ages 35-49 and runs roughly even among voters 65 and older.

Breaking down the candidates’ support by region, Paxton is drawing the majority of his support in East Texas (58%) and West Texas (52%).

Talarico draws a majority of his support from the Houston metro area (46%), Central Texas (57%) and South Texas (54%). Both candidates are tied at 45% in the Dallas-Fort Worth region.

Here’s the poll data, which leads with the Governor’s race, in which Greg Abbott leads Gina Hinojosa 48-41, one of his better recent results. As I’ve said before, I expect Talarico to run ahead of the pack, but not by that much. The main difference here seems to be with white voters, whom Talarico loses by 18 and Hinojosa loses by 29. This is one of the better showings for Paxton among Republicans, for what it’s worth.

Amusing headline for this poll: “Ken Paxton Within Striking Distance of Defeating Talarico in New Texas Poll”. Gotta love horse race reporting.

If I thought a ten-point spread between Talarico’s performance and Hinojosa’s was a bit much, how about a thirteen point spread?

After trailing by 2% in a survey conducted in June, James Talarico now holds a 5% lead over Republican Ken Paxton (50-45) in a new SoCal Strategies Texas Poll of 649 likely voters. Despite this, incumbent governor Greg Abbott appears to be in a strong position in his quest for a fourth term, leading Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa 52-44.

Senate Race
Since our last survey, nearly everything seems to be breaking in Talarico’s direction. His lead among independents grew from 10% to 45% and he is now picking off 12% of Republicans. While Ken Paxton has maintained most of his lead among white voters, Talarico expanded his advantage with Hispanic voters from 10% to 38%. Voters age 18-29 also back Talarico by 46%. While Talarico being at 50% suggests he is the strong favorite in the race, there is some evidence that points to the possibility of the margin tightening: much like the last poll, Republicans are less decided than Democrats. While 6% of respondents who said they backed Trump in 2024 are currently undecided in the senate race, the same can only be said of 1% of those who say they voted for Harris. To have a chance, Paxton will need to win nearly all of these voters and peel back a substantial portion of the 12% of Republicans who say they would vote for Talarico if the election were held today.

Gubernatorial Race
Despite Ken Paxton’s struggles, Governor Abbott still seems poised to win re-election. Though his margin has narrowed from our last survey, which had him up 12, he still leads Gina Hinojosa by 8%. The movement comes almost entirely from independent voters, who now break for Hinojosa after Abbott had a 50-40 lead among them in our last survey. Like Paxton, Abbott has also collapsed with Hispanic voters, but he offsets this with a sizeable 34% lead among Whites. Unlike in the senate race, the undecideds in the gubernatorial survey appear to lean left. Those who say they are yet to decide between Abbott and Hinojosa, but have made up their minds in the senate, break for James Talarico 2-1. So, while there is a large ticket split for now, an analysis of the undecideds suggests the races could converge as we get closer to November.

Here are the crosstabs, which have Talarico trailing among white voters by only 17, exactly half of Hinojosa’s deficit among whites. This poll also has a ludicrous share of Black voters going Republican – 23% for Paxton and 32% for Abbott. Put me down for the under on each. Those are small subsamples and one should be extremely wary of them in general, but my goodness. I found the M-D poll as usual via The Downballot, and went from there to the NYT Senate poll tracker, where I found the SoCal Strategies poll.

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More French stuff

Posted on September 17, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

I like this take.

Bo French wasn’t always this way. When he first ran for statewide office in Texas in 2016, he was an oil industry scion who hadn’t quite found his way: a partnership with American sniper Chris Kyle had fallen apart after his death; other business ventures petered out. In an ad, French portrayed himself as a nice guy: a compassionate conservative, and a family man to boot. His wife appeared in one campaign video, describing him as a “humble” man possessed of a “servant’s heart.”

Ten years later, French portrays himself differently. He’s now openly xenophobic, an attribute that attracted national attention when, last Sunday, he posted to X that a group of nonwhite UT students celebrating at a football was “a problem” that had was “now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” It caused a firestorm, and was enough to earn condemnation from the Texas GOP; not a small feat given that Republicans in the state have spent the last year running on demonizing Muslims.

[…]

Republican leaders across the Texas firmament condemned French as they could. Attorney general and current Senate candidate Ken Paxton (R) tried to do so while suggesting that his opponent James Talarico (D) was the real racist; Gov. Greg Abbott (R) issued a statement that began with the phrase, “That is not my message.” Karl Rove reportedly said that he would grant French the distinction of being the first Republican candidate in decades to not get his vote.

Grasping why French’s UT post crossed a line and earned this reaction requires background both on the Texas nominee’s campaign of low-rent racism and the Texas GOP’s attitude towards the influx of Asian immigrants in the state.

French’s post wasn’t anything particularly new for him. He’s spent the last year denigrating people online in increasingly brazen ways as he runs for a position that will grant him oversight of oil regulation and waste byproduct policy. Last year, French posted a poll asking whether Jews or Muslims posed a greater threat to the United States. At CPAC, he endorsed 100 million deportations — 29% of the U.S. population. He posed for a photo with former CBP commander and recently minted far-right impresario Greg Bovino. As recently as July, he wrote, “Ok boys, it’s time to go round up all the Chinese and send them packing!” It’s unclear what prompted that mix of John Wayne and gutter racism.

Much of French’s diatribes have focused on Islam and Muslim immigrants. He’s said that Muslims should not be allowed in the United States and accused “islamists” of “using our Constitution against us.” That kind of rhetoric, as extreme as it is, has become a staple for state GOP leaders. Over the past year, both Abbott and Paxton have launched investigations and taken action against the Muslim community in the state. The Texas primary Republican ballot this year contained a question asking whether to ban Sharia law; it received 95 percent support.

Texas politicians have directed much of this Islamophobia towards communities in the suburbs north of Dallas. The area has seen massive growth in recent years, and is now home to large immigrant communities from South Asia. One mosque in the area, called EPIC, became the target of vitriol last year after releasing a video outlining a planned community meant to serve Muslim Texans.

At the same time, a coterie of local far-right activists and social media influencers with national platforms and nativist leanings have descended on the area, trying to hold up South Asian immigration in general to the area as a scandal. They tend to single out Indian immigrants in particular, filming videos with shots of Hindu temples and South Asian businesses.

See here for the background. It’s important to keep in mind that this isn’t a one-off by some nobody who’s out by himself in the wilderness. This is who Bo French is, and he has a whole lot of company in the Republican Party.

But at least he’s causing his comrades who are better at keeping this under wraps some headaches.

And just like that, Bo French has become a litmus test for every Republican on the ballot in Texas.

GOP candidates are now being asked if they agree with French, who is running for Texas Railroad commissioner, or if they condemn him for posting a picture of non-white University of Texas football fans celebrating the Longhorns win on Saturday night and calling them a problem.

“I heard UT graduation this year looked like this,” the Republican wrote on X. “I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”

And in case there was any doubt where he was going with that post, he followed up with another, using the same picture, saying, “Americans have been displaced by foreigners. It’s everywhere and far worse than any of us could imagine.”

French’s comments are spreading like a wildfire online, and they couldn’t come at a worse time for Republicans, who have just sunk $80 million in TV ads to try and take down Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico. French has single-handedly shifted attention away from Talarico and instead put it on which Republicans are bold enough to condemn him in a state where more than 60% of the state’s population is now non-white.

In short, French has hijacked GOP messaging in Texas just as counties across the state are mailing out their first ballots for absentee voters this week.

“Bo French is a distraction to other candidates in a very challenging political environment,” Austin-based GOP strategist Matt Mackowiak said.

[…]

The problem for Texas Republicans is that the backlash is quickly overwhelming social media and and breaking into the national mainstream, as people discover French is the GOP nominee for a statewide office. The Railroad Commission regulates the state’s oil and gas industry.

“There’s just something broken about people who see a good time at a football game and turn it immediately to race,” said Erick Erickson, an influential Christian broadcaster and conservative commentator.

Erickson predicted that students in the photo would soon come forward and point out they are native Texans.

They already have, Erick. And my heart just shatters for all those poor put-upon Republicans who have to say something about Bo French, none of which includes the words “and so you should vote for Jon Rosenthal instead of this piece of trash”. There is some debate over how much French’s nasty racism will be noticed by normal people and not just the weirdos on Twitter. All I can say is that my Instagram feed is still dominated by Bo French stuff. I don’t claim to be representative of anything, but there are many more normal people on Instagram than on Twitter.

I also like this Politico story.

The divide emerging among Texas Republicans over the social media post — and Democrats’ eagerness to capitalize on it — show just how precarious the party finds its position this cycle. Texas Republicans were already worrying about losing support from Hispanic and other minority voters amid a tough economic environment and President Donald Trump’s unpopular immigration agenda. They need to hold onto or improve the incremental gains they made over previous cycles with voters of color in a fast-changing state where non-Hispanic white people now only make up 37% of the population. The stakes are high this cycle: Most polls show Paxton slightly trailing in a Senate race that could determine control of the upper chamber; Abbott appears to be in the toughest of his four election fights; and the state is home to several key House races.

“I don’t think [French’s post] independently and universally sours voter sentiment. But it contributes to GOP declining numbers with Hispanic voters particularly in the South Texas congressional races which we hope to win,” said Alfredo Rodriguez, a Dallas-based Republican strategist, who called on French to “stop the petty political theatrics.”

The blast radius of French’s posts was wide enough to garner carefully worded responses from the top of the ticket. Abbott said in a Sunday statement that French’s post “is not my message,” before noting unity “doesn’t mean that Texas cannot also lead in having the toughest immigration laws of any state in America and freezing H1B visas at our universities.”

Two of the students in the photo told the Dallas Morning News that they’re U.S. citizens. Most UT students are Texans — state law requires that 90% of each freshman class come from in-state — and there is no evidence that the students in the photo French posted are foreigners.

Some Republicans weren’t thrilled about Abbott’s response.

“This had nothing to do with illegal immigrants,” said Anang Mittal, an Indian American national GOP strategist, of Abbott’s comments. “These were students at a college game. They’re not H-1B. If they’re students, they’re on a student visa. … It’s pretty damn disgusting of Greg Abbott to say, ‘I condemn racism, but also, like, we’re keeping all the Indians out.’ That’s essentially what that tweet read to me.”

[…]

Other Republicans were less willing to fully denounce French’s comments.

“I don’t really know the guy. I heard he said some not so pleasant things,” said Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), who said he hadn’t seen the posts — but launched into a criticism of immigration nonetheless. “I am concerned about the number of people living in this country, and we don’t even know who they really are,” he said. ”Shut the border down for 10 years, and then let’s try to figure out who we got in this country because we don’t even know.”

Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who campaigned with Talarico in Houston on Sunday, said French’s posts came up in conversations with every Asian American voter he met.

“Everyone was talking about it,” Kim said. “Every single Asian American that I was with yesterday raised this with me. They were saying this is an example of, ‘Not only are they not courting us or engaging with us, but they’re actively demonizing us, actively being xenophobic and racist towards us.’ We need leaders that stand up against this.”

The political damage could also extend — potentially for years — to Texas’ small but growing Indian American population, the demographic group French appeared to target in his posts. Both Dallas and Houston have significant Indian American populations. In 2019, an event at a Houston stadium headlined by Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi drew over 50,000 attendees.

French’s comments could alienate those same voters, said Brendan Steinhauser, a Republican consultant in Austin.

“He just irritated a bunch of people, many of whom could be supporters and could be Republicans,” said Steinhauser, a University of Texas graduate. “I’d be willing to bet a lot of those kids that he was posting a photo of are probably, you know, their parents might be Republicans, or they might be Republicans, or conservatives, or independent-leaning conservatives.”

That’s your mess to clean up there, Brendan. There is a very simple way for Republicans to truly distance themselves from Bo French. Karl Rove figured it out. And so has Glen Whitley:

When French unleashed a string of inflammatory social media posts in 2025, several GOP officeholders — including Patrick, the lieutenant governor — called on him to resign as county GOP chair. But Republicans now refuse to tell French to drop out now “because that might mean that there would be a Democrat elected statewide,” said Glen Whitley, a Republican former Tarrant County judge. “That’s the bottom line.”

“That’s part of my frustration with the Republican Party altogether: They talk about being Christian, but they get up every morning to talk about who they hate,” said Whitley, who still identifies as Republican but endorsed Talarico for Senate.

Yeah, there sure do seem to be a whole lot of self-proclaimed “Christians” over there who are completely unfamiliar with – or in too many cases, hostile to – the things that Jesus talked about. Maybe there’s a good starting point for all of the aggrieved consultants and advisors who wish they could talk about anything else but Bo French.

UPDATE: Add this Mother Jones story, in which I learn that Bo French wants to make America be Rhodesia, to the pile.

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Texas blog roundup for the week of September 14

Posted on September 17, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance is still laughing about Trumpapalooza as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff interviewed four Democratic statewide candidates: Rep. Jon Rosenthal, Sen. Nathan Johnson, Clayton Tucker, and Sen. Sarah Eckhardt.

SocraticGadfly, with author Jack Herrera providing his email on Twitter and asking for feedback, strongly critiqued and fact-checked Texas Monthly’s piece on the Rio Grande water crisis, and got no response from Herrera — and, unsurprisingly, none from the Monthly, either.

Neil at the Houston Democracy Project noted that Mayor Whitmire & HPD changed city policy on mandatory investigation of shootings involving federal law enforcement not long after Trump started his 2nd term. Maybe this action had a part in Whitmire saying off the bat that the city had no role in the ICE killing of Salgado.

==========================

And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Paradise in Hell did a yard sign survey.

Laura Rodriguez considers a lesson she learned from 9/11.

City of Yes reflected on the absence of the Twin Towers.

The TSTA Blog finds no moral imperative to send public funds to private schools.

Chris Tackett documents the polling place closures ordered by the Republicans on Tarrant County Commissioners Court.

Aleksandra Vaca is very clear about the need to support James Talarico over Ken Paxton in the Senate race.

The Fort Worth Report welcomes some brand-new endangered gharial crocodiles to the zoo.

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Interview with Michelle Palmer

Posted on September 16, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Michelle Palmer

What can you say about the State Board of Education? Sometimes they lie dormant, and sometimes they go full-on whackadoo. That’s where we are now, and so another thing you could say about the SBOE is that it would be a much better and more functional entity if it had people like Michelle Palmer were on it. Palmer is a history and government teacher, an advocate for her students, and a dedicated activist and organizer. She’s run for this office twice before, in 2020 and 2022, and is as dedicated to the challenge as ever. I’ve interviewed her before, you can listen to our 2022 conversation here, and you can listen to our 2026 conversation right here:

Here’s the transcript, courtesy of Greg Wythe. Did I say I had one more interview for you this week? Turns out I have two, so get ready. And let me know what you think.

PREVIOUSLY:

Rep. Jon Rosenthal – Railroad Commissioner – Transcript
Sen. Nathan Johnson – Attorney General – Transcript
Clayton Tucker – Ag Commissioner – Transcript
Sen. Sarah Eckhardt – Comptroller – Transcript
Commissioner Adrian Garcia – Harris County Commissioners Court, Precinct 2 – Transcript
Shaun Finnie – CD02 – Transcript

From the primaries:

Leticia Gutierrez – CD09 – Transcript
Christian Menefee, CD18 (from the special election) – Transcript
Rep. Sylvia Garcia, CD29 – Transcript
Melissa McDonough – CD38 – Transcript
Justin Early, CD31 – Transcript

Staci Childs – HD131 – Transcript

Letitia Plummer – Harris County Judge – Transcript
Abbie Kamin – Harris County Attorney – Transcript
Traci Gibson, HCDP Chair – Transcript

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Judicial Q&A: Judge Linda Marie Dunson

Posted on September 16, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for Democratic judicial candidates. I ran a series of these for candidates in contested primaries, and now these are for the rest of the candidates. I am running these responses in the order that I receive them from the candidates. Much more information about Democratic candidates, including links to interviews and judicial Q&As, can be found on Erik Manning’s spreadsheet.

Judge Linda Dunson

1. Who are you and in which court do you preside?

I am Judge Linda Marie Dunson, and I am honored to serve as the Presiding Judge of the 309th Family District Court in Harris County, Texas. I have dedicated my legal career to serving families, protecting children, and ensuring that every person who enters my courtroom is treated with dignity, fairness, and respect. For me, being a judge is more than a position—it is a responsibility to administer justice with integrity, compassion, and fidelity to the law.

2. What kind of cases does this court hear?

The 309th Family District Court hears cases involving some of the most important and personal issues people will ever face. Those include divorce, child custody, child support, enforcement matters, protective orders, and cases involving the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

These cases involve real families at critical moments in their lives. The decisions made in family court can affect a child or family for many years, so I approach every case with careful attention to the law, the evidence, and the individual circumstances before me.

3. What have been your main accomplishments during your time on this bench?

One of my greatest accomplishments has been working to make the 309th Family District Court a courtroom that is efficient, accessible, fair, and responsive to the needs of families.

I am especially proud of our work in trauma-informed care. The 309th was selected as one of six Trauma-Informed Pilot Courts in Texas, and I have worked to bring greater awareness of trauma and its impact on children and families into the administration of justice.

I am also proud of our Annual Family Reunification Celebration, where we recognize families who have successfully navigated the child welfare system and have been reunited with their children. It reminds us that courts should not simply process cases—we should also recognize progress, accountability, healing, and successful outcomes.

Throughout my service, I have also emphasized professional development, collaboration with community partners, and maintaining a courtroom where people are heard and treated with dignity.

4. What do you hope to accomplish in your courtroom going forward?

Going forward, I want to continue building upon the progress we have made.

My goal is to make the 309th Family District Court even more efficient while never losing sight of the people behind every case number. I want to continue strengthening trauma-informed practices, improving outcomes for children and families, reducing unnecessary delays, and expanding collaboration with attorneys, agencies, and community partners.

I also want to continue looking for innovative ways to improve access to justice. Family court can be overwhelming, particularly for people who have never encountered the legal system before. A good court should be fair, understandable, efficient, and respectful.

Ultimately, I want the 309th to continue being a court where the law is followed, families are treated with dignity, and children remain at the center of the decisions that affect their futures.

5. Why is this race important?

This race is important because family courts touch the lives of thousands of Harris County families.

When people vote for a family court judge, they are choosing the person who may one day make decisions affecting their marriage, their children, their safety, or the future of their family.

Judicial elections matter. Experience matters. Temperament matters. Knowledge of the law matters. And having a judge who understands both the legal and human dimensions of family law matters tremendously.

The voters deserve judges who will be independent, fair, prepared, compassionate, and committed to equal justice under the law. That is why this race deserves their attention.

6. Why should people vote for you in November?

I believe the people of Harris County should vote for me because I have demonstrated the experience, leadership, temperament, and commitment necessary to serve effectively on this bench.

I know this court. I know family law. And I understand the tremendous responsibility that comes with making decisions that can shape the lives of children and families.

My record reflects innovation, professionalism, fairness, and a commitment to improving the administration of justice. But just as importantly, I have never forgotten that behind every case number is a person—and often a child—whose life will be affected by what happens in that courtroom.

I am asking the voters to allow me to continue the work we have begun: keeping families first, protecting the integrity of the court, and administering justice fairly and impartially.

I would be honored to earn their vote in November and to continue serving as Judge of the 309th Family District Court.

PREVIOUSLY:

Judge Damiane Dianne Curvey, 280th Family District Court
Judge M. Monica Singh, Harris County Civil Court at Law #4
Judge Cory Sepolio, 269th Civil District Court
Samantha Davis, 313th Juvenile District Court
Judge Melissa Morris, 263rd Criminal District Court
Judge Toria J. Finch, Harris County Criminal Court at Law #9

From the primaries:

Judge Kristen Hawkins, Supreme Court Justice, Place 7
Sarah Beth Landau, Chief Justice of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals
Judge Tanya Garrison, 157th Civil District Court
Julia Maldonado, 183rd Criminal District Court
Judge Brian Warren, 209th Criminal District Court
Judge Josh Hill, 232nd Criminal District Court
Judge Leah Shapiro, 315th Juvenile District Court
Judge James Horwitz, Harris County Probate Court #4
Ebony Williams, Harris County Civil Court at Law #2
Judge Andrew Wright, Harris County Criminal Court at Law #7

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Cook Political Report/TelevisaUnivision: Dems running strong with Latino voters in Texas

Posted on September 16, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Good news.

A new survey of Texas Hispanic likely voters, conducted for The Cook Political Report and TelevisaUnivision, finds the Democratic candidates in the state’s Senate and gubernatorial contests leading their GOP opponents by a 2-1 margin with the key voting bloc, as President Donald Trump’s job approval rating in the state has sunk to just 33% with a demographic group that swung hard in his direction in 2024.

The poll, conducted August 26 —September 3 by Democratic firm Hart Research and Republican firm OnMessage Inc, also included an oversample of Hispanic voters in the Rio Grande Valley/South Texas, the centerpiece of Trump’s 2024 coalition and the home to three marquee House races (in TX-15, TX-28 and TX-34). In that subsample, Democrats enjoyed a 14 point advantage over Republicans, 53% to 39%, on the generic ballot.

Hispanic voters in Texas understand the important role they play in Texas elections. Seven in ten said they think Hispanics in the state have a lot or some political influence, including 41% who said they have “real political power” in Texas. Moreover, two-thirds said they’d like candidates to conduct outreach in the Hispanic community in Spanish, and 69% said they believe candidates signal that they “want to earn my vote” when they appear on Spanish-language media.

Democrats’ strong showing among Hispanics in the Lone Star state is a significant shift from 2024, when Trump carried Hispanic voters by 10 points and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz carried them by three.

In this cycle’s Senate contest, Democratic state Rep. James Talarico leads Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton among Hispanic voters by 63% to 30%, including a whopping 73% of self-described independents.

And in her race against incumbent GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, who won 40% of Hispanics in 2022, Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa leads among Hispanic voters, 60% to 33%.

Much of the shift in support to Democrats is driven by a fracturing of the coalition that supported Trump in 2024.

    18% of Texas Hispanics who voted for Trump in 2024 disapprove of the job he is doing.

  • 19% of Hispanic Trump voters say they support Talarico over Paxton.
  • 22% of Hispanic Trump voters do not support a Republican House candidate in a generic trial heat.
  • Just 60% of Hispanic Trump voters believe the Republican Party does a better job standing up for the Hispanic community, compared to 91% of Harris voters who believe that Democrats do a better job.

Full poll data, which includes a number of questions about issues, is here. This was just a sample of Latino voters, so there’s no statewide results. We’ve seen plenty of statewide polls in which Talarico and Hinojosa have not done as well with Latino voters as they did in this poll. That doesn’t mean this one is correct, but it is a larger sample than one gets in a general poll, so do bear it in mind. The voters from this sample went for Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in 2024 by a 48.4 to 40.9 margin. Link via G. Elliott Morris.

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

NHL expansion is “inevitable but not imminent”

Posted on September 16, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

That NHL team we’re waiting for could take awhile to arrive.

NHL expansion to Texas might be inevitable, but that doesn’t mean it’s imminent.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly pumped the brakes on the notion of rapid league expansion Wednesday at the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas — talk Daly fueled at the European stop on the media tour in Munich on Aug. 22. Though the league has engaged in significant discussions with Houston billionaire Dan Friedkin about bringing a 33rd franchise to Houston or Austin, there are still a few hurdles to clear.

The first comes Sept. 22, when the NHL board of governors will weigh in.

“I don’t want to get ahead of the board,” Daly said Wednesday. “I don’t want to treat it like a done deal, because it’s not. It’s not a done deal on the Friedkin side, and it’s not a done deal on our side. And that’s why it’s kind of a nonbinding term sheet (agreed to with the league). We’re both going to work hard to achieve that goal. But at the end of the day, it might not happen.”

Another hurdle is that either city would need to build a new arena to attract an NHL expansion franchise. Toyota Center, home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, isn’t an option for the new team. Neither is Moody Center, Austin’s 4-year-old multipurpose arena on the University of Texas campus. Arenas take time to plan and build, meaning Daly’s previously stated target of a 2029-30 season debut might be overly optimistic.

But Daly expressed little concern about that Wednesday.

“I don’t think there’s any magic about the date of entry,” Daly said. “If it’s not ’29-’30, it’ll be ’30-’31. I don’t think that’s going to be a prime gating factor.”

[…]

Between the two cities, Houston is the more likely landing spot for a new team. It’s the fourth-largest city in the United States, with a population of roughly 2.4 million. But the NHL has had success in mid-tier markets such as Raleigh, N.C., San Jose, Calif., Nashville, Tenn., and Las Vegas. Being the first major team to come to a city rather than entering a crowded market has its advantages. Austin would fall into that category.

“I’ve heard that, and I feel it, as well,” Daly said. “Austin, we’d be the first of the major four (leagues) to put a franchise there. And there’s some benefit to coming first. It’s an up-and-coming, growing city. Young, affluent — it has a lot going for it. But Houston is, like you said, enormous, and it is a major market that we’re not in. We don’t have the same footprint across the United States that the other major professional leagues do. So, to add a city of Houston’s size and demographics to our league, there would be certainly benefits associated with that.”

See here and here for some background. I’m not sure if the order of operations is “pick a city and then figure out where the arena will be built” or “pick a site where an arena will be built and that will determine the city”. Maybe we’ll know more after September 22. I’ll keep an eye on it.

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Interview with Shaun Finnie

Posted on September 15, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Shaun Finnie

We move now to Congress and the CD02 race where Shaun Finnie started out as an opponent to Rep. Dan Crenshaw, then had the Republican primary voters hand him Steve Toth instead. Finnie was raised on a family farm by a single mother but got to go to college and eventually got a law degree and an MBA. He worked as a lawyer in the oil and gas industry and then as an investment banker in that field. He’s put a lot of investment into this campaign, on tough turf in a good year against a terrible opponent. I’m aware of his recent comments about transgender people, which were made after we spoke, and I would encourage you to contact his campaign about it, after you listen to the interview.

Here’s the transcript, courtesy of Greg Wythe. I’ve got two more interviews this week, then on to the Legislature next week. Let me know what you think.

PREVIOUSLY:

Rep. Jon Rosenthal – Railroad Commissioner – Transcript
Sen. Nathan Johnson – Attorney General – Transcript
Clayton Tucker – Ag Commissioner – Transcript
Sen. Sarah Eckhardt – Comptroller – Transcript
Commissioner Adrian Garcia – Harris County Commissioners Court, Precinct 2 – Transcript

From the primaries:

Leticia Gutierrez – CD09 – Transcript
Christian Menefee, CD18 (from the special election) – Transcript
Rep. Sylvia Garcia, CD29 – Transcript
Melissa McDonough – CD38 – Transcript
Justin Early, CD31 – Transcript

Staci Childs – HD131 – Transcript

Letitia Plummer – Harris County Judge – Transcript
Abbie Kamin – Harris County Attorney – Transcript
Traci Gibson, HCDP Chair – Transcript

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Judicial Q&A: Judge Toria J. Finch

Posted on September 15, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for Democratic judicial candidates. I ran a series of these for candidates in contested primaries, and now these are for the rest of the candidates. I am running these responses in the order that I receive them from the candidates. Much more information about Democratic candidates, including links to interviews and judicial Q&As, can be found on Erik Manning’s spreadsheet.

Judge Toria J. Finch

1. Who are you and in which court do you preside?

I am Judge Toria J. Finch, Presiding Judge of Harris County Criminal Court at Law No. 9.

2. What kind of cases does this court hear?

This court hears Class A and Class B misdemeanor criminal cases, which carry a jurisdictional range of punishment of a fine up to $4,000 and/or up to one year in the Harris County jail, or both.

3. What have been your main accomplishments during your time on this bench?

My main accomplishments include serving in leadership roles as a Presiding and Co-Presiding Judge for the Harris County Criminal Courts at Law, and as the Local Administrative Judge for all twenty Harris County civil and criminal courts. In these roles, I am proud of the collaborative work we have accomplished—including laying the groundwork for meaningful misdemeanor bail reform; launching vital initiatives like the Managed Assigned Counsel Program, Open Hours Court, and Cite and Release Court; and expanding innovative programs like the B.A.Y.O.U. City Community Court’s Fresh Start Program and the P.A.C.E. Restorative Justice Initiative, to name a few. We have achieved all of this while successfully navigating unprecedented challenges, such as the pandemic and major facility disruptions, and steadily reducing case backlogs without compromising community safety.

4. What do you hope to accomplish in your courtroom going forward?

Going forward, my goal is to continue reducing the case backlog and maintaining efficient court management while ensuring Court No. 9 remains a place of truth, justice, fairness, and compassion for everyone who appears before us, regardless of socio-economic status, race, gender, or background while also incorporating more restorative justice programs.

5. Why is this race important?

This race is crucial because it decides the future direction of our county criminal courts at law, putting criminal justice reform, proven judicial experience, and active community engagement directly on the ballot.

6. Why should people vote for you in November?

Voters should support me and all Democratic Judges up and down the ballot because of our proven, substantive track record, and we are deeply committed to finishing the reforms we started, expanding our community programs, and protecting the progress we’ve worked so hard to achieve. We can’t afford to go back!

PREVIOUSLY:

Judge Damiane Dianne Curvey, 280th Family District Court
Judge M. Monica Singh, Harris County Civil Court at Law #4
Judge Cory Sepolio, 269th Civil District Court
Samantha Davis, 313th Juvenile District Court
Judge Melissa Morris, 263rd Criminal District Court

From the primaries:

Judge Kristen Hawkins, Supreme Court Justice, Place 7
Sarah Beth Landau, Chief Justice of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals
Judge Tanya Garrison, 157th Civil District Court
Julia Maldonado, 183rd Criminal District Court
Judge Brian Warren, 209th Criminal District Court
Judge Josh Hill, 232nd Criminal District Court
Judge Leah Shapiro, 315th Juvenile District Court
Judge James Horwitz, Harris County Probate Court #4
Ebony Williams, Harris County Civil Court at Law #2
Judge Andrew Wright, Harris County Criminal Court at Law #7

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A Bo French roundup

Posted on September 15, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Whether you tried to peacefully enjoy some college football this weekend – and as predicted there were too many ads for terrible candidates to avoid – or you tried your best to be sports-free, you probably couldn’t make it to Monday without hearing about this:

This cursed tweet and a million reactions to it were all over whatever form of social media you torment yourself with. As noted, some Republicans did condemn him in various ways, while others were notably absent or thoroughly bad-faithed. French of course basked in the attention because that’s who he is.

We don’t have the time to wallow through all that right now. There are two points of interest here, beyond the obvious. One is that this has also brought a lot of attention to Rep. Jon Rosenthal, as most of the repliers and quote-tweeters that I saw indicated their support for his candidacy, as well they should. Rosenthal had just gotten a nice interview with Inside Climate News:

Jon Rosenthal, a Democratic state representative from Houston, is facing off against Bo French, a far-right Republican culture warrior from Fort Worth, for a seat on the commission that regulates the oil and gas industry in Texas.

In an interview with Inside Climate News during a campaign visit to El Paso this month, Rosenthal shared his vision for the oil and gas regulatory agency and responded to French’s inflammatory attacks.

The Railroad Commission of Texas no longer regulates the state’s railroads and instead oversees the vast oil and gas industry, including pipelines, drilling permits, waste disposal and new programs like carbon capture and storage.

Rosenthal worked as a mechanical engineer in the oil and gas industry for 25 years. Following Donald Trump’s 2016 election, he ran for state representative and flipped a seat that had been held by Republicans for more than two decades. Rosenthal has served on the Energy Resources Committee throughout his nearly eight years in the Texas House.

French, the Republican nominee, stepped down as Tarrant County GOP chair to run for commissioner, defeating incumbent Jim Wright in the May 2026 primary run-off. He was raised in Midland in the heart of the gas- and oil-rich Permian Basin, and his family has oil and gas holdings. French spent his career as a trader and more recently in politics. His social media is filled with calls to deport 100 million people and ban “Sharia law” in Texas.

Rosenthal, the only Jewish member of the Texas House, told Inside Climate News he is compelled to speak out against “bigotry and discrimination” and unite with Texans of all backgrounds.

Inside Climate News reached out to French for comment on Rosenthal’s criticism of what he called anti-semitism and Islamophobia in French’s campaign materials. French did not respond.

The Railroad Commission’s three members, all Republicans, serve staggered six year terms. Wayne Christian and Chairman Christi Craddick’s terms run through 2028 and 2030, respectively. The general election race to fill Wright’s seat between Rosenthal and French is on Nov. 3.

You can also of course listen to my interview with Rep. Rosenthal. Note that this story published on September 11, two days before this particular French tweet. You could have published it basically any time and had something recent and vile that he had said to refer to.

The other point is how this derails other messages that Republicans would like to push while putting them all on the spot. Here’s the editorial page take, which praises the Republicans who did say something and then turned to the rest of them:

That’s a good start. Here’s the next step: Republicans need to tell their voters not to support French for railroad commissioner. This wasn’t an isolated incident. French has a long history of racism and it isn’t going to stop unless voters make sure he loses.

If George H.W. Bush could endorse Democratic candidate Edwin Edwards against former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke in the race for Louisiana governor, then today’s Republicans should be bold enough to at least tell their base to skip over French’s name. Republicans don’t even have to go as far as Hawk Dunlap, who lost in the GOP primary against French and endorsed the Democratic candidate Jon Rosenthal. Just say no to Bo.

Republicans had the opportunity to shut him down in their primary, much like how Texas Democrats rejected the antisemitic Maureen Galindo in the primary for the 35th Congressional District. Gov. Greg Abbott campaigned for the incumbent, Jim Wright. But Republicans still failed. Now the fight against French’s bigotry has made it to the general ballot.

You could say this is one of those “do right and risk consequences” moments that Sam Houston once described, but the reality is that the policy consequences for Republicans are quite minimal. Even if Rosenthal wins, Republicans will still have a two-vote majority on the three-member Railroad Commission. Conservatives will still largely get their way no matter what. And Rosenthal will bring the useful perspective of an experienced oil and gas engineer.

The bar for political courage here is very, very low. And yet many Republican candidates we’ve met during endorsement screenings have failed to meet it. Perhaps this moment will convince them to finally speak up.

If they don’t, Republicans risk the consequence of having to answer questions about why they elected an unrepentant racist to office. And the risk for all of us is that we’ll have a railroad commissioner who, as Gov. Greg Abbott said during the primary, “doesn’t know anything about oil and gas” and would “wreck” the industry. That we’ll have a man in power who doesn’t want Texas to win if he doesn’t like the color of the fans’ skin.

Since then, Abbott has endorsed French. So has Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who once said French engaged in “[a]ntisemitism and religious bigotry.” For those wondering, Attorney General Ken Paxton backed French in the GOP primary.

The Longhorns put up a hard fight to win on Saturday. Republicans’ battle against the racists in their own party should be an easy one — but with the way things are going, don’t be surprised if they choke.

Robert Downen made the same point about this race being more or less meaningless to the Republicans, versus having to deal with this guy as an elected official. But of course they’ve known about him for a long time and taken minimal action to try and stop him. And there’s also a the bigger picture here, which is being held aloft by many very dirty hands:

Lone Star Left brings a longer list of receipts. The Observer notes that a non-trivial number of elected Republicans (and other prominent figures) proudly stood with French. This is where we are. As repulsive as it all is, I’m glad it was made clear to as many people as possible.

UPDATE: One other feature from social media was journalists asking people who were in that picture to contact them and talk about their experience. Here’s two of them talking to the DMN.

Dhairya Gupta and his friends arrived at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday wearing orange, hoping for an upset.

The Longhorns squeaked out a victory against top-ranked Ohio State with a thrilling fourth-quarter comeback. The camera cut to Gupta and his friends after the go-ahead touchdown. Gupta, his arms outstretched to the sky as he flashed the “Hook ‘em” sign with both hands, grinned for all to see. To his right was Rahul Kodali, a friend since the first day of freshman year, his face frozen in apparent disbelief. Kodali lost his voice that night. Gupta went home to watch the highlights.

Saturday was a blast.

Then came Sunday morning.

A man Gupta had never heard of, Bo French, was trending on X after singling out a photo of Gupta, Kodali and other Texas students celebrating. French said the photo, largely depicting men with brown skin, illustrated a problem at the university.

“It was just us having some enjoyment,” Gupta, 21, said in a phone interview Sunday. “And now it’s just people being blatantly racist toward us.”

[…]

While Gupta and Kodali are of South Asian descent, both said they are U.S. citizens. Gupta is an immigrant from India who moved to the U.S. when he was about 5 years old and gained citizenship in his childhood, he said. Kodali, his friend, was born in Syracuse, New York. His family moved to the Dallas area when he was a toddler. He graduated from Flower Mound High School in Denton County and receives in-state tuition.

“Whether or not we are immigrants, that doesn’t change anything,” Kodali, 21, said. “I’ve been an American my entire life.”

[…]

Gupta, a senior and computer science major, picked UT because he believed it was a great school with a thriving athletics department located in a major city that keeps growing. He met Kodali his first day of school as a freshman, and they bonded over their love of the English soccer team Chelsea.

Gupta enjoyed the diversity of the student body.

“Texas is broad enough that you really get to meet people of all different types,” he said. “I’ve gotten opportunities here that I wouldn’t necessarily get elsewhere.”

In the last few years, that kind of diversity has been attacked. And throughout the 2026 campaign, French has been at the forefront of those attacks as he’s repeatedly spoken out against diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

Gupta said racism has risen within the last 10 years — since President Donald Trump’s first campaign in 2016. He’s seen blanket racist statements before, he said, but he had difficulty describing racism being “directly applied to us.”

“I’d never seen this in lower-level elections, and then seeing this happen right now, just from an innocent moment at a football game at the state’s university, I just thought it was surprising that people are going out of their way to be racist on that,” he said.

He also became concerned when he realized French is seeking elected office, which gives him a platform.

“They have people voting for them, and they’re not scared to say this kind of thing,” Gupta said. “It’s becoming to the point where this kind of racism just isn’t looked down upon as much as it used to be — or it feels like that.”

Kodali, who is also a senior and computer science major, took issue with some posts seeming to defend him and other students as assimilating into American culture by attending a UT football game and wearing cowboy hats or cowboys boots.

“I’m going to the games because I like the team,” he said. “I’m not doing it for this old noble cause.”

Asked if there’s anything either would like to say to French if they met him, Kodali said there’s nothing he could say “that could knock a dent in a person that talks like that.”

Gupta said he would tell French that being an immigrant doesn’t mean UT’s culture will shift one way or another.

“We have a different color in our skin, we might speak different languages, but at the end of the day, all of us are still going to the same university,” Gupta said. “We’re still standing behind the same team.”

Gupta also spoke to the Houston Chronicle, and I’m sure others will have their say as well. (He and a couple of others also spoke to the Trib.) I’m with Kodali on not having anything to say to Bo French. There’s no point, and he doesn’t deserve whatever grace one may have in trying to reach him.

UPDATE: Holy cow.

Karl Rove, former adviser to President George W. Bush and longtime Texas GOP political consultant, said he will vote for Jon Rosenthal, a Houston Democrat running to serve the Texas Railroad Commission, after Republican Bo French posted racist comments on Sunday about South Asian students at the University of Texas at Austin.

Rove made the comments at a members-only lunch event at the Headliners Club in Austin, where he called French a “bigot,” according to three attendees to whom The Texas Tribune has granted anonymity to discuss the conversation.

Rove said he has only ever voted for one Democratic candidate, Texas Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, who was up for reelection in 1994.

I need to go check and see if rivers are running uphill. Apparently, Rove is now teaching grad students at the UT school of public affairs. Never ever thought I’d say these words, but I hope a lot of Republicans listen to what Karl Rove is saying here.

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Interview with Commissioner Adrian Garcia

Posted on September 14, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Adrian Garcia

We’re going to start the second week of interviews with a very familiar face, that of two-term County Commissioner Adrian Garcia, from Precinct 2. You know his story by now: He served three terms as Houston City Council member in District H, with his first election in 2003. He was then elected Sheriff, by a large margin, in 2008 and served until 2015 when he made an unsuccessful run for Mayor. After an unsuccessful primary challenge to US Rep. Gene Green in 2016, he returned to county politics by knocking off two-term Commissioner Jack Morman in 2018. I spoke to him most recently for that 2022 re-election campaign, which you can find here. As is always the case, there’s a lot to talk about and we could have kept on going, but I think I hit the highlights. Here’s our conversation:

Here’s the transcript, courtesy as always of Greg Wythe. I’ve got a mix of different interviews this week, and will move on to the Legislature next week. Let me know what you think.

PREVIOUSLY:

Rep. Jon Rosenthal – Railroad Commissioner – Transcript
Sen. Nathan Johnson – Attorney General – Transcript
Clayton Tucker – Ag Commissioner – Transcript
Sen. Sarah Eckhardt – Comptroller – Transcript

From the primaries:

Leticia Gutierrez – CD09 – Transcript
Christian Menefee, CD18 (from the special election) – Transcript
Rep. Sylvia Garcia, CD29 – Transcript
Melissa McDonough – CD38 – Transcript
Justin Early, CD31 – Transcript

Staci Childs – HD131 – Transcript

Letitia Plummer – Harris County Judge – Transcript
Abbie Kamin – Harris County Attorney – Transcript
Traci Gibson, HCDP Chair – Transcript

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Judicial Q&A: Judge Melissa Morris

Posted on September 14, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for Democratic judicial candidates. I ran a series of these for candidates in contested primaries, and now these are for the rest of the candidates. I am running these responses in the order that I receive them from the candidates. Much more information about Democratic candidates, including links to interviews and judicial Q&As, can be found on Erik Manning’s spreadsheet.

Judge Melissa Morris

1. Who are you and in which court do you preside?

I’m Judge Melissa Morris, presiding judge of the 263rd District Court in Harris County, Texas.

2. What kind of cases does this court hear?

The 263rd is a criminal district court. We hear felony criminal cases including low level drug offenses to violent crimes like capital murder that are charged in the Harris County criminal justice system.

3. What have been your main accomplishments during your time on this bench?

During my time on the 263rd, I’ve focused on strengthening access to justice and court efficiency. I chaired the court’s Indigent Defense Committee and took on the role of Defense Liaison to support representation for those who can’t afford an attorney. I’ve also worked to improve docket management, including remote appearance options and participation in early resolution efforts, to help cases move efficiently through the system. Those efforts reduced my docket from approximately 2100 cases to approximately 770. Alongside that, I’ve built an internship and mentorship program that brings law and college students into the court each summer which ends in a mock trial competition I started and co-direct with two other judges.

4. What do you hope to accomplish in your courtroom going forward?

I’m committed to running an efficient, well-managed court and continuing to expand access to justice for everyone who comes before it, including making sure indigent defendants have adequate representation, treating lawyers with professional courtesy and respect as well as ensuring the promise of equal protection under the law for all who are affected by my decisions. I also plan to keep growing our internship and mentorship program so more students see a path into the legal profession. I intend to continue executing a partnership between my Alma Maters Prairie View A&M University and Thurgood Marshall School of Law to support students in an accelerated transition from undergrad into law school along with a classmate and fellow jurist.

5. Why is this race important?

Judicial elections determine who administers justice in Harris County. How courts are run, how efficiently cases move, and whether every person who comes before the court is treated fairly and given individualized consideration is paramount to community safety and democracy as a whole.. It’s a role that touches thousands of lives each year, which is why voters should pay attention to judicial races, not just the top of the ticket.

6. Why should people vote for you in November?

I bring 16 years of criminal defense experience to the bench, along with a demonstrated record of expanding access to justice and running an efficient courtroom. I apply the law fairly, rule decisively, speak respectfully, and study the law consistently. I make the decisions the law dictates without regard for personal feelings, political blow back or outside influence. I’d be honored to continue that work for another term.

PREVIOUSLY:

Judge Damiane Dianne Curvey, 280th Family District Court
Judge M. Monica Singh, Harris County Civil Court at Law #4
Judge Cory Sepolio, 269th Civil District Court
Samantha Davis, 313th Juvenile District Court

From the primaries:

Judge Kristen Hawkins, Supreme Court Justice, Place 7
Sarah Beth Landau, Chief Justice of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals
Judge Tanya Garrison, 157th Civil District Court
Julia Maldonado, 183rd Criminal District Court
Judge Brian Warren, 209th Criminal District Court
Judge Josh Hill, 232nd Criminal District Court
Judge Leah Shapiro, 315th Juvenile District Court
Judge James Horwitz, Harris County Probate Court #4
Ebony Williams, Harris County Civil Court at Law #2
Judge Andrew Wright, Harris County Criminal Court at Law #7

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Why did HPD change its policy on officer-involved shootings?

Posted on September 14, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t get it.

More than a year before a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in east Houston, Mayor John Whitmire’s administration quietly changed a decades-old policy that required Houston Police Department detectives to investigate every officer-involved shooting within city limits, regardless of which agency those officers work for.

Since at least the 1990s, HPD officers have responded to these shootings, collecting evidence at the scene and coordinating interviews of witnesses and the officers involved, according to experts and past presentations to Houston City Council. In early 2025, however, Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz changed course and started deferring to the law enforcement agency responsible for the shooting.

Instead of automatically responding, now HPD treats each shooting on a case-by-case basis, Diaz said. They opted not to respond when they were notified about Salgado’s shooting.

The change came roughly a month after President Donald Trump assumed office for a second term, promising dramatically expanded immigration enforcement. In January 2025, his administration began pulling grants from cities and law enforcement agencies it said were not ideologically aligned with its priorities.

Diaz said Trump’s administration and its positioning on grants had nothing to do with the agency’s decision.

As a result of the policy change, HPD investigators did not respond to the scene when an ICE agent shot and killed Salgado in July. Instead, representatives with the district attorney’s office were the first local investigators to the scene, a day later, losing precious hours to collect their own evidence and testimony before federal authorities consolidated control.

[…]

In an interview, Diaz said he reversed the policy around February 2025 because past HPD investigations were often futile, with federal officials stonewalling detectives and refusing to give them access to the scene and the evidence that comes with it. As a result, he said, those local investigations merely echoed the conclusion of federal investigators.

“Most of the time, the police department was just kind of standing around and not getting the information they actually needed to investigate,” Diaz said. “I need to have access to the evidence. I need to have access to see if there’s any videos involved. And when you don’t have access to this, we’re just in a holding pattern in the hopes that later they share information with us.”

Brian Harris, a retired HPD homicide investigator who taught classes on how to respond to officer-involved shootings until 2016, said Diaz is right that federal agencies frequently made it hard for local investigators to question agents. Still, Harris said, there simply cannot be a homicide investigation if local authorities do not respond.

“Are the feds equipped to do that investigation?” Harris said. “Are they the agency regularly investigating homicides and murders? No. Even when the FBI is called in on a murder case, it’s always for some specialty purpose – their behavioral unit, or for their technology.”

Local investigators could still collect evidence, even if they were slowed from questioning witnesses, Harris said.

“Go and ask the DA or anyone else who they’d rather investigate homicides in the city of Houston – trained homicide investigators from the city or county, or a random FBI or DEA agent?” Harris said.

[…]

In 2017, former HPD Chief Art Acevedo created a specialized unit to handle these calls, according to a presentation to city council. The team included two lieutenants, four sergeants and 16 officers tasked with investigating allegations of misconduct by HPD employees and any sworn peace officers whose offense occurred in the city of Houston.

Those officers would “automatically” respond to and investigate all shootings or uses of force within HPD’s jurisdiction, according to Harris, who said that policy was in place since at least the 1990s.

Records from the time show relatively few cases between 2017 and 2020, peaking at 11 such shootings in 2018. None of the investigations resulted in charges filed against the officer.

An earlier statement from HPD said another rationale for the change was to reduce “duplicated efforts.” Harris said those investigations have always been a tiny fraction of the homicide division’s caseload, which has only gotten smaller in recent years as homicides have declined and other responsibilities, such as investigating assaults and gang violence, have moved to other divisions.

While federal authorities frequently keep investigators from immediately speaking with agents, there is still utility to a quick response, Harris argued, because any delay means videos might get deleted, shell casings might get buried underfoot or fingerprints might be washed away in the rain.

No other agency is better equipped to handle the role of investigating the shooting than HPD, Harris said. While federal authorities might be good at filing complex warrants or tracking down international criminal organizations, they have little experience with homicides.

Still, Diaz argued there is little utility in sending officers to wait on the sidelines.

“I think I have the finest team in the state to be frank with you,” he said, “and they’re capable of doing anything here, but if our federal partners decide, ‘Hey you can’t come on the scene,’ or they don’t call us, or they call us and say, ‘We have this one, we don’t need your help,’ that’s where we’re at with these investigations.”

There’s more and it’s a gift link, so read the rest. I would have been deeply annoyed if the reason for this had been standard Trump administration bullying nonsense, but I would have at least understood the motivation. The actual motivation seems to be a desire to not waste time and resources on investigations that have universally been futile. I do get that, but the volume is small and the importance of each case is high, so it seems misguided to me. At the very least, I don’t get why HPD would be content with letting other agencies, ones they clearly see as being less able to do this job, do what they do in their place. Just for the pride of it, I don’t understand why they’d let this go. And while we may never get a resolution in this incident regardless of how it plays or might have played out, we’ll also now never know for sure what we could have discovered had this been properly investigated from the jump. That feels very wrong to me.

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Can Austin ISD avoid being taken over?

Posted on September 14, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Maybe. This one trick might help.

In an effort to keep the Austin school district independent, Mayor Kirk Watson is pushing to close two chronically-failing middle schools that triggered the state’s takeover law. He’ll need parents’ help to do it.

Watson’s plan, released in his newsletter Wednesday morning, cites a little-known state rule that would give weight to a parent petition asking for the schools’ closure.

Last month, both Webb and Burnet middle schools received preliminary fifth failing accountability ratings from the Texas Education Agency for the 2025-26 school year, triggering state intervention that could close the schools or see a board of managers replace the elected school board. Austin ISD has until Sept. 11 to appeal the preliminary ratings, but if either rating becomes final the state is mandated under law to intervene. The manner of intervention is up to Education Commissioner Mike Morath.

However, Watson cites a caveat in the state education code which mandates Morath follow the will of a parent petition submitted to TEA if the parents of a majority of enrolled students request closure of the schools instead of a district-wide takeover. The plan comes at a high-stakes moment for Austin ISD. TEA declined the district’s plan to avoid takeover by surrendering control of three failing schools to an external operator earlier this year. Watson told Austin Current he remained optimistic that takeover was not the only option left for Austin ISD and was in frequent talks with Austin ISD leadership over potential outcomes.

“Texas law gives the parents at Webb and Burnet a powerful voice,” Watson’s statement said Wednesday. “That gives this community a path to act instead of simply waiting for something to happen to us. It gives families most impacted a say in what comes next.”

A parent petition to close the schools instead of taking over the district would have to be signed by the parents of the majority of students enrolled at each failing school and submitted to Superintendent Matias Segura for validation by Oct. 15. Segura would then have to submit a validated copy to Morath no later than Dec. 1. Morath would be obligated by law to order the action requested by the parents.

If Austin ISD’s board of trustees presents a written request to the commissioner opposing the parent petition, the commissioner could choose to side with the board.

See here for the previous update. That’s the key, this has to come from the parents of the schools in question and not the Austin ISD Board of Trustees. I’ll quote from the Watson Wire email about a key detail.

There’s a path worth pursuing short of the state replacing the elected leadership of an entire school district serving roughly 70,000 children.

And, make no mistake, if the state takes over the district, we can reasonably expect that Webb, Burnet, and other district campuses will be closed.

Texas law gives the parents at Webb and Burnet a powerful voice. If a majority of parents petition for closure, the Commissioner must close the campuses rather than replace AISD’s elected board.

That gives this community a path to act instead of simply waiting for something to happen to us. It gives the families most impacted a say in what comes next.

And Austin has an opportunity to do this without breaking these school communities apart.

A brand-new $158 million, state of the art, building is going up right now at Burnet Middle School’s existing site.

Superintendent Segura’s past work gives me confidence that he would develop an ambitious plan that refuses to disperse students from struggling campuses among existing middle schools. I trust him, with the support of the elected board, to create a new school in a brand-new facility that keeps each school community together.

And I believe he will listen to the families and work with the community to fundamentally rethink what surrounds those students and families: academic interventions, exceptional teachers and leadership, mental-health and family support, extended learning opportunities, community partnerships and dedicated support services.

We can expect him to include whatever the evidence tells us these children need to succeed, and we can expect him to listen to the parents most impacted.

Then I think Commissioner Morath should give this plan and the districtwide reforms already underway the time to demonstrate results.

We’re not asking the state to suspend accountability. We’re asking the state to let results determine what happens next.

I think the key to maybe getting parents on board is the assertion that these schools, plus some others, will be closed anyway in a taken-over Austin ISD. If that’s the case, then at least this approach will maintain local control over the district and a chance to rebuild those schools in a better and more sustainable way. I’d at least be open to the pitch if I were a Webb or Burnet parent.

But I’m not, and I have no idea if this will catch on, or if it could be done in a timely fashion. I like that Mayor Watson is at least looking at all the options and not just giving in. It would have been nice to have known about this in HISD a couple of years ago, whether or not that path would have been taken. Too late now, and maybe too late for AISD, but perhaps other districts may benefit some day. Good luck, y’all.

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Weekend link dump for September 13

Posted on September 13, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

“The monstrosity would still be an ugly appendage that wrecks the symmetry of the historic White House. But over time, we’d grow accustomed to having a multi-purpose venue that serves the needs of both the president and the capital. As part of recovering from this sordid era, we’d turn a monument to Trump’s ego into a symbol of community and the importance of recreation.”

“We know food doesn’t look like this. The restaurant and café owners know that they’ve never cooked anything that remotely resembles the output of Midjourney. And yet we’re told this is the new normal. AI is here to stay so just order your dinner and avoid the queasiness these images induce.”

“The new reporting is the latest illustration of the Court’s fear of public scrutiny. Access to the justices’ papers would help the public understand what the Court is doing and how the Court really works. That knowledge is a prerequisite for holding the Court accountable. Roberts wants the justices to take that knowledge to their graves so that he can bury the prospect of accountability along with them.”

“This is pure enshittification. Of all the ingenious, innovative ways that Amazon came up with to make money, the most successful is a scam that makes everything you buy more expensive even as it reduces the profits of the companies you’re buying from. It’s another example of corruption: a system of concentrated gains and diffuse losses – and once again, it’s the most profitable thing Amazon does. And then…Amazon made it worse.”

“Disney is bringing more of Rick Riordan‘s expansive mythological universe to life. A live-action series adaptation of The Kane Chronicles is currently in development at Disney+.”

“It is a little sad. We’ve just come through this pandemic where 20 million people died. And what’s our response? We’re going to shut down work on viruses. That doesn’t really compute.”

“Nobody ever criticized my work, ever. They just criticized me.”

“In the realm of Christian theology, I might suggest putting it this way: “Never attribute to sin that which is adequately explained by finitude.” I think this helps us to perceive our human neighbors more accurately but also to regard them more graciously and more gracefully, in every sense. (Freely you have received, freely give.)”

“This just feels so comfortable, so home. This is home.”

“Rule of thumb: It’s a bad thing when you notice an umpire during a game, and Doug Eddings made sure he was noticed [last] Friday night at Coors Field.

“That’s the one bit of trouble with Ivanka Trump’s little project: The people of Albania are very, very angry about it. The development has provoked fury all summer and sparked the biggest outbreak of civil unrest since communism collapsed in the country 35 years ago, in what has now been dubbed, relevantly, the Flamingo Revolution. Even the European Union has gotten involved, and not on the side of the trailblazing couple. The world has never seen a movement quite like this.”

“Congrats, you cut the cord. Now you have six more cords. Streaming prices are rising three times as fast as inflation, making escaping cable company greed now seem quaint.”

“A swarm of rogue OpenAI agents hijacked a German website this spring and transformed it into a bulletin board for other AI agents, according to ​new research published Friday and two people familiar with the matter.”

“The Woman Profiting Off the WNBA’s Trans Panic”. Anytime there’s a panic, there will be grift.

“For now, the anti-abortion activists at the tip of the spear are trying to run back 2024’s failed effort again, this time in a slightly different outfit. If Wednesday’s case, Louisiana v. FDA, makes its way up to the Supreme Court, the justices will again face an effort to restrict mifepristone for blue states as well as red ones, premised on the wobbliest of injuries.”

“Today marks a full year that the Trump administration has used military aircraft and weapons to destroy suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing hundreds of alleged traffickers to date. Officials portray these strikes as a tougher approach to combating narcotics trafficking. In reality, they represent something far more troubling: an unlawful expansion of military force into what has long been—and should remain—a law enforcement mission.”

“At 74, he rarely gives interviews. But when Mr T decides to talk, he really does talk. What Mr T thinks, Mr T says. And I’ve never heard anyone trash the very thing they’re here to promote quite like Mr T does today.” Also, too, today I learned that Mr. T attended Prairie View A&M and was a math major, until he was expelled for participating in a student protest.

“I think that is what I feel most acutely: That maybe that’s possible. That maybe a collection of documentary evidence and human sources who are brave enough to talk to a journalist, and months of research that have been vetted legally and otherwise, can combine to create something like consequences at a time at which those extraordinarily wealthy people seem to be able to avoid them.”

“What’s noticeable by its absence is photographic documentation of people who are not scientifically inclined visiting scientific places. You don’t regularly see adults traveling without children going to a natural history museum, let alone a science museum. Even zoos and aquariums are not common destinations for adult tourists.”

“Whose job was it to make sure all the clocks were on the same page? Whose job was it to tell the video reviewers that they were grading off the wrong rubric? Was that actually their job, anyway, given that the protocol wasn’t written out? Should the Big Ten commissioner have stepped in to prevent Western Michigan from getting screwed? That’s probably the best place to land, but then again, his job is to negotiate TV deals and pervert the College Football Playoff into a 24-team monstrosity, not to be the master of rules minutiae that aren’t even written down.”

RIP, Barry Melrose, former NHL player, coach, and TV analyst.

If you want to see James Talarico talk to Jimmy Kimmel, you’ll have to find it on YouTube.

“Your Deadbeat President Is Never Giving You $5,000″.

“This may be the do-nothingest Congress in generations. But it produced a bumper crop of scandals.”

“At this point it may seem absurd to analyze any of Trump’s lies, as he delivers them reflexively and without caring, apparently, whether they are believable. But it’s worth a minute to examine this one.”

“It’s incredibly ironic that ESPN would give an unopposed platform to a Republican senator from Texas to talk about politics in the very same week when ABC cowered away from airing a Jimmy Kimmel interview with a Democratic Senate candidate, James Talarico, and was forced to air it on YouTube thanks to threats from the federal government.”

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged | 5 Comments

SCOTx blocks use of Galveston post-primary redistricting map

Posted on September 13, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Hallelujah.

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday prohibited Galveston County from using new voting boundaries for the November general election, ruling county leaders improperly redrew district lines after the primaries.

State law requires “the conduct of elections be uniform and consistent throughout this state,” the court said in an unsigned opinion that directed Galveston County to use the same precinct maps from the March primary election.

The court rejected Galveston County’s argument that the state law giving commissioners the power to redraw precinct lines “from time to time” means they can decide when to do so.

“The County has identified no historical precedent for a Texas county taking such action, and it has not identified any valid source of legal authority for its action,” the court said.

“Recognizing that commissioners courts may make such changes more often than every ten years to ‘meet the changing needs of the people’ does not broadly empower commissioners courts to take redistricting actions contrary to the ‘uniform and consistent’ statutory structure of elections,” the court said.

[…]

Galveston County Judge Mark Henry told the Houston Chronicle earlier this year that the mid-election cycle redistricting was done to align precincts for the “most efficient and beneficial setup,” helping keep the county Republican.

But the Texas Supreme Court said redrawing political boundaries during an ongoing election raises “serious constitutional concerns.”

“A primary election and the corresponding general election are one election for purposes of this principle, which we consider to be foundational to the electoral structure prescribed by our Election Code,” Friday’s ruling said.

Galveston County can use the newly drawn maps after the November election, the court said, but separate lawsuits are pending to prevent the new lines from being enforced.

See here and here for the background. It’s hard to analyze these stories without going full “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills” because it’s so stupidly obvious that Galveston County was acting in bad faith, based on a risible reading of the law in question. While there were some worries about a lack of timely action from SCOTx on this, I am glad to see that in the end they gave Galveston County Commissioners Court the dismissive you-must-think-we’re-idiots ruling it deserved. We can have a proper fight over what map they should be using for 2028 after this election. Having the November election with the same map used in March is more than enough for now. The Chron and Texas Public Radio have more.

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

No, I don’t think Chris Hollins is running for Mayor next year

Posted on September 13, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Not based on this, anyway.

Chris Hollins

City Controller Chris Hollins sent the strongest signal yet on Wednesday that he could launch a challenge against Houston Mayor John Whitmire’s bid for a second term in 2027.

Hollins, the city’s second-highest-ranking elected official, swiped at Whitmire during remarks at a press event in Dallas, where he appeared with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker as part of Democrats’ pushback against the ongoing midterm Republican National Convention.

While much of Hollins’ short speech was aimed at boosting statewide Democratic candidates, including James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa, he named Whitmire, who he has long clashed with over city finances and other issues, on a list of officials he hoped would be soon unseated.

“We have folks who will do anything that they can to be the lapdog or the doormat of this demented, incompetent tyrant,” Hollins said, referring to President Donald Trump. “We’re stuck for now, for just a couple more days, with Greg Abbott, with Ken Paxton.

“We’re stuck for a little bit longer with Ted Cruz, with (Dallas Mayor) Eric Johnson, with John Whitmire,” Hollins continued. “But the day for change is coming.”

Hollins did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. In a statement, Whitmire called the controller’s remarks “silly politics that I do not have time for.”

I say that I don’t believe Hollins is running for Mayor in 2027 for the simple reason that he’s not been raising money like someone who wants to run for Mayor in that short timeframe. CM Ed Pollard is clearly running for Mayor, and I believe Controller Hollins very reasonably thinks that there isn’t enough room for a third candidate. I also believe that maybe a day after the 2027 Mayoral election is concluded, with Mayor Whitmire very likely being elected to a second term, Hollins very reasonably thinks he will be christened as The Frontrunner for 2031, for a multitude of obvious reasons. And, again very reasonably, he thinks his odds will be better in 2031 in an open field against however many as-yet unknowns (sorry, but even I have no interest in speculating about who else could be running at this time) than they would next year against Mayor Whitmire, who is (until proven otherwise) still broadly popular even if the people who dislike him do so with a much greater fervor now than they did initially.

That’s how I see it, anyway. Hollins could of course prove me wrong anytime. Until then, I think this was just a bit of sniping, not even really escalatory in my view. Make of it what you will.

Posted in Election 2027 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Of course the maternal mortality study will be delayed

Posted on September 13, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Can’t have information that may make Republicans look bad come out before the election, now can we?

Health officials say they need more time to complete a report on maternal deaths — likely punting the fullest accounting of pregnancy-related deaths since the state’s abortion ban took effect until after the midterms.

The biennial report has historically been released on Sept. 1, but lawmakers were informed last week that it would not be completed by then. The Department of State Health Services said the report will be finished by Dec. 1 under a new deadline the state Legislature approved last year.

Advocates and Democrats say that will give lawmakers little time to craft bills for the next legislative session, which starts in January — and it will likely keep voters in the dark ahead of the high-stakes midterms.

The Texas House Women’s Health Caucus wrote to acting health commissioner Imelda Garcia on Wednesday urging her to release the findings sooner.

“The Department knows that releasing this report by September 1 is essential to the Legislature’s ability to act,” state Rep. Ann Johnson, a Houston Democrat, said in a statement. “Any further delay is not merely bureaucratic; it is an unconscionable dereliction of duty to Texas mothers and families.”

Democrats say the timing is suspicious, given the Dec. 1 deadline is after Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans who supported the state’s abortion ban are up for reelection.

[…]

The women’s health caucus letter says the delay is “particularly disturbing” because lawmakers last session voted to eliminate redaction requirements that the committee had said previously slowed its work.

Minutes from the committee’s December meeting show it was on track to complete the report by Sept. 1. The minutes say the committee was set to finish reviewing 2024 cases by this May.

Nakeenya Wilson, a former member of the committee, said there is no obvious reason the committee would need more time. In the past, reports have been amended after publication to meet the Sept. 1 deadline.

“I don’t need to speculate about motive to know that Texans deserve an answer,” Wilson said. “DSHS told us in December that this report would be published by Sept. 1. They laid out a work plan that had case review ending in May and recommendations being completed in June. So what changed? What work remains? And why should Texans have to wait until after they elect a governor to see findings about preventable maternal deaths?”

The story refers to the report from 2022 and which contained data for 2018 through 2020, which was also delayed until December, also in a year where Greg Abbott was on the ballot. It was in December of 2024 that the committee announced that it would finally include 2022 and 2023 data, for the report this year. Not sure why this is called a “biennial” report when it either didn’t happen in 2024 or didn’t include any more recent data than the one two years before it, but here we are. We do already know of at least three deaths that can be directly blamed on the ban, plus plenty of near misses and cases of sepsis. Will any of that be in the report? We’ll have to wait until December to see. Daily Kos has more.

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Surrogate denied custody, appeals to SCOTUS

Posted on September 12, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

A correct ruling, in my opinion.

A Texas judge has ruled against an Alaskan surrogate in her bid to obtain custody over a medically fragile baby she birthed in Dallas.

According to a Wednesday filing, attorneys for the surrogate McKenna West are now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene after Texas’ unfavorable decision.

“A stay is needed to preserve the status quo and ensure M.W. (McKenna West) can advocate for her rights and remain informed about Baby G. during this critical time in his young life,” the filing stated.

The high-profile, multi-state dispute landed in Dallas last month after West flew to Texas, which bans abortion, to seek sole conservatorship over the child. She said she wanted custody so she could make medical decisions for the child instead of the biological parents Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar. She also accused Ahmed and Gilkar, who are from California, of pressuring her into getting an abortion because the fetus has a condition where the left side of his heart is severely underdeveloped.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened and state District Judge Ashley Wysocki, a recent Gov. Greg Abbott appointee, ordered two Dallas hospitals to provide care and that the baby remain in Texas until a final decision could be made about West’s conservatorship case.

After West gave birth on Aug. 12, Ahmed and Gilkar, who named the child Rumi, obtained a restraining order barring her from seeing or holding the child. At a subsequent Dallas court hearing, they did not deny they at one time considered abortion after learning the child was diagnosed with an underdeveloped heart, preventing normal blood flow. But, they said they eventually decided the pregnancy should proceed.

They informed Wysocki that their dispute with West escalated after they tried to get West to come to California to meet with medical experts to devise a plan for Rumi’s medical care.

Wysocki’s decision last week is not publicly available because the entire case has been sealed, a clerk for the judge informed The Texas Tribune. Neither the legal team for West nor the one representing the parents immediately returned emailed requests for comment.

However, within West’s appeal on Wednesday are details that the Dallas court eventually ruled against her on Sept. 2 in her fight for sole conservatorship over the baby she calls Gabriel. The judge — apparently deferring to a decision by the California courts that upheld Gilkar and Ahmed’s parental rights over Rumi — dismissed West as a party.

“That irreparable harm from Texas’s enforcement of the California judgment matters immensely because Baby G. is in the midst of a course of several life-saving surgeries needed to treat his condition,” West’s recent filing states.

West’s attorneys contend that because of that dismissal, “future care for Baby G. is uncertain and unknowable.” One surgery has been performed on the child but Rumi’s parents have said through their lawyers that no other information about the child’s condition will be released.

West’s appeal also indicates that the couple have sued her for at least $100,000 in damages.

West’s filing also revealed that Rumi may be transferred to California and placed in hospice care. “Indeed, the child could be removed from the Texas hospital and taken to California for hospice—despite his treatable condition—around September 17, if not sooner,” her filing states.

See here, here, and here for the background. I don’t know how it is that a lawsuit in state district court can get appealed all the way to SCOTUS like that. Someone will need to explain that to me. As for the appeal itself, it sounds mostly like a disagreement about parenting decisions, and I guess you have to believe that the surrogate has standing to even entertain any of that. KERA adds some details.

West, Gilkar and Ahmed entered into a surrogacy agreement last year in which West agreed to terminate the pregnancy at the genetic parents’ request if doctors detected a fetal abnormality. The fetus was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome in April, about 20 weeks into West’s pregnancy.

Gilkar and Ahmed requested West have an abortion. West scheduled at least two different appointments to get the abortion, but she testified in court last month that she couldn’t go through with the procedure.

West alleges Gilkar and Ahmed then further pressured her to get an abortion. Gilkar, who also testified, said she and her husband pivoted to finding medical care for their unborn son once West refused an abortion.

But West then withheld medical records from the couple, Gilkar testified, and did not inform them of her move to Texas ahead of time. West made the move because Dallas hospitals could provide life-saving care for the child, and she had a support system here, she said. West also connected with anti-abortion organizations, including Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton soon intervened in the case, asking a judge to issue an emergency order requiring doctors to provide the boy “stabilizing and life-sustaining” care upon his live birth. Paxton withdrew from the case after the child was born Aug. 12 and doctors performed the Norwood procedure, the first of three open-heart surgeries needed to treat his heart defect.

The newborn had breathing problems and received a blood transfusion after the surgery, Gilkar testified.

West wrote in a New York Post op-ed that the genetic parents committing to providing life-saving care for the child was “all it would take to end” the litigation, but later backtracked, saying in court she would continue the case. Although Gilkar testified she and her husband would continue pursuing surgery for the boy, West’s testimony indicated she didn’t believe them.

West still doesn’t, according to Wednesday’s petition, because Ahmed and Gilkar are still challenging the order Paxton obtained in Dallas court.

“If successful, they will be permitted to do what the Texas Attorney General thus far prevented them from doing: decline to provide Baby G. with any further care,” the filing reads.

Still pending is West’s lawsuit in Alaska asking a trial court to deem her the child’s legal parent.

I don’t think I knew that there was a lawsuit in Alaska as well. Ms. West is a busy litigant. I don’t think any of her actions have merit, but I have no idea how this will play out.

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Republicans go all in on AI slop ads

Posted on September 12, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this.

Facing increasingly tight polling and an apparent inability to make dirt stick on their Democratic rivals, two of Texas’ highest-profile Republican elected officials have resorted to using artificial intelligence to generate phony footage for their attack ads.

Lt. Gov. Patrick used controversial AI deepfake technology in a spot that debuted over Labor Day weekend mocking Texas Democrats running this election cycle.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign debuted an AI-generated ad showing James Talarico reading fake passages from the Bible — an apparent attempt to slam the state rep’s background as a seminarian. The spot was released to coincided with the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas.

“Ken Paxton and his billionaire backers are using AI deepfake videos to literally put words in James’ mouth because they can’t rely on facts to win this race,” Talarico campaign spokesman JT Ennis told the Current.

Patrick’s political ad, posted on his social media accounts, featured the likenesses of his Democratic challenger Vikki Goodwin as well as those of Talarico and gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa, also Democrats.

The phony clip shows Goodwin playing spoilsport at a University of Texas Longhorns football game as she proposes new taxes, including a soda tax, a brisket tax, a happiness tax and a “nostalgia surcharge.”

“They should be chanting taxes instead!” the digitally generated Goodwin is shown saying as the crowd chants “Texas.”

Next, the clip shows a phony Gina Hinojosa appearing at Texas Tech to demand a permit for Red Raider fans’ finger guns.

Finally, the spot includes fake footage of Talarico at a Texas A&M game eating tofu and asking why the 12th Man has to be so gendered.

Goodwin told the Current during a Wednesday phone call that the ads’ fake images and fabricated statements show the desperation of Patrick’s campaign.

“My platform is something that resonates with people, so I don’t really need to lie,” Goodwin said. “There’s a lot of information out there about my opponent already, so there’s not any need for me to put out negative AI ads.”

1. This is both desperate, as Rep. Goodwin says, and pathetic. I will be far from the first person to observe how these guys never had to engage with their opponents before, and it shows. We can all have our own opinions of AI and its usage, but we can all also agree that chumps make AI slop like this. You can see the ads embedded in the story, but why would you? Your brain gets rotted enough by the Internet without going out of your way to watch this stuff.

2. That doesn’t mean it won’t work. People aren’t good at all at distinguishing deepfakes from reality, mostly because at this point the video quality of the deepfakes is too damn convincing. There are other context clues, and really anyone with an ounce of critical thinking ability ought to see right through these. But it might sway some reluctant Republicans to get out and vote. Whatever happens in the election, we’ll never really know what if any effect they had. I doubt it will be much, but I also doubt it will be zero.

3. There’s no valid reason why these ads should be allowed to run. Spare me your First Amendment arguments, this is “shouting FIRE in a crowded theater” stuff to me. The public good outweighs Dan Patrick’s artistic license. I have no idea what the best way to disincentivize the use of these things, but I’m open to any and all reasonable suggestions. It will be nothing but this from now till the end of time if there’s any belief that they’re effective. Those who will want to outlaw this crap will have a very limited window of opportunity to take action against it.

UPDATE: Per John Moritz in the Chron:

All this begs the question: Is it legal to use deepfake ads in political races in Texas?

Short answer, yes. But a 2019 state law says they cannot be used in the final 30 days of a campaign. Deepfakes are not regulated in federal races.

Good to know. Let’s all be prepared to file complaints if we see them after October 4.

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Fifth Circuit again rejects DREAM Act intervention effort

Posted on September 12, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

It’s like they just don’t give a crap.

The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied advocacy groups’ bid for a new hearing to defend the Texas Dream Act, a state law that granted in-state tuition rates at public universities for undocumented students.

In July, a panel of three judges from the federal appeals court ruled 2-1 that Austin Community College and advocacy groups could not intervene in a lawsuit that ended the Texas Dream Act. The panel said federal law bans colleges from offering benefits to undocumented students unless citizens, including out-of-state residents, are also eligible.

In response, the advocacy groups requested an “en banc” hearing, an appeal for the full bench of federal judges to rehear the case. For the case to be reconsidered, at least one judge must request a vote on whether to take up the case again, and a majority of the judges must agree.

None of the judges requested the court be polled on whether to rehear the case, according to Tuesday’s ruling.

The denial marks the latest legal blow to the first-of-its-kind state law, which granted students who had lived in Texas for three years before high school graduation in-state tuition at public colleges and universities.

Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which is representing one of the groups in the case, said he was “disappointed” in the court’s denial to rehear what he called a “terribly flawed panel decision.”

“We are considering our best option to protect the rights of the many Texans who relied upon tuition equity and the Texas Dream Act to pursue higher education,” he said in a statement.

See here for the previous update. All they’re asking for is the chance to provide a defense for this decades-old law that the state of Texas refuses to defend. It seems like the most basic of principles that someone should be allowed to do that, and yet here we are. They wouldn’t even let the whole court hear the motion. It’s as cowardly as it is corrupt. And now the only move I can see is SCOTUS. It’s ridiculous. The Trib has more.

Posted in La Migra, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Interview with State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt

Posted on September 11, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Sen. Sarah Eckhardt

We wrap up our week with the statewide candidates with our candidate for Comptroller, Sen. Sarah Eckhardt. A fixture in Travis County politics, having been the first woman elected Travis County Judge after two terms as County Commissioner, she is now in her third term in the Senate from SD14. The daughter of former Congressman Bob Eckhardt, she has passed laws to protect children’s healthcare, to lower barriers for Texans returning to school, and to provide a tuition exemption for paramedics, among others. The Comptroller is an office with a lot of not-always-visible power, with oversight of budgets and the power of audits, and now management of the voucher program. It’s also now in the hands of wingnut former Senator Don Huffines, who was appointed as the second Acting Comptroller in less than a year as a peace offering by Greg Abbott, whom he had previously challenged as insufficiently zealous in a primary. The contrast between the two couldn’t be clearer, and you can hear all about it in the interview:

Here’s the transcript, provided as always by Greg Wythe. Next week will be an assortment of interviews for different offices, and after that we’ll get to a bunch of Legislative candidates. Let me know what you think.

PREVIOUSLY:

Rep. Jon Rosenthal – Railroad Commissioner – Transcript
Sen. Nathan Johnson – Attorney General – Transcript
Clayton Tucker – Ag Commissioner – Transcript

From the primaries:

Leticia Gutierrez – CD09 – Transcript
Christian Menefee, CD18 (from the special election) – Transcript
Rep. Sylvia Garcia, CD29 – Transcript
Melissa McDonough – CD38 – Transcript
Justin Early, CD31 – Transcript

Staci Childs – HD131 – Transcript

Letitia Plummer – Harris County Judge – Transcript
Abbie Kamin – Harris County Attorney – Transcript
Traci Gibson, HCDP Chair – Transcript

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Judicial Q&A: Samantha Davis

Posted on September 11, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for Democratic judicial candidates. I ran a series of these for candidates in contested primaries, and now these are for the rest of the candidates. I am running these responses in the order that I receive them from the candidates. Much more information about Democratic candidates, including links to interviews and judicial Q&As, can be found on Erik Manning’s spreadsheet.

Samantha Davis

1. Who are you and what are you running for?

I’m Samantha Y. Davis, and I'm running for Judge of the 313th Judicial District Court in Harris County. My legal career spans more than 20 years, concentrated in juvenile law, family law, DFPS cases, adoptions, and personal injury. I earned my J.D. from Thurgood Marshall School of Law and my undergraduate degree from the University of Houston-Downtown, and I’m a
Native Houstonian who has built my entire career serving this community.

Since 2019, I have served as the Harris County Juvenile Referee and Associate Judge, presiding over detention hearings, trials, and DFPS, adoption, and immigration-related matters in the Harris County Juvenile District Courts, including the 313th itself. That means I am not asking voters to take a chance on someone new to this bench — I am the judge already doing this work, asking for the opportunity to keep doing it as the elected Judge of the 313th.

2. What kind of cases does this court hear?

The 313th Judicial District Court is one of Harris County’s juvenile district courts. It hears juvenile criminal cases involving youth charged with violations of Texas law, and it hears child protection cases brought under the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), including allegations of abuse and neglect, family reunification, and adoption matters.

These are cases where the outcome shapes a child’s safety, a family’s stability, and often a young person’s entire future — which is exactly why I believe experience on this specific docket
matters so much in this race.

3. Why are you running for this particular bench?

I’ve spent the last several years serving this exact court system as the Harris County Juvenile Referee and Associate Judge, presiding over detention hearings, trials, and DFPS, adoption, and immigration-related matters in the Harris County Juvenile District Courts, including the 313th. I know firsthand what this docket demands: the urgency these families are facing, the real consequences of delay, and the balance a judge has to strike every day between accountability and rehabilitation.

I’m running because I believe the 313th needs a judge who has already done this work and understands it from every angle — not someone learning it for the first time — and because I care deeply about the children and families who depend on this court to treat them fairly and move their cases forward without unnecessary delay.

4. What are your qualifications for this job?

My legal career spans more than 20 years, concentrated in juvenile law, family law, DFPS cases, adoptions, and personal injury, with additional experience in probate, civil, and criminal matters. As a solo practitioner from 1999 to 2019, I represented juvenile clients charged with violations of Texas law and represented parents and children involved with DFPS. I was certified to serve as Attorney Ad Litem in Civil, Family, Juvenile, Probate, and Tax Courts, and I am also a Certified Mediator.

Since 2019, I have served as the Harris County Juvenile Referee and Associate Judge, presiding over detention hearings, trials, and DFPS, adoption, and immigration-related matters in the Harris County Juvenile District Courts, including the 313th. That breadth of experience — as defense counsel for juveniles, an advocate for parents and children in DFPS cases, a neutral Attorney Ad Litem, and now a sitting judge — gives me a complete view of how cases move through this court system from every vantage point.

5. Why is this race important?

The 313th Judicial District Court handles matters that directly affect child safety, family stability, and the future of young people in our community. The judge who sits on this bench decides how quickly a child reaches permanency, whether a family gets a real chance at safe reunification, and whether a young person is set on a path toward accountability and rehabilitation, rather than simply punishment.

Delays or inconsistency on this bench have lasting consequences for children and families who have no choice but to be here. Voters in this race are choosing who makes those decisions, and they deserve a judge who already understands this docket and is ready to serve it well, starting on day one.

6. Why should people vote for you in November?

I’m the candidate who is already doing this work. Since 2019, I’ve served as the Harris County Juvenile Referee and Associate Judge, presiding over the same detention hearings, trials, and DFPS matters that come before the 313th, and I bring more than 20 years of legal experience as defense counsel, an advocate for parents and children, and a neutral Attorney Ad Litem before that.

I’ve built a record of applying the law fairly and consistently, treating every child and family who appears before me with dignity, and balancing accountability with real opportunities for rehabilitation. I’m asking voters to elect the judge who is already doing this job on their behalf, and who is ready to keep doing it as the elected Judge of the 313th Judicial District Court.

PREVIOUSLY:

Judge Damiane Dianne Curvey, 280th Family District Court
Judge M. Monica Singh, Harris County Civil Court at Law #4
Judge Cory Sepolio, 269th Civil District Court

From the primaries:

Judge Kristen Hawkins, Supreme Court Justice, Place 7
Sarah Beth Landau, Chief Justice of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals
Judge Tanya Garrison, 157th Civil District Court
Julia Maldonado, 183rd Criminal District Court
Judge Brian Warren, 209th Criminal District Court
Judge Josh Hill, 232nd Criminal District Court
Judge Leah Shapiro, 315th Juvenile District Court
Judge James Horwitz, Harris County Probate Court #4
Ebony Williams, Harris County Civil Court at Law #2
Judge Andrew Wright, Harris County Criminal Court at Law #7

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Two more positive polls

Posted on September 11, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

From the AARP:

Today, AARP released new polling highlighting the outsized role Texas’s highly motivated older voters are poised to play in the state’s closely watched gubernatorial and Senate races in November — and the issues that will be top of mind for these pivotal voters at the ballot box, including Social Security, Medicare, and affordability.

“Texas’s upcoming elections will be among the most closely watched races in the country, and all eyes should be on the state’s older voters,” said Nancy LeaMond, AARP Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy Officer. “Voters age 50 and older are highly motivated to cast ballots, driven largely by financial concerns — from the cost of groceries, medicine and utilities to protecting Social Security. Their voices will be decisive on Election Day. Candidates who want to earn their support need to address these issues.”

Voters age 50 and older dominated both parties’ 2026 Texas primaries, accounting for nearly 55% of ballots cast in the Democratic primary and 78% of ballots cast in the Republican primary. AARP’s new polling suggests this high level of engagement is likely to continue: 84% of voters 50+ rated themselves a “10” on a 10-point motivation-to-vote scale, compared with 70% of voters under 50. Older swing voters make up almost 9% of the Texas electorate and roughly half of swing voters statewide, underscoring how influential this block will be for both tight races.

In the highly watched race for Senate, Democrat James Talarico holds a narrow 4-point (48%-44%) lead over Republican Ken Paxton, with 8% of voters undecided. Among voters age 50+, however, Paxton is up by 13 points (53%-40%). Talarico leads with 50+ swing voters by a significant margin (38%-17%).

In the governor’s race, Republican Greg Abbott holds a narrow 3-point (49%-46%) edge over Democrat Gina Hinojosa. Abbott’s lead is wider among 50+ voters, polling at 59% to Hinojosa’s 38%. Abbott also leads with 50+ swing voters by 31 points, and 50+ women by 15 points.

“This year’s Senate and gubernatorial races are both shaping up to be down to the wire, and older Texans are a crucial demographic for all candidates involved,” said Lisa A. Rodriguez, AARP Texas State Director. “Day-to-day realities like caring for an aging family member or grappling with rising grocery prices are driving their votes. They’re looking for leaders who will step in and advocate for policies that help them age with financial security, independence, and dignity.”

AARP’s polling found that affordability is the top issue for Texas voters 50+, followed by immigration and Social Security and Medicare.

[…]

AARP commissioned the bipartisan polling team of Fabrizio Ward (R) and Impact Research (D) to conduct the survey of likely Texas voters. This is the fifth poll in AARP’s 2026 battleground polling series, following surveys of Michigan, Arizona, Ohio and Georgia. The firms interviewed 895 likely voters statewide. The survey was done between August 30-September 1, 2026. The interviews were conducted via live interviewer on cell phone (40%) and landline (15%), as well as SMS-to-web (45%). The sample was randomly drawn from the Texas voter list. The margin of sampling error at the 95% confidence level for the 895 statewide sample is ±3.3%.

View the full survey results at www.aarp.org/tx2026voterpoll and more information on our poll at www.aarp.org/TXpoll. Additional information about AARP’s 2026 battleground polling series is available at www.aarp.org/voterpolls2026.

Poll data can be found here. Talarico does a little better across all the demographics than Hinojosa does, and I note that Ken Paxton continues to have Republican problems, as he only leads Talarico 83-9 among GOPers, with the rest undecided. Abbott leads Hinojosa 90-7 among the reds, which is both a decent showing there by Hinojosa (she leads among Dems 94-3, with Talarico at 94-2) and a reminder that Paxton is still working on those pesky Cornyn voters. Trump has a 43-54 approval rating, while Abbott clocks in at 44-48, and Dems are more motivated to vote.

And from Univision/YouGov:

A new N+ Univision News/YouGov survey points to an unsettled, competitive political landscape in Texas heading into the 2026 midterm elections. While statewide contests for governor, U.S. Senate, and the generic congressional ballot remain dead heats, the poll’s Latino oversample reveals friction inside the coalition that helped power Donald Trump’s historic gains two years ago.

Though Hispanic voters continue to give Democratic contenders an overall edge, the deeper story is a notable wave of second thoughts: roughly one in three Latino Trump voters now expresses doubt or outright regret over their 2024 choice, driven by administration actions, cost-of-living fatigue, and growing anxieties over racial profiling.

These shifting currents are poised to decide an already razor-thin gubernatorial contest. Statewide, Democrat Gina Hinojosa and Republican incumbent Greg Abbott are deadlocked at 47% each. Abbott’s challenge lies partly in a 12-point deficit among Latino voters, who back Hinojosa 54% to 42%. Yet that Hispanic advantage is held together almost entirely by Latina women, who favor Hinojosa by an 18-point margin (57% to 39%). In contrast, Latino men remain locked in a near-even split (49% Hinojosa to 47% Abbott), underscoring that even marginal shifts among Hispanic men could tip the balance statewide.

That dynamic carries over into the federal ticket. In the U.S. Senate race, Democrat James Talarico leads Republican Ken Paxton statewide, 48% to 43%, fueled by a wider 56% to 37% margin among Hispanic voters. Similarly, on the generic U.S. House ballot, Democrats hold a slight two-point edge statewide (48% to 46%), but expand that lead to 13 points (54% to 41%) within the Latino electorate.

Crucially, these numbers do not reflect an automatic snap-back to the historic, lopsided Democratic majorities of past decades. Republicans have preserved some foothold. Instead, the data captures a fracturing among Hispanics who crossed over to back Trump in 2024. While 64% of Latino Trump voters report feeling good about their vote and would repeat it, the remaining third shows cracks: 14% harbor some doubts, 7% report serious doubts that could alter their vote, and 12% voice outright regret. Roughly one-third of Latino Trump voters express some level of doubt, uncertainty, or regret. By comparison, statewide Trump voters show greater durability, with 73% reaffirming their vote and only 6% expressing regret.

Trump himself remains a polarizing and net-negative figure in Texas. Statewide, 42% of voters view him favorably, while 52% view him unfavorably. Among Latino voters, his standing is weaker: 38% view him favorably, while 55% view him unfavorably. That broader image problem helps explain why the doubts among some 2024 Trump voters matter heading into the midterms.

Scroll down to see the data. That’s the best result yet for Hinojosa, who has not led Abbott in any poll but has been within one point on a few of them. The generic Congressional ballot was 49-45 for Republicans in the AARP poll. I don’t expect to get back to 2010s levels of Latino Democratic voting, though that sure as hell would be nice, but given Democratic gains among white voters we probably don’t need to be at those levels. Again, I’d much rather have that than not. I found this poll via The Downballot, and the AARP poll via the Trib poll tracker, which currently has Talarico up by 3.6 points.

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Interview with Clayton Tucker

Posted on September 10, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Clayton Tucker

Next up on the queue for statewide candidates is Clayton Tucker, who is running for Commissioner of Agriculture. That office is currently held by Sid Miller, who was ousted with more than a little help by Greg Abbott, not without some very hard feelings. Tucker grew up part of a ranching family in Lampasas, and now runs the family ranch after having graduated from Southwestern University, working as a water/ag researcher for the National Science Foundation, studying in Taipei, and teaching kindergarten. He ran for SD24 in 2020 and is Secretary of the Texas Farmers Union, and is now a leading voice against the proliferation of data centers in Texas, joined in that campaign by current Ag Commissioner Sid Miller. We had a lot of ground to cover, and he was in a car going from one event to another as we spoke, so the audio is a little bumpy sometimes. But his message is clear, and you can hear it here:

A transcript of our conversation is here, courtesy of Greg Wythe, who also did some cleanup work on the audio.

PREVIOUSLY:

Rep. Jon Rosenthal – Railroad Commissioner – Transcript
Sen. Nathan Johnson – Attorney General – Transcript

From the primaries:

Leticia Gutierrez – CD09 – Transcript
Christian Menefee, CD18 (from the special election) – Transcript
Rep. Sylvia Garcia, CD29 – Transcript
Melissa McDonough – CD38 – Transcript
Justin Early, CD31 – Transcript

Staci Childs – HD131 – Transcript

Letitia Plummer – Harris County Judge – Transcript
Abbie Kamin – Harris County Attorney – Transcript
Traci Gibson, HCDP Chair – Transcript

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Judicial Q&A: Judge Cory Sepolio

Posted on September 10, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for Democratic judicial candidates. I ran a series of these for candidates in contested primaries, and now these are for the rest of the candidates. I am running these responses in the order that I receive them from the candidates. Much more information about Democratic candidates, including links to interviews and judicial Q&As, can be found on Erik Manning’s spreadsheet.

Judge Cory Sepolio

1. Who are you and in which court do you preside?

Hello. I’m Cory Don Sepolio, judge of the 269th Civil District Court.

2. What kind of cases does this court hear?

This is a civil district court. Texas civil district courts hear disputes involving money, damages or rights, They preside over important matters such as personal injury, oil and gas rights, breach of contract claims, water rights, government taking land, business disputes, title disputes involving land, criminal expunction cases, emergency restraining orders, and election contests. Because they have general jurisdiction, district courts also take on any civil matters not specifically assigned to other courts, allowing them to serve as Texas’s broad, catch‐all forum for resolving significant legal disputes. In addition, the legislature assigns several administrative duties to Texas civil district courts as well.

If a civil case in Texas is substantial, complex, or doesn’t fit neatly into another court’s jurisdiction, chances are it’s heard in a district court.

3. What have been your main accomplishments during your time on this bench?

As Judge, for the past eight years, I have a reputation for being trusted by both sides of the bar. I am one of the highest rated judges in the county. Out of the civil district court judges I am among the top in closures, trials. When hurricane Harvey bogged down the courthouses I continued to move our docket. When the pandemic closed the courthouse, I worked with county leadership and court administration to continue to move cases in a safe and equitable manner. I appoint lawyers from underrepresented communities to roles in the 269th. I mentor interns, young attorneys, and judges.

4. What do you hope to accomplish in your courtroom going forward?

I will continue to reduce the court’s docket with an eye towards justice and equity. I plan to work with our partners in the courthouse to create space for expedited mediations and trials to allow parties who wish, to obtain a quick and cost effective resolution to their claims.

5. Why is this race important?

I respect our system of resolving disputes and want to ensure the 269th will have the experience necessary to continue our work.

6. Why should people vote for you in November?

As a trial attorney I have a proven record of exemplary results. I have 28 years of legal experience. The benefit of 23 years in high stakes litigation, including 100 jury trials across Texas. I’ve handled everything from common law negligence, wrongful death, breach of contract cases, to capital murder and intoxicated manslaughter. I have represented hundreds of civil clients, both plaintiffs and defendants in court. I supervised attorneys, peace officers, paralegals, secretarial staff, court staff and interns. I am qualified above others in Experience, Temperament, and Impartiality for this bench.

PREVIOUSLY:

Judge Damiane Dianne Curvey, 280th Family District Court
Judge M. Monica Singh, Harris County Civil Court at Law #4

From the primaries:

Judge Kristen Hawkins, Supreme Court Justice, Place 7
Sarah Beth Landau, Chief Justice of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals
Judge Tanya Garrison, 157th Civil District Court
Julia Maldonado, 183rd Criminal District Court
Judge Brian Warren, 209th Criminal District Court
Judge Josh Hill, 232nd Criminal District Court
Judge Leah Shapiro, 315th Juvenile District Court
Judge James Horwitz, Harris County Probate Court #4
Ebony Williams, Harris County Civil Court at Law #2
Judge Andrew Wright, Harris County Criminal Court at Law #7

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Plummer internal poll claims 16-point lead

Posted on September 10, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

That would be nice.

Letitia Plummer

Letitia Plummer released an internal poll Tuesday that shows her leading Republican Orlando Sanchez by double digits in the race for Harris County Judge.

Plummer, a Democrat and former Houston City Council Member, led Sanchez 53% to 37% in the survey conducted by the Washington-based HIT Strategies. Nine percent of voters were undecided.

Republicans are hoping for a competitive race in November after eight years under progressive Judge Lina Hidalgo, who is not seeking reelection. Plummer’s pollster believes that growing dissatisfaction with Republican leaders at the top of the ticket, however, presents Sanchez with an uphill battle.

“With (Plummer’s) support still growing and Sanchez’s allies deeply unpopular with Harris County voters, this race represents a real opportunity,” said HIT Strategies President Terrance Woodbury, in a statement. “Her win can, and will, help power turnout for the entire Democratic ticket.”

The Sanchez campaign, in a statement, said that releasing paid, internal polling data reflects growing nerves on Plummer’s team, and that her “real” numbers are likely below 50%.

“This race is about Harris County but the Plummer campaign wants to hide her failed record and make this about Democrats versus Republicans,” said campaign spokesman Chris Beavers. “Voters know it’s about competence versus corruption.”

HIT Strategies conducted the poll over a week in mid-August among a sample of 600 likely general election voters in Harris County. It was released publicly Tuesday, a day after a virtual debate between Plummer and Sanchez was postponed due to technical difficulties.

Renée Cross, who leads the University of Houston’s political polling efforts, said the poll boasts a decent sample size but lacks demographic data, making it difficult to draw broad conclusions about its results.

Cross expects Plummer to win, but said a 16-point lead may be far-fetched given the slim margins of Democratic victories in the 2018 and 2022 races for county judge.

“I would expect the Democrat to do much better this year because the tide is going toward blue rather than red in this particular election,” Cross said. “But (16 points) is a lot in a county that is maybe blue, but not dark blue.”

The Plummer poll found that likely voters have soured on GOP leaders, with more than 60% of respondents viewing President Donald Trump unfavorably.

[…]

Mark Jones, a Rice University political scientist who conducts political polls with Texas Southern University, said partisan polls are often useful fundraising vehicles if the data reflects well on the candidate who commissioned it.

“It’s a poll with a goal and a mission, and that doesn’t mean it’s incorrect — the results it presents are very plausible,” Jones said. “(But) it’s being done for a campaign with an express goal.”

This is an internal poll and we don’t have access to its data, so we don’t need to dig into it. The reason to be wary of internal polls is not that they’re poorly designed or executed but that they only see the light of day if the candidate or campaign that commissioned it chooses to release it, and so you see what they want to be seen and not what they don’t. That said, when the bulk of the internal polls released come from one side, that does tell you something about the overall environment, which in this case is already known and is why Prof. Jones considers it a plausible result. You will note that the Orlando Sanchez campaign, which is surely doing its own polling or has access to polling done by other aligned groups, didn’t counter with their own data. That in and of itself tells you something.

I would frame this poll with two questions to consider. The first is, by how much do you think James Talarico will win Harris County? In 2018, Beto O’Rourke beat Ted Cruz in Harris County 58.0 to 41.3, or about a point more than Plummer is leading Sanchez in this poll. How likely do you think Talarico, who is sure to be the Democratic pacesetter, is to do better than that? Remember that as I’ve shown before, in recent elections Democratic candidates have run about nine points better in Harris County than they have statewide. If Talarico is going to win statewide, as polls indicate he could, that suggests his Harris County number would need to be probably at least 59 percent. None of this is set in stone, and of course the state polls may be overstating Talarico’s performance, but the point is that the Plummer +16 number doesn’t come from a vacuum and isn’t out of kilter with observed reality. It may or may not be right, but it is indeed plausible.

The second question is how much bigger will Talarico’s margin be than Plummer’s? Obviously, Beto, who won Harris County in 2018 by 16.7 points and 200K votes, did a hell of a lot better than Lina Hidalgo, who won by 1.6 points and 20K votes. Some of that was Beto’s crossover appeal – he had 16K more votes than the next-highest-scoring Democrat, while Ted Cruz was the second-worst performer among Republicans. (The worst was none other than Ken Paxton, who received four thousand fewer votes than Cruz.) But a lot of it was Ed Emmett’s crossover appeal. Not only was he the top Republican votegetter in 2018, besting Greg Abbott by 16K votes and the third-place Republican (from a judicial race) by 29K, he had been the top Republican votegetter in 2008 and 2010 as well (he didn’t have a Democratic opponent in 2014, so he didn’t qualify for that designation then). We’ll see how Talarico does compared to Beto, but I do not expect Orlando Sanchez to perform like Ed Emmett. Talarico at plus 19 outperforming Plummer by five or six (Beto outdid Lupe Valdez by six in 2018) puts her at +13 or +14, which again makes a 16-point lead in a poll a plausible result.

And that’s really all there is to it. Not that this one internal poll is The Truth – no poll ever is – just that it doesn’t stand out as being silly. Maybe it’s a stretch – if you wanted to bet the under, I would not try to talk you out of it – but there’s no reason to think it’s an illusion. Other polls may say differently, and if they do that’s fine. Better to have more data than less. But until or unless enough other data arises to show this is an outlier, it’s just another data point. Make of it what you will.

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The China gambit

Posted on September 10, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

You can smell the desperation.

Still a crook any way you look

There’s one thing Republicans really want Texans to be thinking about as they prepare to cast their ballots for U.S. Senate – China.

In the last week, several groups backing Attorney General Ken Paxton have dropped millions on broadcast advertisements that warn about the Chinese Communist Party buying land in the state.

In an election where affordability has dominated voter’s concerns, the threat of Chinese land ownership may seem like a random topic. Even some Republican operatives think so, with one calling it the party’s “eighth best issue.” Others see it as an attempt to win back Republicans who aren’t sold on Paxton before the campaign enters its final stretch.

“It is pretty niche,” said Brendan Steinhauser, a former campaign manager for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. He said the message is definitely going for the core activist base, but that “Cornyn Republicans also care about this.”

Republican enthusiasm dropped after the bruising primary between Paxton and Cornyn. A Fox News poll from July showed Paxton winning about 90% of Republicans when a candidate’s share of their own party is usually expected to be much higher. Paxton was only winning about 80% of Republicans in a Texas Politics Project poll from last month. These surveys also showed Talarico winning significantly more independent voters.

“The most recent polling continues to indicate that Republican enthusiasm is lower than expected for Texas elections, and that not all Republicans have consolidated behind the top of the ticket candidate,” said Josh Blank, director of research at the Texas Politics Project. “What’s going on right now is not a general election message. It’s a message aimed squarely at Republican voters to get them reengaged and to get them mobilized.”

[…]

Blank said the ads also underscore how Republicans have lost some of the most salient talking points that drove the last election.

“Immigration and border security have declined significantly as a primary concern of Texas Republicans,” he said. “The evaporation of this focal point has left Republican candidates searching for stand-in issues that mobilize the same kind of concerns among the Republican base about changes to culture and society.”

As campaign season begins to heat up, several said it’s not quite time yet for campaigns to put out their major general election messaging, and around mid-September ads will reorient to issues that concern wider swaths of voters. Blank said “it would be surprising if we’re seeing a lot of ads in late October about foreign land ownership.”

Regardless, Republicans in Texas are heading into a tough midterm. The pressure is on for Paxton to win back any voters he’s lost.

“I don’t think a bunch of Republicans are going to go vote for Talarico, but I do think it’s a possibility some of the Cornyn voters don’t vote for Paxton,” Steinhauser said. “The big wild card is independent voters.”

I suspect I won’t be able to avoid seeing some of these ads while I’m innocently trying to watch college football. It’s impossible to really disengage these days. Maybe we’ll see some effect in the polling, but even if we do, who knows if this was the main cause or if it had anything at all to do with it. I’m sure Paxton is just relieved that someone, anyone is spending money on his behalf. Link via Campos.

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Texas blog roundup for the week of September 7

Posted on September 10, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance says “Happy Labor Day, and welcome to the start of campaign season” as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff provides a Big Bend construction update.

SocraticGadfly reflects on ethical issues involved with using AI and apps to promote environmentalism, as well as the issue of how much “AI” actually exists.

Houston Democracy Project Blog said John Whitmire sits in open Houston City Council meetings saying HPD doesn’t interact with ICE, at the very same time HPD says they do work with ICE. Whitmire makes stuff up.

======================

And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

The Bloggess invites you to time travel with her.

Law Dork celebrates the unsuccessful primary challenge by Rep. Seth Moulton.

Courier Texas explains how conservatives have been weaponizing the 2025 “Parental Rights Amendment” to the state constitution.

The Texas Observer talks to Democratic Railroad Commissioner candidate Jon Rosenthal.

Alison Cook has a brief rant about pizza.

The Eyewall does a nerdy deep dive into the factors and forecasts of Tropical Storm Edouard.

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Interview with Sen. Nathan Johnson

Posted on September 9, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Sen. Nathan Johnson

We continue with the statewide slate with Sen. Nathan Johnson, who is running to be the next Attorney General, and the first one to be something other than a partisan lapdog since the 90s. Johnson is a litigator with a law degree from UT, but is not your typical lawyer in that he was also a physics major in college and a musician who has composed scores for the hit anime series Dragon Ball Z. He did us the huge favor in 2018 of ousting one-term Sen. Don Huffines from SD16 and has managed to pass a bunch of bills on subjects ranging from data privacy protection to backup systems for power essential community facilities to getting private health insurance for an estimated 350,000 previously uninsured Texans. He’s running against fellow Sen. Mayes Middleton, who I’d describe as someone who wants to be even more Ken Paxton but with less baggage. Sen. Johnson was in a car for this Zoom call so there are a couple of audio glitches but he comes through clearly anyway. You can listen to it here:

The transcript, courtesy of Greg Wythe, is here. As noted, I’ll have more statewide candidates this week, then on to other races next week. Let me know what you think.

PREVIOUSLY:

Rep. Jon Rosenthal – Railroad Commissioner – Transcript

From the primaries:

Leticia Gutierrez – CD09 – Transcript
Christian Menefee, CD18 (from the special election) – Transcript
Rep. Sylvia Garcia, CD29 – Transcript
Melissa McDonough – CD38 – Transcript
Justin Early, CD31 – Transcript

Staci Childs – HD131 – Transcript

Letitia Plummer – Harris County Judge – Transcript
Abbie Kamin – Harris County Attorney – Transcript
Traci Gibson, HCDP Chair – Transcript

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Judicial Q&A: Judge M. Monica Singh

Posted on September 9, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for Democratic judicial candidates. I ran a series of these for candidates in contested primaries, and now these are for the rest of the candidates. I am running these responses in the order that I receive them from the candidates. Much more information about Democratic candidates, including links to interviews and judicial Q&As, can be found on Erik Manning’s spreadsheet.

Judge M. Monica Singh

1. Who are you and in which court do you preside?

I’m Judge M Monica Singh, and I have been presiding over Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 4 since 2022.

Before taking the bench, I spent over 20 years as a litigator, trying more than 100 cases to verdict and handling over 1,000 cases in total across my 25 years of practice, in the exact same area of law my court now hears. That experience shapes how I run court every single day.

Harris County’s first civil associate judge court was created during my time on the bench, and County Court at Law No. 5, the first new civil court established in Harris County since 1977, came together through bipartisan work I was proud to be part of. My court runs with near-zero backlog and resolves cases in roughly 365 days, so litigants aren’t left waiting years for their day in court.

I’m also proud to be the first elected female Sikh judge in the country, and I was the founder and currently serve as President of the Sikh National Bar Association, where I work to expand representation and access to justice within the legal profession, nationally and internationally.

I run on three principles: efficiency, empathy, and experience. That’s the standard I hold myself to on the bench, and it’s what I bring to every case that comes before me.

2. What kind of cases does this court hear?

Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 4 hears civil disputes with an amount in controversy up to $325,000, covering cases like breach of contract, personal injury, malpractice, and business disputes. My court also has jurisdiction over eminent domain proceedings, suits involving title to real or personal property, defamation claims, and appeals of civil cases from Harris County Justice Courts.

In short, this is where everyday people and businesses in Harris County come to resolve real disputes that matter to their lives and livelihoods, and it’s exactly the kind of work I spent over 20 years doing as a litigator before I took the bench.

3. What have been your main accomplishments during your time on this bench?

When I got on the bench, I was shocked at the scale of the housing crisis coming through the courts. It pushed me to think about practical, manageable ways to get people to their day in court faster, without cutting corners on fairness. I approached Commissioner Briones, and together we identified ARPA funding that helped establish Harris County’s first civil associate judge court.

That court has helped keep cases moving efficiently while still giving each one the attention it deserves. Building on that momentum, bipartisan work also helped establish County Court at Law No. 5, the first new civil court created in Harris County since 1977.

The result has been a docket with near-zero backlog and case resolution in roughly 365 days, so litigants aren’t left waiting years for resolution. Trial planning conferences have also become standard practice, giving everyone involved a real voice in setting dates that work for their case and their lives.

4. What do you hope to accomplish in your courtroom going forward?

I want to keep building on the efficiency my court has achieved, without ever losing sight of the people behind each case. The housing crisis showed me that access to the courts isn’t just a legal issue, it’s a practical one. Going forward, I want to keep finding ways to make the process faster and more manageable for the people who need it most, whether that’s expanding on the associate judge model, using technology to cut down wait times, or continuing to hold planning conferences that give litigants and attorneys real input into their own cases.

I also want to keep strengthening public trust in the courts by making sure every person who walks into my courtroom, regardless of background or resources, feels heard and treated with the same respect and attention.

At its core, my goal is simple: a courtroom that moves efficiently, treats people with empathy, and reflects the experience it takes to actually understand what’s at stake for the people in front of me.

5. Why is this race important?

This race matters because the courts are where people experience the justice system directly, and that experience shapes whether they trust it. Harris County is one of the most diverse counties in the country, and the people who come through our courts deserve judges who understand what’s actually at stake for them, not just the law on paper.

This seat also matters because of what’s been built here. Near-zero backlog, roughly 365-day case resolution, the first civil associate judge court in Harris County, and County Court at Law No. 5, the first new civil court in the county since 1977, didn’t happen by accident. They happened because someone was willing to do the work of building practical solutions instead of just maintaining the status quo. Losing that progress would mean litigants waiting longer, cases piling up, and a return to a system that moves slower than people’s lives do.

Ultimately, this race is about whether Harris County keeps a court that treats efficiency, empathy, and experience as non-negotiable, or risks losing ground on all three.

6. Why should people vote for you in November?

Vote for me because I bring efficiency, empathy, and experience to the bench, and I’ve proven all three. Over 25 years and 1,000-plus cases as a litigator, in the exact same area of law my court now hears, taught me what people actually need when they walk into a courtroom. As a judge, I’ve turned that experience into results: near-zero backlog, roughly 365-day case resolution, the first civil associate judge court in Harris County, and County Court at Law No. 5, the first new civil court in the county since 1977.

But results alone aren’t the whole story. I run my courtroom the way I wished someone had run mine when I was a litigator missing family moments to an unpredictable docket. That’s why I hold planning conferences for trial, so people have a real voice in their own case.

Harris County deserves a judge who has done the work, understands the stakes, and keeps building solutions instead of settling for the status quo. That’s what I offer on November’s ballot.

PREVIOUSLY:

Judge Damiane Dianne Curvey, 280th Family District Court

From the primaries:

Judge Kristen Hawkins, Supreme Court Justice, Place 7
Sarah Beth Landau, Chief Justice of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals
Judge Tanya Garrison, 157th Civil District Court
Julia Maldonado, 183rd Criminal District Court
Judge Brian Warren, 209th Criminal District Court
Judge Josh Hill, 232nd Criminal District Court
Judge Leah Shapiro, 315th Juvenile District Court
Judge James Horwitz, Harris County Probate Court #4
Ebony Williams, Harris County Civil Court at Law #2
Judge Andrew Wright, Harris County Criminal Court at Law #7

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Hemp ban remains in place

Posted on September 9, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Still no relief.

A Texas judge has allowed a wide-ranging THC ban to stay in effect after a hearing last week.

Delta-9 THC can generally be regarded as “regular THC.” When state and federal lawmakers legalized hemp, they defined it as cannabis with .3% delta-9 THC or less on a dry-weight basis. However, there are other forms of THC that were not originally regulated by state and federal hemp laws.

So, manufacturers and retailers began making and selling products with other forms of THC such as delta-8, which exploded in popularity over the last few years.

Now, those other forms of THC are banned in the state. A Travis County District Court judge recently ruled this ban can stay in effect as hemp businesses sue the state over it.

This is all the result of a Texas Supreme Court decision over the legality of delta-8 THC stemming from a lawsuit brought by hemp manufacturer Hometown Hero in 2021.

That year, the Texas Department of State Health Services said all forms of the substance besides .3% delta-9 THC on a dry weight basis were schedule I controlled substances.

Hometown Hero sued over the change. For a time, the ban on these other forms of THC was on pause while litigation was pending. The Texas Supreme Court ruled this year that the state could ban delta-8 and other forms of THC outside of delta-9.

The state implemented that ban on July 31, adding other forms of THC to the state’s controlled substances list. Possession of these alternative forms of THC is now a state felony.

See here for the previous update. The ban has been in effect since August 1, with a lot of sound and fury around it. This story doesn’t have much in the way of detail – this paywalled Statesman article appears to have more, but as noted it’s paywalled – but the bottom line is that the motion for a temporary restraining order was denied. There are still two federal lawsuits pending, though I have no idea where either of them are. I presume this ruling was in light of the previous 15th Court of Appeals ruling, and so perhaps there will be more to come in the state lawsuit, in the quest for an injunction against the law. As is often the case with litigation against Texas, which tends to involve multiple different cases, it’s hard to tell. But for now at least, nothing has changed.

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