Good morning, 

We’re one week from election day; early voting continues through Friday.

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Tuesday, October 27, 2020
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• Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush is looking to run for the Office of the Attorney General in 2022, reports Brandon Waltens. A spokesman for Bush confirmed the rumors, saying Bush is eyeing the position and keeping options open “in light of the recent allegations about that office.”
     
• Those “allegations” surround vague charges leveled against incumbent Republican Ken Paxton by his office’s senior staff, and then piled on to by a former spokesman for the Texas Democrat Party. Despite claims the staff members reported concerns to law enforcement agencies, no state or federal investigation has been announced or formal charges brought against Paxton.
       
• During his time in office, Bush has stoked the ire of conservatives – grassroots activists and elected officials alike – over plans to “reimagine the Alamo” and move the Alamo Cenotaph. Those measures that were ultimately defeated by citizen actions.
      
• When told of Bush’s sudden interest in the OAG, San Antonio conservative activist George Rodriguez described the Land Commissioner as “a political opportunist.”

• The radical left is targeting Texas at the local, state, and federal levels, as Robert Montoya finds in two reports. 
      
• First up is the Working Families Party, a New York-based political organization allied with U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). They want to defund police, end the oil industry, impose socialized healthcare, and hike taxes, among other far-left priorities.
     
• Same goes for Indivisible Grapevine, which is promoting leftwing school board and congressional candidates.

• Thanks to the unethical behavior of disgraced State Rep. Dennis Bonnen (R-Lake Jackson), the speakership of the Texas House stands vacant for the 2021 legislative session. Selecting a new speaker will be the first task of the Texas House when lawmakers convene on Jan. 12, 2021. 
      
• What would usually by now be a loud race among contenders has been mostly muted, as legislators – like the rest of us – wait to see what the make-up of the Texas House will be. The GOP currently has 83 of the 150 seats, but Democrats have poured national resources into flipping the chamber.
     
• The first two declared entrants in the speakership race are both Democrats. Brandon Waltens has profiled both candidates’ entries to the race. Though several Republican members are rumored to be eyeing the position, none have officially filed.
   
• First to file late last week was State Rep. Senfronia Thompson of Houston. Staunchly pro-abortion, Thompson was nonetheless allowed by Bonnen to chair the House’s Public Health Committee, where she promptly killed legislation in 2019 to ban abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected. Thompson was first elected to the House in 1972, and has consistently been one of the chamber’s most leftwing members on both social and fiscal issues.
   
• Yesterday, Trey Martinez Fischer (D-San Antonio) put in his paperwork. First elected to the Texas House in 2000, Fischer has served in the chamber for 18 years—with a two-year break in 2017-2018 from the chamber following an unsuccessful campaign for the Texas Senate. Fischer received a rating of 21 percent on the Fiscal Responsibility Index last session, making him one of the most fiscally liberal members of the Texas House. 

• In this week’s edition of his podcast, Luke Macias admits to having not voted for Donald Trump in 2016... but has enthusiastically done so this year.

• Meanwhile, Jim Ellis breaks down the pivotal role Texas’ congressional races could play in determining the makeup of the U.S. House in 2021.
   
• “We see 11 of the Lone Star seats falling into the competitive category, five of them in the top tier. Of the 11, only one is a Democratic seat, held by freshman Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-Houston), meaning the Texas campaigns will likely prove to be ground zero in previewing the overall House result.” – Jim Ellis

• Our friends at The American Conservative chatted with Federal Elections Commission Chairman Trey Trainor about “Everything That Could Go Wrong” with next week’s election.

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