The Republican state senator says the Texas card violates the Voting Rights Act, along with other information about the attorney general and lieutenant governor. races


It’s time for the week that was in Texas politics with James Barraganpolitical reporter for The Texas Tribune.

Several people are running to overthrow Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, but Paxton only seems to worry about one among them: Congressman Louie Gohmert. Paxton took out TV commercials to air in East Texas – Gohmert’s territory. Paxton also sends mailers and advertises on Facebook. His tactics are unusual in this race so far, Barragán says, especially because other challengers like former Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman and Lands Commissioner George P. Bush have raised far more money. money than Gohmert.

“It’s not something that [Attorney] General Paxton did it for any of the other competitors in the race, so that really indicates that he sees Louie Gohmert as a threat,” Barragán said.

Also this week, the Texas state senator. Kel Seliger testified that Republicans violated a voting rights law during the Legislature redistricting process last year. Seliger signed a written statement saying this in November. He reaffirmed it in a video deposition that was released this week in federal court in El Paso, where a three-judge panel is hearing a challenge to political maps drawn by Texas Republicans in 2021 – specifically the new boundaries. of Texas Senate District 10, which includes parts of Fort Worth.

Barragán says it’s a predominantly black and Hispanic district that often elects candidates who reflect those communities. But the new district boundaries now include less of Forth Worth and more of the surrounding rural counties.

“[Lawmakers] segregated some of these populations and then placed them in communities that have much whiter and much more rural populations, which opponents say is a violation of the Voting Rights Act,” Barragán said.

And in the race for texas lieutenant governor, three Democrats face each other in the primary, hoping to overthrow Republican Dan Patrick: Mike Collier is a businessman and former auditor from Houston; Michelle Beckley is a State Representative for Denton County; and Carla Brailey is a former Vice President of the Texas Democratic Party. But defeating Patrick is going to be a challenge for whoever wins the primary. Barragán says it’s because Patrick has $25 million in his campaign coffers, which far eclipses the most raised among the three Democrats: $826,000 raised by Collier.

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