Lt. Gov. Patrick Decries High Murder Rate In New Ad, Suggests Mandatory Minimum Sentences

[#TexasPolitics365]

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has released a new campaign ad in which he says crime has skyrocketed 37%, and suggests mandatory minimum sentences for those criminals who use guns while committing a crime.  

In the ad, Patrick says, in part, "Texans are fed up with violent crime and sky-rocketing murder rates. To stop it, I will propose legislation next session to add a ten-year, mandatory jail sentence to anyone convicted of using a gun while committing a crime. ...We cannot let Democrats turn Texas into California."

Some have noted that Patrick is admitting skyrocked and crime has occurred under his and gov. Abbott's watch, others have wondered why Patrick, who has been in office since 2015, is just now getting around to suggesting mandatory minimums.

Patrick is in a tight race with Democrat Collins, a former Republican who is running as a top on crime moderate in order to peel away support from Patrick.

(Full story HERE
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Former GOP Railroad Commissioner Candidate Endorses Democrat In General Election

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Sarah Stogner, the former Republican candidate for railroad commissioner who forced incumbent Wayne Christian to a runoff and made waves for a racy campaign ad riding a pumpjack almost naked, is backing the Democrat nominee for the seat, because she says Christian is "corrupt."

Stogner on Monday endorsed Luke Warford over Christian, a former state representative first elected to the Railroad Commission in 2016. She said in an interview that Texas’ energy industry is “too important to let corrupt career politicians stay in office, and I’m taking a stand against it.”

(Full story HERE.)
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Paxton Allegedly Fled Home To Avoid Subpoena In Abortion Case

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) fled his home on Monday to avoid being served with a subpoena in a lawsuit related to abortion rights funding, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.

Paxton tweeted that he left with his wife, Republican state Sen. Angela Paxton, in order "to avoid a stranger lingering outside my home and showing concern about the safety and well-being of my family."

(Full story HERE.)
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O'Rourke Launches College Tour At UT Austin

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Beto O'Rourke launched his "College Tour" across Texas at the University of Texas at Austin Monday morning. 

The Democratic candidate for governor kicked off the event at UT's LBJ Presidential Library at 10 a.m. O'Rourke says the tour serves as an opportunity for young people, including students, to get registered to vote before the Oct. 11 registration deadline.

(Full story HERE
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Gavin Newsom Rents Billboards In TX Promoting CA As Abortion Destination

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom is taking the fight for abortion rights across state lines, buying billboard space that quickly drew the ire of his Republican counterparts — and attention to his national ambitions.

The Democratic governor, who is increasingly positioning himself as a potential presidential candidate in 2024, used his gubernatorial reelection fund to rent billboard space in a handful of Republican-led states on Thursday, including Texas, to promote California as an abortion sanctuary amid increasing restrictions on the procedure in the wake of the Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

(Full story HERE.)
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Lt. Gov. Patrick Keeps Schedule Secret

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The race for what’s arguably the most powerful position in Texas is heating up. Republican incumbent Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick is on a 131-stop bus tour across the state. After squeaking out a five-point victory with little campaigning four years ago, the bus tour signaled he might take this campaign more seriously. But, he’s not inviting the media along.

Pictures released by the campaign suggest small crowds. One Republican said if Patrick motivates these groups, they could spread his message without media coverage.

“My sense is Lieutenant Governor feels like the media in Texas and nationally is aligned more with the Democrats and has kind of an inability to be truly fair and objective,” said Matt Mackowiak, the chairman of the Travis County GOP. “Just because you have 20 people doesn’t mean you only got 20 votes that day. You could go out and get 2,000 votes if they’re all using their networks.”

The campaign would not tell news media why they don’t release his schedule in advance, and it did not answer any follow-up questions. 

(Full story HERE.)
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VP Harris To Host October Fundraiser In Austin

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An Oct. 8 Democratic fundraiser in Austin headlined by Vice President Kamela Harris will mark the Biden administration’s highest-profile political appearance in Texas since President Joe Biden and Harris took office.

(Full story HERE.)
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Abbott Widens Lead Over Beto, Immigration Remains Top Issue

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Gov. Greg Abbott's lead is widening over Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke, according to a Spectrum News/Siena College poll of likely voters released Thursday. The pole showed Abbott leading O'Rourke 50-43%.

The poll also indicated that Texas voters may consider immigration a more important issue than abortion. About 31 percent of respondents said immigration was their top concern ahead of the midterms, while 22 percent said the same for abortion.

(Full story HERE.)
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Fifth Circuit Reverses Block On Implementing Texas Internet Free Speech Bill

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The Fifth Circuit has reversed a federal district court’s ruling that blocked implementation of HB 20, a Texas law that prevents social media networks from censoring users based upon the viewpoint of their online postings. 

The law also creates multiple requirements for the platforms to disclose to the public how they operate and requires that users be provided with an internal process to complain about censorship decisions.  

(Full story HERE.)
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Democrat Talking Points on Immigration "Lies From Pit Of Hell" Says Congressional Candidate

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Speaking on Fox News, Irene Armendariz-Jackson – who is running to represent El Paso in Congress – torched the narrative from Democrats that cracking down on illegal immigration is anti-Hispanic.

"That is a lie from the pit of hell and that's exactly where it belongs. If the Democrats really cared about the Hispanic population in the United States, they would actually control the border and bring border security," she told Brian Kilmeade. 

(Full story HERE.)
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Democrat Claims Republican Flores "Stole" Special Congressional Election

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Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, who's running for re-election to Congress in the midterm elections, claimed during an event attended by House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., that a June special election in Texas was stolen by Rep. Mayra Flores, R-Texas, and her supporters.

The remarks from Gonzalez came during a "vote blue" event at Shotz bar in Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday. .

(Full story HERE.)
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Collier Reveals Two Republican Endorsements

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Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor Mike Collier’s campaign said he has met with more than a dozen elected Republican officials and has been publicly endorsed by two.

Collier will have to compete with Republican incumbent Dan Patrick’s campaign war chest and lead in the polls. New polling out this week from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin shows Patrick leading by seven percentage points amongst registered voters.

The Democrat was recently endorsed by two Texas Republicans — both of whom are on their way out of office. State Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, and Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said they would be voting for Collier. 

(Full story HERE
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AG Paxton Will Face Accusers' Lawyers - After The Election

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Lawyers representing the men who accused Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of securities fraud say they will be able to question him under oath — but not until after the election, reports the Dallas Morning News.

(Full story HERE.)
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Cruz Calls On Congress To Defend Biden's New IRS Agents

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"Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has called on his Republican colleagues in Congress to block funding for what he described as 'Biden’s army of IRS agents' that the GOP has warned would be used to target Americans earning less than $400,000 a year."

(Full story HERE.)
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Paxton Launches Attack Ad Against Democrat Opponent Garza #TexasPolitics365

[#TexasPolitics365]

Attorney General Ken Paxton, widely seen as the most vulnerable Republican holding statewide office, has come out with his first attack ad against his Democratic opponent Rochelle Garza, calling her “the most radical politician ever nominated by a major party in Texas.”

Paxton has mostly ignored Garza until now, but the ad marks his first major acknowledgment of the Democrat who’s trailing him by just a few percentage points in public polling. The most recent poll last week by the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston showed Paxton hardly ahead of Garza with 45 percent to her 42 percent.

The ad says, in part, "Rochelle Garza's radical agenda would be a catastrophe for public safety, making every neighborhood more dangerous. This November, protect Texas. Defeat. Radical Democrat Rochelle Garza."

(Full story HERE.)
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Abbott Condemns Gang Shooting In Uvalde Park

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Gov. Greg Abbott yesterday issued a statement on the gang shooting in Uvalde and manhunt for the suspects:

“I was outraged to learn that gang violence has endangered the Uvalde community and innocent Texans this evening. I immediately called Mayor McLaughlin and County Judge Mitchell to offer the state’s full support and resources as law enforcement hunts down the gang members. After speaking with the mayor and the county judge about the immediate need for more law enforcement support, I have directed the Department of Public Safety to conduct patrol operations in gang hotspots, send an additional six DPS trooper units to work around the clock, and begin coordinating an anti-gang effort with the city. Working with the Uvalde Police Department and Uvalde County Sheriff's Office, DPS is also deploying Special Agents to target the five gangs operating in Uvalde. 

Thank you to all local and state law enforcement and first responders who swiftly went into action to protect their fellow Texans. Gang violence has no place here in Texas, and we will bring the full force of justice down on these heinous criminals.”

The violence in Uvalde comes barely four months after the mass shooting at Rob Elementary School in the city left 19 students and two teachers dead.

While Abbott's statement was in no way political, his opponent Beto O'Rourke has hammered the incumbent Republican and state legislators for not moving to ban "assault rifles" in the aftermath of the school shooting.

(Full story HERE.)
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Among Likely Voters, Democrats Narrow Gap In Statewide Races, Shows Poll

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With the November general election in Texas just two months away, a new poll shows voters’ preference in candidates among three statewide races: governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

The University of Houston/Texas Southern University poll shows Republican incumbents are leading in all three races, but their Democratic challengers are not far behind, especially in the attorney general’s race. The poll results come from 1,312 “likely voters” who were surveyed between Aug.11 and Aug. 29, 1,012 of whom are “almost certain” to vote in November.

(Full story HERE.)
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Texas Supreme Court Rejects GOP Effort To Remove Libertarians From Ballots

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The Texas Supreme Court has rejected a Republican effort to remove a host of Libertarian candidates from the November ballot, saying the GOP did not bring their challenge soon enough.

In a unanimous opinion, the all-GOP court did not weigh in on the merits of the challenge but said the challenge came too late in the election cycle. The Libertarian Party nominated the candidates in April, the court said, and the GOP waited until earlier this month to challenge their candidacies.

(Full story HERE.)
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GOP Congressman Faces Backlash for Gun Vote

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After the Uvalde school shooting, the Republican congressman who represents the city, Tony Gonzales, welcomed Democratic President Joe Biden to the community. They visited Robb Elementary together, attended mass at a local church and met with first responders.

Gonzales expressed gratitude, saying afterward that they “had an open, honest conversation about the realities this community is facing.”

That, and his vote to support gun restrictions in Congress, have led to a backlash among Republicans who previously had supported him enthusiastically.

(Full story HERE.)
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Democrats Can't Seem to Break Through the Firewall of Rural Texas

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In 2018, as a candidate for US Senate, Beto O’Rourke put more work into campaigning in rural Texas than perhaps any statewide Democratic candidate ever has. He visited all 254 counties, campaigning in communities where many had not seen a Democrat running for senator in their entire lifetime.

Still, he lost rural Texas by the same kind of landslide as Democrats who came before him.

Rural Texas remains a firewall that Democrats can't seem to break through.

(Full story HERE.)
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Chicago Mayor Attacks Abbott For Sending Migrant Buses

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Democrat Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot slammed Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday afternoon, calling him a "man without any morals" after he sent two buses of migrants to her city's Union Station on Wednesday night.

Lightfoot made the comments during a press conference with city leaders and local partners.

"Let me say loud and clear to Greg Abbott and his enablers in Texas with these continued political stunts, Gov. Abbott has confirmed what unfortunately many of us had known already, that he is a man without any morals, humanity or shame," Lightfoot said.

(Full story HERE.)
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Paxton In Tight Re-Election Race, According To Poll

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has a razor-thin lead over his Democratic challenger Rochelle Garza for the top law enforcement job in Texas.

Undecided voters and dark clouds are hanging over Paxton amid federal investigations of wrongdoing -- likely damaging his polling numbers.

(Full story HERE.)
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Poll Shows Most New Voters Are Republicans

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A new poll conducted by Defend Texas Liberty PAC shows that more newly registered voters in Texas are registering as Republicans and hold conservative viewpoints.

There are over 1.1 million new registered voters in Texas, the PAC said, with Texas registering more voters since November 2020 than the entire registered populations of the eight smallest U.S. states. The PAC cites Census Bureau and state voter registration data compiled by World Population Review.

(Full story HERE.)
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Accusation: South Texas Democrat "hiding Radical Views" From Voters

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South Texas Democrat Michelle Vallejo said she's misleading voters about the  nature of her policy positions after a Washington Free Beacon report revealed the congressional hopeful deleted her progressive platform from her campaign site.

After winning a bitter primary fight as an unabashed liberal, Vallejo scrubbed from her campaign site all evidence of her support for a slew of progressive policies—including Medicare for All, student debt cancellation, and a federal jobs guarantee—the Free Beacon reported Wednesday. Just days later, Vallejo said she still supports those policies, she just doesn't want voters to know: Her campaign told the Wall Street Journal Vallejo continues to back student loan forgiveness and Medicare for All but changed her site to "better reflect how the candidate is talking to voters." 

(Full story HERE
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