Wednesday, May 05, 2021

Republicans will rally, fund-raise this weekend to seal hold on Texas for 2022, '24


Wake me from this nightmare.


The event is this Friday.

The group of high-profile Republicans are set to appear May 7 at an Austin resort where each will be interviewed by members of the Texas congressional delegation, according to a schedule obtained by The Texas Tribune. The group includes Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida.

The event at the Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa (protest, anyone?) is being hosted by Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, and it is meant to serve as a show of appreciation to donors who raised millions of dollars last year for efforts to keep Texas red and register new GOP voters.

I don't suppose you noticed who's missing?


I hear Mango Hitler needs a running mate for 2024.  I'll go ahead and put down some early money on ^that^ being the ticket.

Take a moment if needed to purge your stomach of its contents.

Cornyn is set to be the delegation member who interviews Pence, while U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul of Austin will interview Pompeo, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of San Antonio will interview Rubio, U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Houston will interview DeSantis, Rep. August Pfluger of San Angelo will interview Cotton, Rep. Roger Williams of Austin will interview Rick Scott, Rep. Kevin Brady of The Woodlands will interview Tim Scott and Rep. Beth Van Duyne of Arlington will interview Christie.

Abbott, who himself has not ruled out a 2024 White House bid, is expected to speak but may have to stick around the Texas Capitol, where the biennial legislative session is in its final weeks.

The big-name Republicans are using the Texas trip to also disperse across the state to fundraise for Take Back the House Texas 2022, a joint fundraising committee made up of the campaigns of the Texas GOP congressmen who had the closest races last year, according to a source familiar with their plans but not authorized to discuss them on the record. Pence will raise money for the committee Thursday in Austin, while Cotton will be in Fort Worth a day earlier. There will also be fundraisers Thursday with Pompeo in Houston, Rubio in San Antonio, and Tim Scott and Chris Christie in Dallas.

This is a full-court press right from the jump, and Texas Democrats, pantsed less than a week ago in local elections from the Rio Grande to the Sabine to the Red, are unlikely to have their drawers off the floor in time for anything approaching an effective response.

At this point only a vaccine-resistant COVID variant or a giant meteor is going to save us.  I just don't believe that Matthew McConaghey or Beto O'Rourke have what it takes, but somebody please ... make it stop.

I'll have a regular Hump Day Round-up, with all the regular horrors, later today.
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Monday, May 03, 2021

The Losers' Wrangle from Far Left Texas *w/updates


Congratulations to Texas Democrats, who sunk to a new electoral low over the weekend.



Democrats hoping for some encouraging signs in Texas did not find any on Saturday in a special election to fill a vacant congressional seat. Instead, they found themselves locked out of a runoff that will now see two Republicans battle for the seat in northern Texas.

Democrats who needed a strong turnout to be competitive did not get one. They were hoping for signs of weakness in the Republican brand because of the state’s disastrous response to the brutal winter storm in February or any signs of weariness with Trump, but they did not see that, either.


That didn't stop Our Revolution Texas and Gilberto Hinojosa from trying to spin a sow's ear into a silk purse.  Nobody was taking that ride, except maybe Chuckles Kuffner.  It's truly comical reading what he blogs before an election and what he writes after it when the Donks get skunked.  Hey, I get it; it's hard out here for a blue pimp in Tejas.  But for us recovering Democrats, well, hate to say I toldja so, but...


Update: Sanchez weighs in.


As Weigel further observed ...

"Lowest cost per vote of any candidate who engaged in fundraising" - I mean, that’s as good as winning

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the expert on everything MAGA, also tried to warn y'all.  I don't blame ya for not paying attention to her, though.  Update: And as sure as the sun came up on the east coast of Florida this morning, Trump took credit for Susan Wright's win.  TXElects says he deserves it.  And Living Blue in TX excoriated Arlington Dems for not turning out to vote.

In other Saturday election developments, liberals and liberal causes fared no better elsewhere in the state.


Andrea Grimes, writing for the Texas Observer, ruefully points out that even if the Lone Star State did turn blue, there would remain some uncomfortable truths to confront.  Don't worry, Andrea; it ain't hapnin' for quite a while longer.

There was a bright spot for Dems in Cowtown.


Update: And also a ballot initiative in Austin that cleared voter approval: ranked choice voting.

There were several more despicable attempts to move the extremist agenda through the Lege last week; here's just a few beyond the Briscoe Cain debacle.


And with RoofieGate quickly handled in typical Hillco most-influential-lobbying-firm way, the latest expose' from women who have to work in these conditions hits with a soft thud.


Oil is up; the Comptroller told us Monday afternoon that tax collections are booming; it's bidness as usual.  God Bless Red Texas.  (The rest of you poor bastards can suffocate.)

Socratic Gadfly saw a mix of hypocrisy, unconstitutionality, and pander bear-ing from Texas Senate Legiscritters.  Reform Austin -- they have really done the best work covering the session -- asks the right question: what happens if Medicaid does not get expanded?  Hint: hope you don't live in the boondocks and get sick.


Update:


As vice chairman of the House Calendars Committee, which helps decide the legislation that will make it to the House floor, Speaker Pro Tempore Joe Moody, D-El Paso, said Democrats' best chance in years of expanding Medicaid likely will not pass this legislative session.

“I think we’re losing an opportunity there, and I think it would certainly help. It would be good for Texas. It would be good for business to expand healthcare in Texas," he said on Sunday’s Inside Texas Politics. "Failing to do that for another session is certainly something we will walk away shaking our heads about."


Yeah, the governor may be ignorant about the bill but it's more likely he is just lying about it.  SB7 prohibits early voting after 9 p.m., which would mean fewer voting hours in many counties that allow voting later, like Harris County for one.  And it fails to codify the extra week of early voting that the state had in 2020, so there will be fewer days of early voting in 2022 than last year.

In early takes on redistricting, Kuff noted the state falling short of projections in getting only two more congressional districts from the 2020 census apportionment.  David Beard also looked at how the early census numbers might affect future congressional elections.

Let me not slight the actual progress made last week under the Pink Dome.


Reform Austin celebrated the rare good bill in the Lege.  And the Austin Chronicle reported on an organized legal pushback against the latest wave of anti-choice bills.

May Day -- the international celebration of workers -- on Saturday last was cheered by ExxonMobil's refinery in Beaumont locking out their 600+ Steelworkers union employees.  Right on the heels of their $2.7 billion first-quarter profit announcement.  There is no greed like Big Oil greed.


With more of the latest Tex Trib polling to be Tweeted out today, along with a few of the usual suspects behaving badly, some COVID, environmental, criminal, and social justice posts still in the hopper, I'll pause here and save all that for later.  Here's some of the lighter fare to close.

Texas Highways gives us 24 hours in the life of Buc-ee's.

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