Good morning –

We’re a month out from the annual Conservative Leaders Gala. I hope you will be thereon Dec. 7 to help us recognize and honor grassroots activists from around the state who have been fighting for the Lone Star State. It is truly one of the most inspiring nights of the year!

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, November 7, 2019
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• Yes, every vote matters. The $569 million Midland ISD bond election unofficial results showed a narrow 12 vote lead in favor of the measure. With mail-in ballots and military votes still unaccounted for in the totals, Matt Stringer reports bond opponents are weighing a recount.
      
• Meanwhile, there was just a 5-vote margin deciding the run-off for a Texas House special election in Dallas. Erin Anderson reports Democrats Lorraine Birabil and James Armstrong III will advance to a runoff to fill the unexpired term of former State Rep. Eric Johnson (D–Dallas), who was elected mayor of Dallas earlier this year. Armstrong got into the run-off over third-place finisher Daniel Davis Clayton by five votes.
      
• The race to finish the unexpired term of the Fort Bend County-based House District 28 was not decided in Tuesday’s special election. Destin Sensky reports the race now heads to a runoff, featuring Democrat Elizabeth “Eliz” Markowitz and Republican Gary Gates.
     
• Robert Montoya reports voters in Tarrant County approved more than $2.7 billion in new taxpayer debt in various local elections.
   
• Sometimes it takes only one vote. In Collin County Municipal Utility District No. 2, one voter cast deciding votes to pass all three ballot propositions, authorizing the district to borrow and spend $306 million to build roads and collect property taxes to repay the debt. Indeed, there was ONLY one voter.
      
• Midland voters ousted their incumbent mayor, Jerry Morales, in the three-way mayoral race. Businessman Patrick Payton won outright, earning 10,867 votes to Morales’ 6,775 votes, with businesswoman Jenny Cudd finishing third with 3,302. 
   
• This week’s edition of Texas Scorecard Radio features Tony McDonald’s discussion with Lathan Watts of the First Liberty Institute about the threat Democrats pose to religious freedom. 
   
• Even if Texas Scorecard Radio isn’t broadcast in your neck of the woods or at a time when you can catch it, every edition is available on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, SoundCloud, or Stitcher. (You can also find it on our website, of course!)

• In a new commentary, former Fort Worth City Councilman Clyde Picht outlines how and why Panther Island became such a mess, and how taxpayers were “left holding the bag.”
       
• Legislation has been filed in both the U.S. Senate and House banning elective abortions targeting preborn children with Down syndrome. Texas Right to Life explains the details.
          
• Happy birthday to Empower Texans’ Executive Assistant, Shelby Hinna!