Texas Tribune
What to watch for in Texas’ primary runoff election today
by By Jasper Scherer, Zach Despart and Matthew Choi, The Texas Tribune – 2024-05-28 05:00:00
SUMMARY: Texans are voting to determine the Democratic and Republican candidates for various seats in the November election. While many races are uncontested due to districting, the Texas House Speaker race between incumbent Dade Phelan and David Covey is critical for the Republican Party's orientation. Governor Greg Abbott aims to secure school voucher support, targeting four anti-voucher Republican incumbents in runoff races. U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales faces a significant primary challenge. Additionally, notable Democratic match-ups include Shawn Thierry and Rosie Cuellar's bids, with broader implications for party dynamics. High campaign spending underscores the stakes of these elections.
—————-
FULL ARTICLE:
Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune's daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
Texans are heading to the polls Tuesday to make their final selections for which Democrats and Republicans will run for various seats in the November election.
Primary elections were March 5, but a handful of down-ballot races for congressional, legislative and local seats went to a runoff after no candidate received a majority of the vote.
The consequences for these final races are significant — Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan is fighting for political survival and his ouster could turn up the far-right temperament of the already conservative Legislature.
The outcome of some of the legislative runoffs could also determine whether Gov. Greg Abbott will be able to pass school vouchers next year — a priority he was denied by House Republicans in the last legislative session.
Many of Texas' districts are uncompetitive because they've been drawn to be safely Republican or Democratic. That means primary winners, in many cases, are likely to sail safely into office this November.
Here's four things we're watching.
House speaker race
Phelan, a Beaumont Republican, is fighting for reelection in the District 21 runoff against former Orange County Republican Party Chair David Covey, who received the most votes in the first round of balloting in the Southeast Texas district.
The race is a proxy battle for the future of the Texas Republican Party.
Phelan is backed by business-oriented conservatives who helped bring the Republican Party to power in the 1990s, while Covey has the support of an insurgency of far-right Republicans with a greater focus on social and cultural issues. No incumbent House speaker has lost a primary since 1972.
Covey has secured the endorsements of former President Donald Trump, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller. His campaign has been heavily bankrolled by Midland oil magnate and conservative activist Tim Dunn.
Phelan enjoys the backing of his two predecessors, former Republican speakers Dennis Bonnen and Joe Straus, as well as former Gov. Rick Perry, who has hit the campaign trail with Phelan. Gov. Greg Abbott, who shares a lot of big-dollar donors with Phelan, has remained notably silent on the race.
Phelan's financial supporters include conservative groups like Texans for Lawsuit Reform and Associated Republicans of Texas as well as some of the wealthiest business executives in the state.
Because of its importance in determining the future of the House, the race has become staggeringly expensive. Through May 20, the two campaigns had collectively spent $5.4 million on an election that will likely draw less than 30,000 voters. That figure excludes money spent by outside groups on each candidate's behalf.
Abbott's voucher crusade
In the March primaries, Abbott helped orchestrate the defeat of six House GOP incumbents who thwarted his push for school vouchers. He hopes to gain further ground, and perhaps even a pro-voucher majority, in Tuesday's runoffs.
On the ballot are four contests featuring anti-voucher House incumbents who survived the March purge but failed to win a majority, forcing them into runoffs against Abbott-backed challengers.
All but one of the GOP incumbents finished in second place in the March election, making them decided underdogs heading into the overtime round. The exception was state Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston, who finished a few percentage points ahead of his top challenger, businessman Chris Spencer.
By Abbott's count, voucher supporters are two votes shy of reaching a majority in the House, the chamber where a firewall of Democrats and rural Republicans has shot down attempts to provide taxpayer funds for private school tuition.
Despite the chamber's historical resistance, Abbott adopted vouchers as his signature issue two years ago, declaring it a top legislative priority and playing hardball with members to try to pass it. He ultimately failed to break through, vexed by a bloc of 21 Republican holdouts — some of whom Abbott and his allies have already ousted or, in the case of retiring members, replaced with pro-voucher successors.
The embattled incumbents have faced a torrent of attack ads seeking to depict them as soft on border security, even after they fully supported Abbott's immigration crackdown. Some voucher groups have also accused the anti-voucher Republicans of killing a school funding bill — without mentioning that the measure died because, following a vote to strip vouchers from the bill, the author withdrew the entire proposal, citing Abbott's threat to veto any education spending that did not include vouchers.
Along with VanDeaver, three other anti-voucher Republicans are on Tuesday's ballot: state Reps. DeWayne Burns of Cleburne, Justin Holland of Rockwall and John Kuempel of Seguin.
Burns faces Helen Kerwin, a former Glen Rose mayor and Somervell County commissioner, who finished with 49% to Burns' 41% in the first round.
Holland is up against Katrina Pierson, the former tea party leader and Trump spokesperson. He received 39% in March, finishing a few hundred votes behind Pierson.
Kuempel's runoff opponent is former state representative Alan Schoolcraft, who won 48% to Kuempel's 45% in the first round.
Tony Gonzales vulnerable
U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, is fending off a right-wing primary challenge from YouTuber and gun influencer Brandon Herrera. Gonzales' reelection campaign is his first since being censured by the Texas Republican Party last year.
Gonzales faced a serious push from the right this year after months of beefing with cultural conservatives in Washington and Texas. The state party censured him over his support for gun safety legislation in the wake of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, which is in his district. It also cited his opposition to House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Chip Roy's hardline border bill in 2023 and Gonzales' opposition to a House rules package negotiated between hardliners and then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Herrera is new to politics, using his prominent internet presence to get out his pro-gun message. Much of his support comes from out of state from small-dollar donors. Herrera also has the backing of the House Freedom Caucus.
Gonzales has a serious fundraising operation, raising over $4 million this cycle, including from business interests in West Texas and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He has also been endorsed by major Republican leaders including U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, Abbott and Patrick.
The district was historically a swing district but became much more comfortably Republican after redistricting in 2021.
Democrats, too
Much of the attention this election cycle is on the Republican civil war, but there's still a handful of Democratic races making waves.
In the House, Houston Rep. Shawn Thierry's match-up against Laura Ashley Simmons emerged as a test of whether Democrats can vote against the LGBTQ+ community without paying the electoral price.
Thierry has been under fire among many of her House Democratic peers since she voted for a GOP-backed measure barring gender-transitioning care for minors. She fanned the flames by going on to deliver an emotional speech from the House floor explaining her vote.
Another House race to watch is in District 80, where Rosie Cuellar faces Cecilia Castellano, a former Laredo municipal judge, in the Democratic primary runoff.
Cuellar, who came in first in the March primary, is the Webb County tax assessor-collector and notably, sister of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar — whose recent indictment along with his wife has drawn fresh attention to the family's political connections.
The seat is open because Rep. Tracy King, D-Uvalde, did not seek reelection. But Republicans view the race as a pickup opportunity. The winner of the Democratic primary will go on to face former Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin in November.
In the Senate, state Rep. Jarvis Johnson is getting a rematch against emergency room nurse Molly Cook in the Democratic runoff for Houston's Senate District 15. The two are hoping to replace John Whitmire, who is now mayor of Houston.
In a signal of her strength, Cook — backed by a progressive fundraising group led by Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg — beat Johnson in a special election to fill Whitmire's unexpired term through the end of the year with 57% of the vote.
The winner on Tuesday will face off against Republican Joseph Trahan in November for the two-year term.
Rebekah Allen contributed to this report.
Disclosure: Texans for Lawsuit Reform 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.
We've got big things in store for you at The Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Join us for three days of big, bold conversations about politics, public policy and the day's news.
The post What to watch for in Texas' primary runoff election today appeared first on TexasTribune.org.
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas Tribune
Texas to double state fund aimed at expanding power grid
by By Kayla Guo, The Texas Tribune – 2024-07-01 17:05:54
SUMMARY: The state of Texas plans to double the Texas Energy Fund from $5 billion to $10 billion to expand the power grid as electricity demand is expected to nearly double by 2030. This follows a forecast by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which estimated the state's main grid would need to supply nearly twice its current power. The fund, approved by voters in November 2023, offers low-interest loans for new gas-fueled power plants. The state's grid has faced scrutiny since a 2021 winter storm caused extensive outages. Companies must apply for loans by July 27.
—————-
FULL ARTICLE:
Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune's daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
The state of Texas plans to double a state fund aimed at expanding the power grid as demand for electricity is expected to nearly double over the next six years.
The state will look to boost the Texas Energy Fund from $5 billion to $10 billion, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced on Monday. The fund was approved by voters in November 2023 to offer low-interest loans to incentivize development of new gas-fueled power plants.
The announcement comes soon after a new prediction by the state's main grid operator that said electricity needs will surge in the coming years. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas estimated that the state's main power grid would have to provide nearly double the amount of power it currently supplies by 2030.
The numbers in the new forecast, Abbott and Patrick said in a press release, “call for an immediate review of all policies concerning the grid.”
The state's grid came under intense public and legislative scrutiny after a winter storm in 2021 knocked out its operations, causing dayslong power outages across the state in freezing temperatures that left millions of Texans without lights or heat. Hundreds died.
The Texas Energy Fund set aside $5 billion to fund 3% interest loans to help construct new gas-fueled power plants that are not dependent on the weather and that could power 20,000 homes or more.
The fund was also designed to pay out bonuses to companies that connect new gas-fueled plants to the main grid by June 2029, and to offer grants for modernizing, weatherizing and managing vegetation growth around electricity infrastructure in Texas outside the main electricity market, which meets around 90% of the state's power needs.
The state received notices of intent to apply for $39 billion in loans — almost eight times more than what was initially set aside, Abbott and Patrick said. They added that the average plant will take three to four years to complete, and new transmission lines will take three to six years to complete.
Companies have until July 27 to apply for a loan.
Just in: Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming; U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania; and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will take the stage at The Texas Tribune Festival, Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Buy tickets today!
The post Texas to double state fund aimed at expanding power grid appeared first on TexasTribune.org.
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas Tribune
Commanding officer confirms Troy Nehls has two Bronze Stars
by By Isaac Yu, The Texas Tribune – 2024-07-01 13:02:57
SUMMARY: The Texas Tribune reports that the military record of Rep. Troy Nehls has come under scrutiny. A CBS investigation revealed discrepancies in Nehls' service decorations, including claims of a second Bronze Star and a Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB), which the Pentagon has not corroborated. Nehls' former commanding officer, Jason Burke, affirmed awarding him a second Bronze Star in 2008. Despite the Pentagon's records indicating only one Bronze Star and no CIB, Nehls insists on social media that he earned both awards. Nehls, facing criticism, has stopped wearing the CIB, which was revoked in 2023 due to service in a non-combat role.
—————-
FULL ARTICLE:
Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune's daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
WASHINGTON — The commanding officer of a 2008 tour in Afghanistan that included then-U.S. Army Major Troy Nehls told The Texas Tribune that he recalls awarding the now-congressman his second Bronze Star award.
That award — which recognizes service members who show heroism in the field — has been called into question after a CBS investigation reported Nehls had been touting military decorations that did not match his service record provided by the Pentagon. In campaign ads and in his House biography, Nehls, R-Richmond, has posted pictures wearing an Army uniform and two Bronze Star medals. He has also worn the Combat Infantryman Badge lapel pin, awarded to soldiers for service in combat.
The investigation found that the Pentagon reported Nehls received only one Bronze star and that the Combat Infantryman Badge was awarded in error and rescinded in 2023. Nehls, who has been publicly criticized by members of his own party amid the claims of stolen valor, said on social media that he did have two Bronze Stars. But he has since stopped wearing the CIB.
But Jason Burke, the Navy captain who led the 130-person joint task force Nehls served on during his tour, recalled awarding the medal to Nehls. Nehls received the medal at a ceremony with several other officers in the fall of 2008, shortly before Nehls finished his tour and returned to Texas, Burke told the Tribune.
“You're getting that award if you've done a good job and met the criteria,” said the now-retired Burke, who is listed on the award certificate as Nehls' commanding officer. “He earned it, and received it.”
Nehls, who represents a swath of Houston suburbs, served as Burke's second-in-command under a joint effort called Task Force Currahee. Their unit, which included both Army and Navy officers, worked on provincial reconstruction, building roads, clinics and schools in eastern Afghanistan's Ghazni Province. Burke said the team's convoys regularly came under Taliban ambushes and guerrilla attacks.
The Bronze Star award must be recommended by a commander, and any service member in any branch of the military working an operation involving a conflict with an opposing force is eligible. The CIB, by contrast, is only given to those in combat roles.
It was relatively standard during the U.S.'s war on terrorism, after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, for officers of certain ranks to receive a some kind of award upon completing a tour, often a Bronze Star. Nehls' first star was awarded for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004, where he trained 13 staff members of an Iraqi government office to perform financial assessments, according to the certificate.
A spokesperson for Nehls declined to comment on this story, pointing to a post on X Nehls made last month defending his record and posting photos of the certificates of his two Bronze Stars, and his copy of the underlying nomination forms. Burke's sign-off can be seen on the 2008 documentation, known as a Form 638, along with signatures from two higher-level officials.
CBS reported the Pentagon would conduct another review of Nehls' record. The most recent summary of his service and awards, provided to the Tribune by a Pentagon spokesperson on Friday, lists only one Bronze Star and no CIB.
The systems for keeping records for military awards can be difficult to navigate. A soldier often becomes responsible for making sure awards paperwork is turned over to a personnel officer.
That means documentation for awards sometimes slips through the cracks, according to retired Army sergeant Anthony Anderson, who has investigated numerous instances of stolen valor.
“I wouldn't say it's common, but it does happen,” Anderson said.
Anderson said he had previously spoken with Nehls' chief of staff, encouraging them to submit documentation of the second Bronze Star to the Pentagon to be added to Nehls record.
He said he would be surprised if an officer in Nehls' position hadn't received a Bronze Star.
Nehls' military record has become a thorn for him in recent months. He announced that he would stop wearing the Combat Infantryman Badge last week in response to reports that the badge had been revoked in 2023.
Nehls was found to be ineligible for that badge because he had served in Afghanistan in a civil role, not as a combatant infantryman. Nehls did serve as an infantryman during his time with the Wisconsin National Guard in the 1990s, completing a tour in Bosnia.
Just in: Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming; U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania; and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will take the stage at The Texas Tribune Festival, Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Buy tickets today!
The post Commanding officer confirms Troy Nehls has two Bronze Stars appeared first on TexasTribune.org.
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas Tribune
Robert Robertson execution day set in Texas shaken baby case
by By Kayla Guo, The Texas Tribune – 2024-07-01 11:33:10
SUMMARY: A Texas court has scheduled Robert Roberson's execution for October 17. Roberson, sentenced to death in 2003 for his 2-year-old daughter's death, has consistently challenged the conviction, claiming it was based on questionable science. Despite halting his execution in 2016 due to doubts about shaken baby syndrome, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld his death sentence in 2023. Roberson's attorneys argue new evidence shows his daughter died of natural causes, not head trauma, and question the shaken baby syndrome diagnosis. The execution date triggers deadlines for last-minute legal and clemency filings.
—————-
FULL ARTICLE:
Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune's daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
A Texas court on Monday set an execution date for Robert Roberson, who was sentenced to death in 2003 for killing his 2-year-old daughter but has consistently challenged the conviction on the claim that it was based on questionable science.
Roberson has maintained his innocence while being held on death row for more than 20 years. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals previously halted his execution in 2016. But in 2023, the state's highest criminal court decided that doubt over the cause of his daughter's death was not enough to overturn his death sentence.
His new execution date is set for Oct. 17.
Roberson's attorneys objected to the scheduling of an execution after Anderson County prosecutors requested on June 17 that a date be set. His attorneys said they have new evidence to bolster their case and that they planned to file a new request to overturn his conviction.
As a result, his attorneys argued, setting an execution date would be “premature and unjust.”
Roberson was convicted of killing his sickly 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, after he rushed her blue, limp body to the hospital. He said that Nikki fell from the bed while they were sleeping in their home in the East Texas town of Palestine and that he awoke to find her unresponsive. But doctors and nurses, who were unable to revive her, did not believe such a low fall could have caused the fatal injuries and suspected child abuse.
At trial, doctors testified that Nikki's death was consistent with shaken baby syndrome — in which an infant is severely injured from being shaken violently back and forth — and a jury convicted Roberson.
The Court of Criminal Appeals in 2016 stopped his execution and sent the case back to the trial court after the scientific consensus around shaken baby syndrome diagnoses came into question. Many doctors believe the condition is used as an explanation for an infant's death too often in criminal cases, without considering other possibilities and the baby's medical history.
The Court of Criminal Appeals' decision was largely a product of a 2013 state law, dubbed the “junk science law,” which allows Texas courts to overturn a conviction when the scientific evidence used to reach a verdict has since changed or been discredited. Lawmakers, in passing the law, highlighted cases of infant trauma that used faulty science to convict defendants as examples of the cases the legislation was meant to target.
Roberson's attorneys, in their opposition to setting an execution date, cited “overwhelming new evidence” that Nikki died of “natural and accidental causes” — not due to head trauma.
They wrote that Nikki had “severe, undiagnosed” pneumonia that caused her to stop breathing, collapse and turn blue before she was discovered. Then, instead of identifying her pneumonia, doctors prescribed her Phenergan and codeine, drugs that are no longer given to children her age, further suppressing her breathing, they argued.
“It is irrefutable that Nikki's medical records show that she was severely ill during the last week of her life,” Roberson's attorneys wrote, noting that in the week before her death, Roberson had taken Nikki to the emergency room because she had been coughing, wheezing and struggling with diarrhea for several days, and to her pediatrician's office, where her temperature came in at 104.5 degrees.
“There was a tragic, untimely death of a sick child whose impaired, impoverished father did not know how to explain what has confounded the medical community for decades,” Roberson's attorneys wrote.
They have also argued that new scientific evidence suggests that it is impossible to shake a toddler to death without causing serious neck injuries, which Nikki did not have.
And they cited developments in a similar case in Dallas County, in which a man was convicted of injuring a child. His conviction was based in part on now partially recanted testimony from a child abuse expert who provided similar testimony on shaken baby syndrome in Roberson's case. Prosecutors in Dallas County have said the defendant should get a new trial.
In 2023, when the Court of Criminal Appeals denied Roberson a new trial, prosecutors argued that the evidence supporting Roberson's conviction was still “clear and convincing” and that the science around shaken baby syndrome had not changed as much as his defense attorneys claimed. Witnesses also testified at trial that Roberson had a bad temper and would shake and spank Nikki when she would not stop crying.
The scheduling of Roberson's execution triggers a series of deadlines for any last filings in state and federal court to seek relief and begin a request for clemency.
Just in: Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming; U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania; and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will take the stage at The Texas Tribune Festival, Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Buy tickets today!
The post Robert Robertson execution day set in Texas shaken baby case appeared first on TexasTribune.org.
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
-
Podcasts6 days ago
The University of Texas Longhorns and The University of Oklahoma Sooners Officially Join the SEC
-
Kaiser Health News7 days ago
Therapists Learn How To Help Farmers Cope With Stress Before It’s Too Late
-
Texas News6 days ago
Police identify woman found dead in southeast Austin abandoned home
-
Videos7 days ago
Hit-and-run driver wanted for killing Marine
-
Kaiser Health News7 days ago
US Surgeon General Declares Gun Violence ‘a Public Health Crisis’
-
Podcasts7 days ago
GEORGE DUCAS on Re-Discovering Roots
-
The Center Square6 days ago
Texas again ranks as top state for best business climate | Texas
-
Texas News6 days ago
Harris County District Judge Kelli Johnson arrested on DWI charge after traffic stop in April ended in warning, court records say