Texas Tribune
In South Texas, a push for more direct democracy
by By Berenice Garcia, The Texas Tribune – 2024-06-07 05:00:00
SUMMARY: Ground Game Texas, led by campaign manager Karen Salazar, is collecting signatures in McAllen to amend the city charter, particularly aiming to limit campaign contributions and add powers like initiative, referendum, and recall. Efforts have faced challenges, including high voter apathy and difficulty finding registered voters. Despite skepticism from some residents and opposition from McAllen officials, who argue there's no corruption in the city, Salazar remains optimistic. Ground Game has successfully pushed progressive policies in other Texas cities. However, political scientist Robert Velez warns that significant changes will require higher voter participation and overcoming state-level preemptions.
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McALLEN — Karen Salazar was walking along a residential street when she came across a yard with a “Beware of Dog” sign posted on its fence.
There was no dog in sight. Terrified of canines, she decided not to risk it and moved on to another home.
She knocked on another front door and explained to the man who answered that she was collecting signatures from registered voters for a local anti-corruption campaign.
“I'm not a registered voter here,” he said, adding that anyone who lived there who might be registered wasn't home.
And that's how it would go for the next hour and a half.
Salazar works for Ground Game Texas, a nonprofit that organizes campaigns across the state to pass progressive initiatives at the city level.
As the campaign manager for the group's McAllen campaign, Salazar and her team of nine field organizers have been trying to collect enough signatures from voters for a petition that, if successful, would place a proposal to change the city charter — creating more opportunities for voters to change local policy — before voters in the November election.
Salazar is confident they're on track to meet their target of 4,400 valid signatures by June 15. As of May 29, the group had 3,400 valid signatures out of 4,500 they had collected.
Yet the path to the November ballot is not without bumps. Finding the city's registered voters out in the public has proven difficult. Voter apathy appears to be running high. And city officials do not support the proposed changes, arguing McAllen is void of corruption.
State law requires the petition to be signed by 5% of the number of qualified voters of the municipality. As of May 30, there were 80,430 registered voters in the city, according to the Hidalgo County elections department, making the required number of signatories 4,022.
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Credit:
Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune
The additional votes they are seeking are meant to provide a cushion, Salazar said.
If successful, McAllen voters would decide whether to amend the city charter to limit campaign contributions for candidates to $500 per donor. The change would be a drastic reduction from current caps which allow campaign donations of up to $5,000 per donor for candidates running for city commission and donations of up to $10,000 per donor for mayoral candidates.
Ground Game's proposal would also add the powers of initiative, referendum and recall to the charter. Initiatives allow residents to propose and enact a city ordinance while referendums give residents the power to reject an ordinance that was approved by the city commissioners.
Recall petitions can be used to remove an elected official from office.
During their late-May block-walking, Salazar and two field organizers with her found more success as the evening wore on. They managed to get 13 signatures, including four from one household.
Salazar's team has collected signatures since February at polling locations, markets and local bars to garner as much support as they could.
The challenge at these events, though, has been finding people who actually live in McAllen since the city –– the largest in Hidalgo County –– draws people to its restaurants, retail stores and entertainment from all over the Rio Grande Valley.
“It's hard to find McAllen residents, people that live and vote in McAllen,” Salazar said.
As door-knocking that week in May demonstrated, finding registered voters at residences is difficult since the people who answer their doors are often not registered to vote.
For McAllen's general election in 2021, the city had 73,727 registered voters or about 69% of the city's voting-age population, which the U.S. Census Bureau estimates to be 106,855. Of those registered, about 12% voted in that year's election in which residents elected a new mayor and two commissioners.
Even when they reach a registered voter, the voter's support for their cause isn't always enough to convince them to sign their name.
As the three organizers continued their search down the residential street in late May, an elderly woman poked her head out from her house, curious as to what the young women were up to.
Seeing her interest, Salazar introduced herself as she walked up the woman's driveway. She explained to the woman, 79-year-old Laura Garcia, why they were gathering signatures. Garcia agreed politicians received too much money, but she was skeptical Ground Game would succeed.
“You think those people will obey? I don't. They're shameless,” Garcia said in Spanish.
She wished them luck without signing the petition and said she'd ask her son to take her to vote.
That cynicism is not uncommon among voters but is one of the biggest challenges to their campaign, according to Mike Siegel, political director of Ground Game Texas.
Siegel said residents sometimes feel hopeless, that their vote or signature doesn't matter and that action is futile.
“To me, that's the biggest ‘threat' to our campaign –– it is frankly convincing folks that their voice does matter,” Siegel said.
Ground Game has had some success in advancing progressive social policies through campaigns like the one in McAllen.
Since 2021, they have run or co-led about a dozen campaigns, including a handful of successful efforts to decriminalize marijuana in 2022. In a state like Texas where there is no process for a voter-driven statewide referendum, these local initiatives are one of the few courses of action available to voters to enact their own policies.
In Hidalgo County, they successfully pushed for resolutions in the cities of Edinburg and Alton that raised the minimum wage for city employees to $15 an hour.
They've also had failures. In El Paso, voters rejected their proposed charter amendment for a citywide climate policy. In San Antonio, a “Justice Charter,” or Proposition A, in 2023 also failed. These charter amendments aimed to decriminalize abortion and low-level marijuana possession, codify and expand cite-and-release, ban no-knock warrants and police chokeholds, and create a city justice director to oversee criminal justice-related policies.
Even if their proposals aren't successful at the ballot box, Siegel said they hope they can improve voter turnout in local elections just by having measures on the ballot that people care about.
For their McAllen campaign, Ground Game conducted a survey in January which found that of the 661 respondents, an overwhelming majority –– at least 80% among Republicans, Democrats, and Independents –– felt it was important to them to reduce political corruption in McAllen.
About 81% said they were either strongly or likely in favor of limits on campaign contributions, while approximately 73% said they were either strongly or likely in favor of ballot initiative powers.
McAllen officials say changes aren't needed
City officials don't see the need and strongly take issue with the insinuation that corruption exists in the city.
City Manager Roel “Roy” Rodriguez called Ground Game's use of “anti-corruption” in their campaign as disingenuous considering McAllen's lack of scandals like those that have seen the arrests of officials from neighboring cities.
“If you go back decades, McAllen is a pillar of ethical behavior,” Rodriguez said. “All I can point to is positive things about our community.”
Rodriguez said that if residents ultimately decided changes to the charter were necessary “then, so be it,” but Mayor Javier Villalobos and commission members were clear they did not support lowering the cap on political contributions.
Villalobos argued political contributions were a free speech right under the First Amendment and said the city's process for procuring vendors and contractors left little opportunity for officials to approve contracts in exchange for contributions.
“We don't have the issue here because in McAllen, the city officials do not get involved in procurement,” Villalobos said. “We hire the city manager, the chief of police, the fire chief and then we let them work.”
The city commission does grant final approval of those contracts but Villalabos said their approval is mostly a formality as long as everything is done correctly.
“We don't get involved, so I don't think there's any influence from any engineer, architect or anybody on myself or any of the commissioners that I'm concerned about,” Villalobos said.
Aside from those perceived protections within the process, City Commissioner Victor “Seby” Haddad rejected the premise that the commissioners are more likely to listen to people or entities that contribute to their campaigns.
“It's a false assumption based on zero evidence,” Haddad said. “We are 100% available on social media, through city hall, I give out my cellphone constantly, we have town halls, we walk different neighborhoods from time to time, and we always try to stress to the voting public or the general public in general that we are always available.”
Haddad noted that people who make political contributions are far more likely to be civically engaged by paying attention to the city commission's actions and likely have the commissioners' contact information handy.
“A donation doesn't prioritize anyone nor does it guarantee anything,” Haddad said.
Both Villalobos and City Commissioner Joaquin “J.J.” Zamora said they didn't see the need for adding initiative, referendum and recall rights to the city charter. In their view, their residents already had the power to hold them accountable.
“I feel like this group is making something about nothing,” Zamora said.
Many home rule cities include the powers of initiative, referendum, and recall –– what Ground Game refers to as “direct democracy rights.” Among the Valley cities that have them include Edinburg, Mission, San Juan, Mercedes, Weslaco and Harlingen.
Those that don't include those powers of initiative and referendum are Brownsville, Pharr and Alamo, though their charters do include the ability to recall an elected official.
McAllen is unique in the Valley in that its charter has none of the three, however it does state that any resident or property taxpayer of the city can file a petition with a district court in the county to remove an elected official.
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Omar Chavira signs a petition to amend the city charter to place a limit on campaign contributions in McAllen.
Credit:
Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune
Recall provisions in city charters typically allow voters to bypass the courts and deal directly with the city. The requirements of a recall petition vary by city but if successful, it will likely trigger a recall election of the elected official targeted for removal.
Texas and local control
While some in office may view the addition of these “direct democracy” rights as redundant or campaign reform as potentially harmful to free speech, Robert Velez, a political scientist at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, views the petition as a step in the right direction for democracy.
Velez especially highlighted the initiative and referendum powers as having the greatest potential to open up the political process for residents at the local level.
“Those are one of the big reasons why half the states have some kind of legalized marijuana,” Velez said. “That's largely done through ballot initiatives.”
No city has legalized marijuana. And Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is seeking to block efforts in a few cities that have decriminalized low levels of the drug.
Even if McAllen residents do approve initiative and referendum rights, and residents utilize them to adopt an ordinance, Velez pointed out that the state government could invalidate their efforts by outlawing that ordinance if state lawmakers disagree with it.
Velez pointed to the City of Denton as an example where in 2014, a group of local activists persuaded nearly 59% of Denton voters to approve a fracking ban.
The following year, Texas lawmakers passed a bill that would preempt local efforts to regulate a wide variety of drilling-related activities. And during the last legislative session, the Legislature approved a law that effectively prohibits cities from putting in place certain policies that might go beyond state law, such as requiring employers to have paid sick leave. The law is in effect but is currently being challenged in court.
“It's really kind of a paradox in Texas,” Velez said. “They say big bad government's no good, we want decisions to be made by local people, but then if a local municipality makes a decision that the government doesn't like or the legislature doesn't like, then we're just going to say no, you can't do that.”
Organizers like Salazar and her team are optimistic that incremental changes can be accomplished at the local level like those achieved in neighboring Edinburg and Alton. But Velez warns that significant victories won't be possible until more people exercise their right to vote.
“These efforts that we could categorize as good government are going to have a hard time finding traction in Texas until more people acknowledge the fact that democracy is not a spectator sport,” Velez said. “You've got to participate.”
Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.
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by By Asad Jung, The Texas Tribune – 2024-07-05 17:44:44
SUMMARY: The University of Texas at Austin is disciplining students arrested during pro-Palestinian protests in April by offering “deferred suspension,” allowing students to avoid suspension by proving educational growth. Deferred suspension requires students to take an exam on university rules and avoid appealing the decision. Some students, like Ari Lenahan, see this as a relief compared to harsher penalties faced by peers at other universities. Over 130 protesters were arrested, but Travis County Attorney Delia Garza declined to pursue criminal trespassing charges. The university's heavy-handed response has sparked criticism from students, faculty, and free speech advocates.
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The University of Texas at Austin has begun disciplining students who were arrested in pro-Palestinian demonstrations in April, scolding them for their actions but offering them a path to avoid suspension.
In letters sent out to students this week, first reported by KUT, university officials said it would be appropriate to suspend them for their actions during the protests but would give them the option to take “deferred suspension” instead, a form of probation that would allow students to remain in class and keep the disciplinary action from appearing on their final transcripts.
“Recognizing our commitment to educational growth, we want to offer you an alternative path to avoid suspension by proving that you have learned from this experience,” reads one of the letters obtained by The Texas Tribune.
Students who choose deferred suspension must agree to take an exam testing their knowledge of the university's rules and agree not to appeal the decision. The status would be active until July 7, 2025.
Those who decline that option would be suspended, the letter says. Students may also appeal the disciplinary sanctions through a university hearing.
Ari Lenahan, a UT-Austin student set to graduate in December, said he was relieved the university offered him deferred suspension since students at other universities across the country are facing harsher punishments after participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. He said it may be the best choice for him since he aims to graduate this year.
“It's a lot clearer where I stand now, at least in the university's eyes,” he said.
Lenahan still has a hold on his account preventing him from registering for classes in the fall but said the letter he received Wednesday states any holds will be removed once his case is resolved.
Anne-Marie Jardine, a recent graduate, received a sanction letter concerning her involvement in an April 24 pro-Palestinian demonstration. Jardine was told she would be under deferred suspension for one year if she were to re-enroll at UT-Austin. Jardine said she hasn't received her official diploma from the university yet.
Many other students under investigation have not yet been informed about how the university plans to move forward with their cases. Sam Law, a PhD candidate who was arrested on April 29, said that he expects the university will contact him soon.
More than 130 protesters were arrested at pro-Palestinian demonstrations on UT-Austin's campus in late April. In resolute efforts to dispel the protesters, law enforcement at the time deployed pepper spray and flash-bang explosives and charged students with horses. State troopers were deployed by Gov. Greg Abbott to help quash the protests and had a hand in the arrests.
Those arrested were charged with criminal trespassing but Travis County Attorney Delia Garza declined to pursue those charges.
In the aftermath of the protest, many students, faculty and free speech advocates questioned UT-Austin's heavy-handed response to the protests and criticized state GOP leaders' support of the arrests. Just a few years ago, Abbott had championed state legislation that protected free speech on college campuses, leading free speech advocates to ask who gets to enjoy free speech protections in Texas.
UT-Austin leaders, meanwhile, have vowed to carry out discipline against students who violated campus policies. Seniors in the class of 2024 were afraid their diplomas would be withheld, though they were permitted to join graduation ceremonies in the spring.
Sneha Dey contributed to this story.
Disclosure: University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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by By Emily Foxhall, Berenice Garcia and Stephen Simpson, The Texas Tribune – 2024-07-05 16:47:07
SUMMARY: Texans are being urged to prepare for Hurricane Beryl, expected to make landfall as a Category 1 or 2 storm along the Texas coast on Monday. Currently crossing Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Beryl could hit anywhere from northern Mexico to the mid-Texas coast. Officials stress vigilance and preparation, especially for those along the Gulf coast, and advise stocking up on essentials like food and water. Emergency measures include distributing sandbags and readying evacuation plans. Beryl, an unusually strong early-season storm, has already caused significant Caribbean damage, with forecasters predicting a highly active hurricane season exacerbated by climate change.
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Texans need to prepare for Hurricane Beryl, which is likely to make landfall on the state's coast as a Category 1 or 2 storm on Monday, state emergency officials said.
The record-setting storm was moving across Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, leaving forecasters still unsure exactly where along the Texas coast will see the worst rainfall and wind.
As Beryl left behind a trail of destruction across Caribbean islands, state officials urged Texans along the entire Gulf coast to pay close attention and prepare for a dangerous storm, particularly people vacationing during the July 4 holiday weekend.
“Everyone along the coast should be paying attention to this storm,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said at a news conference in Austin. Patrick is serving as acting governor as Gov. Greg Abbott travels in Asia on an economic development trip.
Residents should be gassing up their vehicles and making sure they have food and water for themselves and their pets, Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said.
“A lot of people are out having fun right now, and that's a good thing, and we want them to continue to do that, but we also want them to prepare,” Kidd said. “We need a prepared community, not a panicked community.”
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Boarded windows at the H-E-B Plus! grocery store in Brownsville on July 5, 2024.
Credit:
Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune
Officials in the Rio Grande Valley and Corpus Christi have been distributing thousands of sandbags to help people prepare for potential flooding. South Texans have been eager for rain because the two major reservoirs on the Rio Grande have reached near or record lows in June.
Forecasters on Friday expected Beryl to make landfall anywhere from northern Mexico to the mid-Texas coast. The storm appeared likely aimed for South Texas but experts warned its path could shift north to Corpus Christi or Matagorda Bay.
Tropical storm-level winds would likely arrive Sunday night, according to the National Hurricane Center. Areas from Brownsville to Corpus Christi faced the greatest wind threat under the current forecast.
Heavy rain could begin Sunday and last through Tuesday. The National Hurricane Center predicted four to eight inches to fall along the South Texas coastline, with higher amounts in some spots, and up to six inches from Corpus Christi to Matagorda Bay. Forecasters expected the storm to slow over land, which would increase the risk of flooding.
Rip currents and high seas starting late Friday will make coastal conditions dangerous.
In the Rio Grande Valley, officials were preparing for possible flooding.
The eastern part of Hidalgo County tends to be hit the hardest during heavy rains, but the county was taking steps to mitigate flooding there, said Ricardo Saldaña, Hidalgo County's emergency management coordinator. Officials have placed water pumps near flood-prone areas and worked with contractors to prevent flooding at drainage project sites by covering up excavation holes.
Saldaña warned residents to make their own preparations by stocking up on food and water, preparing an emergency kit, and making arrangements with friends and family to relocate if necessary.
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Sandbags at a county facility in Brownsville on July 5, 2024.
Credit:
Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune
Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr. recommended that people in recreational vehicles leave county parks.
“If you don't feel safe, evacuate,” said Tom Hushen, Cameron County's emergency management coordinator.
If there is flooding, Hushen said they were prepared to mobilize fire trucks and ambulances to help people evacuate. But high winds could pose another threat. Winds of more than 90 miles per hour could cause those vehicles to topple over. In that scenario, county officials would have to deploy larger vehicles like dump trucks.
Hushen said any power outages would prompt the opening of emergency shelters. He also advised residents to tie down any loose items in their yards and to bring in all patio furniture because high winds could turn those objects into projectiles.
“Listen to the warnings,” Hushen advised residents. “Things could change at a moment's notice.”
Beryl has astounded meteorologists with its strength so early in the summer. Warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures helped Beryl rapidly strengthen into a Category 4 storm in late June — becoming the first recorded Category 4 storm to form in June, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Beryl strengthened into a Category 5 and tore across the Caribbean, causing devastation in Grenada and Jamaica. It pushed onto the Yucatan Peninsula early Friday as a Category 2 storm.
“Beryl is so out of place historically given how early in the season it is and how strong it got,” said Houston-based meteorologist Matt Lanza, who helps write a blog on tropical weather called The Eyewall. “Typically you don't see that sort of thing until August — not the end of June, beginning of July.”
Federal forecasters expect this hurricane season, which began June 1, to be a bad one. They predicted to see 17 to 25 named storms form, which was more than they had ever forecast before a season's start. They believed four to seven of those would be Category 3 storms or stronger.
Climate change driven by people burning fossil fuels is causing oceans to warm and makes hurricanes more likely to be stronger. Scientists also say climate change may make rapid intensification of storms more likely — as happened with Beryl.
“To look at a satellite on June the 30th or July the 1st and to see a storm of Beryl's magnitude is almost unbelievable,” said Michael Lowry, a hurricane expert for WPLG TV in Miami.
Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.
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by By Isaac Yu, The Texas Tribune – 2024-07-05 05:00:00
SUMMARY: U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul seeks a waiver to extend his chairmanship of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. During his term, McCaul, a Republican from Austin, led efforts to ban TikTok, supported Tibetan self-determination, and condemned the Chinese spy balloon. He also played a crucial role in passing a bipartisan Ukraine aid bill and has been active on global issues, including Ukraine and Taiwan. McCaul aims to maintain U.S. strength abroad amid growing isolationism in his party. Facing a six-year term limit, he needs special permission to continue, with several colleagues aiming for his position. His leadership's fate will be decided by the Republican Steering Committee.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul isn't quite ready to give up his gavel.
In his two years as chair of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Austin Republican has been busy; he spearheaded the charge to ban TikTok, authored one resolution on Tibetan self-determination and led another condemning the infamous Chinese spy balloon. Just last month, he helped shoulder a bipartisan Ukraine aid bill through Congress over many colleagues' loud objections. He's also traveled the globe, shaking hands with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine, receiving a blessing from the Dalai Lama in India, and gifting Taiwan President Lai Ching Te with a cowboy hat.
To keep his leadership post on one of the most coveted committees in Washington, he'll need special permission, having hit his six-year term limit. Several colleagues are already gunning to replace him.
McCaul confirmed last week that he would indeed seek a waiver to serve another term as top Republican on his committee, which would need approval from a steering committee and then the full House Republican caucus.
“It's not time to change horses right now,” McCaul said in an interview. “It's a dangerous time where the world is on fire.”
If his quest is successful, McCaul pledges to keep supporting key allies around the globe and stay aggressive on adversaries like Russia and China. If not, defense hawks in Washington could lose a powerful voice in charge just as the GOP prepares to redefine its approach to foreign policy under a potential second Trump administration.
Closing out his twentieth year in Congress, McCaul is well-connected and one of the most experienced members of the Texas delegation, having chaired the Homeland Security Committee from 2013 to 2019. The Foreign Affairs Committee under his leadership has been the most productive House committee this term, his office said, with 67 measures and 18 bills passed by the full chamber.
McCaul is making the case that his relationships on the Hill — including a friendship with Speaker Mike Johnson that helped push Ukraine aid over the finish line — justify him staying on an extra term.
Johnson had voted against sending aid to Ukraine before becoming speaker, part of a growing wing of conservatives who believed foreign aid came at the expense of funding for border security. McCaul, a steadfast supporter of Ukraine, helped sway Johnson's thinking and the speaker ultimately threw his support behind a package to send $60 billion in aid to boost Ukraine's arsenal against Russia.
The decision was opposed by a majority of Republicans and drew the ire of hardline conservatives, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia, who filed a motion to vacate the speaker, which failed.
“I think I feel compelled to do it not for myself, but I don't think anyone would be able to do what I do or shepherd the [Ukraine] supplemental the way I was able to,” McCaul said.
McCaul has also been a leading China antagonist this term, leading an effort to force the sale of TikTok to an American company. His visits with Taiwanese leaders and the Dalai Lama, who China views as a separatist threat, have drawn strong condemnation and sanctions from Beijing.
His efforts on Ukraine, Taiwan and elsewhere are linked by a desire to project U.S. strength abroad, even as the isolationist wing of his party grows.
“If we abandoned Ukraine and allowed [Vladimir] Putin to take over Ukraine and threaten Eastern Europe, that would be a big mistake, and it would send a message to Chairman Xi [Jinping] that Taiwan's fair game,” McCaul said.
House Republicans set six-year term limits for committee chairs, including years spent as ranking member when the party is the minority. The GOP last voted to keep the term limits at the beginning of the current term.
Waivers are rare. Only one was granted last session, to Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-North Carolina, who stayed an extra term chairing the House Education and Workforce Committee. Before Foxx, the last waiver was granted in 2012, to former Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin.
McCaul's fight comes as Texan influence in the House is on the decline. The state delegation, which includes more Republicans than any other state, will see the retirements of Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, who stepped down from her powerful perch as Appropriations chair, and Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Denton, who will give up the Rules Committee gavel less than a year after gaining it.
Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Lubbock, will remain the top Republican on the Budget Committee. And Rep. Brian Babin, R-Woodville, is currently the only Republican running for the top spot on the Science, Space and Technology Committee.
Committee assignments are determined by the Republican Steering Committee, made up of party leadership and regional representatives, and then approved by the full conference. The 36-member Steering Committee, which always includes at least two Texans, has been stingy with waivers in the past, even when considering chairs like McCaul who have spent most of their time in the minority.
The decision could depend in part on how McCaul's committee feels about his leadership. Foxx had the support of every Republican on her committee in seeking a waiver, including from the next-highest ranking Republican who would have replaced her.
None of McCaul's 26 Republican colleagues on Foreign Affairs have made endorsements yet, but at least three members — Ann Wagner of Missouri, the committee's vice chair, Darrell Issa of California and Joe Wilson of South Carolina — have already confirmed they are running against McCaul for the top spot. The committee includes three fellow Texans: Reps. Nathaniel Moran of Tyler, Keith Self of McKinney and Ronny Jackson of Amarillo, none of whom responded to requests for comment.
It's not immediately clear whether any of McCaul's announced rivals would diverge greatly from his policy positions, and all three supported foreign aid packages for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan earlier this year.
Matthew Choi contributed to this report.
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Tropical Storm Beryl: Latest projected path, possible impact to Texas
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KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding is LIVE in Corpus Christi, Texas as the community prepares for Beryl
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Anthony Yanez concerned as Hurricane Beryl keeps moving right
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