Good morning,

Under Texas law, in-person early voting is supposed to run for two weeks. However, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a third week to be added this year under the excuse of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic. As a result, early voting runs from Tuesday, October 13, through Friday, October 30. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. 

Today's Texas Minute is an election preview.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Monday, October 5, 2020
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• Federal races include, of course, the fight for the White House between President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden. Texas’ presidential ballot also includes Libertarian Jo Jorgensen and Green candidate Howie Hawkins.
     

• U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is being challenged by retired Army pilot M.J. Hegar. Few are predicting Cornyn’s loss, but he is more vulnerable than he has been since first being elected in 2002. Kerry McKennon and David Collins, respectively of the Libertarian and Green parties, will also be on your ballot.
     

• All 36 members of Texas’ delegation to the U.S. House are up for re-election.
     

• Notable races include challenges to conservative Republican incumbents Van Taylor and Chip Roy, of the 3rd and 21st districts respectively. Roy is being challenged by former Democrat gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis, a favorite of her party’s far-left. Taylor, meanwhile, is being challenged by a Californian who until recently worked for a Sacramento law firm.
     

• While Roy’s central Texas District 21 has been considered a partisan battleground for some time, Taylor’s Collin County based 3rd was once solidly Republican but has drifted left in recent years.
     

• Statewide, one open seat on the Railroad Commission is being defended by Republicans (Jim Wright) against Democrat, Libertarian, and Green candidates. 
     

• Four incumbent Republican Supreme Court of Texas justices are on the ballot: Nathan Hecht, Jane Bland, Jeff Boyd, and Brett Busby. Each are being challenged by a Democrat, and three have Libertarian opponents. Meanwhile, three Court of Criminal Appeals seats are up – this is the state’s highest criminal court.
     

• Eight of the 15 seats on the State Board of Election are up this year, so roughly half the state will be considering those races.
     

• Sixteen of the Texas Senate’s 31 seats are up this cycle, but no one expects any of them to be vulnerable to a party switch. State senators serve four-year terms.
     

• All of the state’s 150 House districts, with constitutionally defined two-year terms, will be on the ballot. 
     

• Metroplex seats held by Republicans are under fire, with Collin County’s Jeff Leach and Matt Shaheen, and Dallas’ Morgan Meyer, perceived as the most vulnerable. All three have drifted away from conservatives in recent years to appeal to Democrat voters. Leach, for example, recently recanted of his support for the Texas Privacy Act to gain the endorsement of the Dallas Morning News.
     

• It is wrong to assume Texas House Democrats are escaping challenge, or even guaranteed gains this election cycle. In fact, a number of incumbent Democrats are considered vulnerable, such as Dallas County’s Victoria Neave and Rhetta Bowers, Hays County’s Erin Zwiener, and Harris County’s Jon Rosenthal.
     

• It is conceivable – maybe even likely – incumbent Republicans and Democrats both suffer House losses but the balance of partisan power remains essentially the same.
   

• In many jurisdictions there will be contests for judgeships, county commission members, justices of the peace, city councils, and school trustees.

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