The National Rifle Association has endorsed the state's top law enforcement official, who because of his felony indictments cannot own any guns himself. Ken Paxton is the nuttiest of gun nuts anyway, declaring after the shooting at the church in Sutherland Springs that if more parishioners had been packing, fewer of 'em would have been sent to Heaven early.
Ken Paxton -- and 19 other GOP state AGs -- are asking the federal courts to end the pre-existing conditions acceptability requirement for Obamacare. Ken Paxton's ultimate goal is to kill Obamacare altogether, and he is actually succeeding in doing so piecemeal.
Obamacare is on Paxton's list of ten things he despises (so are debates). Paxton, with his lazy eye and slow drawl, is a caricature of a Texas Christian conservative gone badder than any cartoon villain: corrupt, venal, stupid, and built to stay that way.
Justin Nelson, his Democratic opponent, is by contrast solid and well-qualified and has done the hard work of getting publicity without a lot to show for it (although what he has earned has been very favorable). I could pick a couple of nits over the use of 'access' to health care' on his website, maybe his clerking for Justice O'Connor back in the day, but those are minor enough for me to let slide.
We need Paxton removed, and we can't count on the Texas courts to do it for us.
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State Comptroller Glenn Hegar hasn't written any steamy novels or left state websites unsecured for hackers to run wild and free like his predecessor Susan Combs, but I'm still voting for Joi Chevalier in the statewide race that has gotten the least attention of any this cycle. This puts me in agreement with Ted at jobsanger, which is a rare thing.
Democratic Land Commissioner challenger Miguel Suazo just secured the endorsement of Jerry Patterson, the former GOP LC who gave up the job four years ago to run in the scrum of the LG primary. Incumbent George Pee Bush has alienated more conservatives than just Patterson with his screwball Alamo business despite winning the March primary over "Hogleg". (Chris Elam, mentioned in the TM link, used to blog from Sugar Land under the title 'Safety for Dummies', which he scrubbed off the Web long ago. A devoted Tom DeLay acolyte back in the day, it seems as if Elam's mentors have all let him down. Somebody should ask him where his support goes these days, if one can't tell from where he's drawing a paycheck.)
Suazo has made hay with Bush also fumbling Harvey relief, but the young Democrat has an "all of the above" energy strategy which doesn't particularly suit me. It would be awfully difficult for a Texas land commissioner to stand against the fossil fuel companies and expect to get elected. He favors wind and solar and renewables, so I'll swallow hard and click the box beside his name.
Roman McAllen is running against incumbent Republican Christi Craddick, daughter of former Texas House Speaker Tom, for Railroad Commissioner.
A governing body for the state's oil and gas interests -- shockingly, fewer 5% of Texans even know that much about it -- where cronyism and corruption is the rule, McAllen stands out for his blunt talk about the truths associated with the Railroad Commission. He's been endorsed by the Sierra Club and Our Revolution ETX. Let's see if we can get just one vote out of three on the TXRRC that isn't bought and paid for by O&G.
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One more, separate post.
