Good morning, 

It's Election Day in Texas!

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Brandon Waltens 

Tuesday, July 14, 2020
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• Today is Election Day for many parts of Texas. Originally scheduled to take place in May, voting in the rescheduled primary runoff elections is underway today until 7 p.m.
   
• Republicans in some districts will be voting for state representative candidates, congressional candidates, and judges. Democrats statewide will be determining their candidate to go up against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in November.
   
•  Jim Ellis offers a preview of some of the heavily-contested congressional races across the state. 

• After a Democrat mayor banned them from moving forward on their planned convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston and legal attempts to undo the decision failed, the Texas GOP is moving towards having a virtual convention with only days before the event is scheduled to take place.
   
• In a vote of 53-4 the Texas GOP’s executive committee voted to conduct the 2020 Texas GOP convention virtually following the party’s losses in state and district court—an event many fought against throughout the process but ultimately relented on at the end in order to preserve the state’s delegation to the electoral college and Republican National Convention.
   
• Speaking of the State Republican Executive Committee ... delegates to the convention will, among other business, have the opportunity to elect one man and one woman from their state senate district to represent them on the SREC—the governing board of the party. 
   
• While Texas Scorecard won’t be issuing an endorsement in any of these races, we offered a questionnaire to candidates to help delegates make an informed decision. You can view the responses here. 

• After government officials shut down the city, blocking citizens from providing for their families and forcing over 132,000 Austinites out of work, local officials are now targeting citizens with fines and businesses with lawsuits.
   
• Jacob Asmussen reports that last week the all-Democrat Austin City Council unanimously passed new punishments on struggling citizens: The city can now stop citizens who do not wear a mask in public and fine them up to $2,000.
   
• As if that weren't heavy-handed enough, the city can also label “noncompliant” businesses as “nuisances” and sue them.

• Meanwhile, Robert Montoya tells the story of one North Texas woman who was denied service and harassed by employees for refusing to wear a mask due to a chronic condition, for which the county and statewide mandate provide exemptions.
   
• Questions have arisen of whether state and local officials fully informed the public and businesses about exemptions from mask mandates for those with mental and physical health issues.

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