Monday, October 28, 2019

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance encourages you to enjoy Halloween -- and to be sure you vote -- as it brings you this week's roundup of the best lefty blogs, Tweets, and news from around and about the Lone Star State from the past week.


Despite the toppling of the Republican leader of the Texas House, the work of the Texas Legislature (unfortunately) goes on.  Kuff bid adieu to soon-to-be-former Speaker Dennis Bonnen, brought low by his dumb decision to trust Michael Quinn Sullivan and his own trash mouth.

(Bonnen) will be the first Speaker to serve only a single term since Price Daniel (D) in 1973-75. Ironically, Daniel also lost the support of his political base during the interim following what was widely viewed as a successful legislative session. In Daniel’s case, it was a right-to-work compromise with conservatives during a failed constitutional convention and a falling out with organized labor, which Daniel blamed for the convention’s failure. However, Daniel had pledged to serve only one term as Speaker, so his political miscalculation did not cost him the gavel.




TXElects has more election news.

HD36: Mission insurance agent Abraham Padron re-established his campaign committee for a potential Democratic primary rematch against Rep. Sergio Muñoz Jr. (D-Mission). Padron spent nearly $400K on an unsuccessful 2016 primary challenge, losing to Muñoz, 60%-40%.

HD76 open: El Paso council member Claudia Ordaz Perez announced she would seek the seat being vacated by Rep. Cesar Blanco (D-El Paso), who is running to succeed the retiring Sen. Jose Rodriguez (D-El Paso). By announcing, Ordaz Perez has resigned her council seat, though she will continue to serve until a successor is chosen in a special election.

Ordaz Perez won a four-way 2014 special election outright (65%) before being elected to a full term in 2015 (73%). She was re-elected in 2018 (72%). Just eight of the 45 precincts comprising HD76 are located within Ordaz Perez’s council district, representing about 18% of votes cast in HD76 in the 2018 general election. She faces Elisa Tamayo, a former aide to Blanco who has been endorsed by most of the El Paso legislative delegation.

HD126: Houston petroleum field service technician Pete Salas established a campaign committee for a potential challenge of Rep. Sam Harless (R-Spring) as a Libertarian.

HD25 open: Angleton attorney and council member Cody Vasut announced he would seek the seat being vacated by Speaker Dennis Bonnen (R-Angleton). Lake Jackson nurse Rhonda Seth is already in the race.

HD138: Harris Co. Dept. of Education board member and former State Republican Executive Committee member Josh Flynn, son of Rep. Dan Flynn (R-Van), re-established a campaign committee for a potential run for the seat being vacated by Rep. Dwayne Bohac (R-Houston). Flynn was elected to the county school board in 2018 (50.3%). We previously reported that Josh Flynn was “very interested” in the race.

As Houston's municipal elections head for the finish line, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs posted P-Slates 1 (mayor and at-large), 2 (district city council), and 3 (state constitutional amendments).




There was yet another shooting in Texas over the weekend, at a Halloween/homecoming party attended by college-aged students in the northeastern region of the state.

Two people were killed and 12 others injured when a gunman opened fire at an off-campus college party in Texas.

Authorities are searching for the gunman in the shooting that happened around midnight Saturday. They believe he may have been targeting just one person at the party of about 750 people outside Greenville, some 15 miles from Texas A&M University-Commerce.

Authorities had originally said two people were killed and 14 others were injured, but later revised that figure.

A spokesman for the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office says the injured included six people who were trampled or hurt by glass in the melee.

More shooting broke out at a memorial for one of those who died.

The vigil took place Sunday night at a park in Dallas. Local media outlets say attendees and reporters on hand for the event took cover. Multiple gunshots can be heard in video posted by one reporter. There were no immediate reports of injuries, but the vehicle for one station was struck by bullets.

It’s unclear how many people were shooting.

Family members told local media that the vigil was being held for 23-year-old Kevin Berry Jr. of Dallas.

As the Democratic presidential primary seems to be in a state of flux, G. Elliott Morris examines the value of 2020 general election polls at this point in the cycle.  PDiddie wasn't the only one that noticed the Clinton wing of shitty liberals completely lost their minds.


In the race to replace John Cornyn in the US Senate, the Texas Signal hosted a forum with six of the candidates.  Here's their Q&A with Sema Hernandez.


Sanford Nowlin at the San Antonio Current noted Cornyn's latest deep dive up Trump's ass.


Nonsequiteuse, on Twitter, reviews the Astros' front office debacle.


The Daily Texan decries UT's lack of action against professors who have been accused of sexual misconduct with students.



In Austin, at the Texas Book Festival:


SocraticGadfly did his alt-history schtick again and imagines a world that never had American Indians indigenous Americans.

The TPA congratulates Noah Horwitz -- as Noah congratulated himself -- for passing the bar exam.

And the TPA celebrated the life of Houston activist C. J. Yeoman.


Last, to observe the season of scary things, Asher Elbein of the Texas Observer visited one of the most haunted towns in Texas, Jefferson.  Its nostalgia tourism these days elides the complicated history of East Texas racism.


And Nicholas Frank at the Rivard Report writes about the update given Centro Cultural Aztlan’s Día de los Muertos celebration this coming weekend.

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