State of Texas: Election results redraw battle lines for school choice

AUSTIN (Nexstar) – Millions of voters hit the polls in Texas Tuesday, voting for members of their party they wanted to see make it to the general election in November.

While primary night saw plenty of winners, the two biggest didn’t even appear on the ballot – Governor Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Both state leaders campaigned against members of their own party, and had some notable wins.

Paxton targeted incumbent House Republicans who voted for his impeachment. Of his 37 endorsements, eight won and eight are heading to runoffs. That includes David Covey, who challenged House Speaker Dade Phelan. Phelan led the impeachment effort against the Attorney General.

Paxton also backed challengers to three Republican judges who currently serve on the Court of Criminal Appeals. All three won; Lee Finley, Gina Parker and David Schenck will face Democratic challengers in November.

Barbara Hervey, Sharon Keller and Michelle Slaughter will all be off the court. Paxton campaigned against them, after the judges ruled the Texas Constitution prevents Paxton from prosecuting voter fraud cases, without permission from a district attorney.

At the same time, Abbott targeted 14 Republican House members who opposed his plan for Education Savings Accounts. One of them, Gary VanDeaver, who has never had a tough race — until now.

After five terms in the Texas House, VanDeaver cemented a conservative record and bolstered Abbott’s hardline positions on everything from border security to abortion bans and unpermitted carry of firearms. As such, he’s not used to facing a worthy challenger in his safely-Republican East Texas district.

But this year, Abbott’s retribution tour is giving him a scare.

“I have been getting beat up for the last six weeks,” VanDeaver said. “I’ve had a tremendous amount of outside money coming into my district and all kinds of mail pieces that are just absolutely untrue. The Governor has been in my district three times in the last several weeks.”

VanDeaver is one of the 21 Republicans who opposed Abbott’s push for an education savings accounts — a proposal to use state money to subsidize private school tuition for families wanting to leave public school. That opposition threw him into a runoff against Abbott-backed challenger Chris Spencer.

“The people of House District One obviously support parental choice, and they want a choice in their child’s education,” said Spencer to a Nexstar reporter. “I think that transcends Republican politics, but suffice it to say that the incumbents that lost are clearly on the wrong side of the issue, as are those that are in a runoff.”

Of the nine incumbents that lost their seats on Tuesday, five of them faced challengers endorsed and funded by Abbott. Those include Representatives Steve Allison, Ernest Bailes, Glenn Rogers, Hugh Shine and Travis Clardy. Rep. Reggie Smith also lost after opposing vouchers, though did not face an Abbott-backed challenger.

VanDeaver and three other incumbents were thrown into runoffs: Justin Holland, DeWayne Burns and John Kuempel.

VanDeaver said the House will shift even further to the right — and he thinks the newcomers agitating for even more conservative change will have problems trying to govern.

“It’s hard to imagine, really,” said VanDeaver about the prospect of a more conservative House. “I think that’s going to be the problem for some of these (candidates)…because, really, there’s not much left to do. And what is left to do is probably unconstitutional.”

These candidates are bound for an intense — and expensive — nearly three months of campaign overtime.

“We’re playing for keeps, and that campaign is starting today,” Spencer said.

The runoff is set for May 28.

Cruz, Allred tout crossover appeal to win US Senate matchup

Tuesday, Texas primary voters set up a general election matchup between Ted Cruz and Colin Allred later this year, and early messaging from the two candidates vying for the state’s U.S. Senate seat seems to focus on who has more bipartisan appeal than the other.

Allred, a Dallas Congressman, told a crowd of supporters during his victory speech Tuesday night that his record could draw in more than just Democratic voters to support his bid to unseat Cruz.

“I’m proud of being the most bipartisan member of the Texas delegation, not because bipartisanship in and of itself is the goal, but because getting things done is the goal,” Allred said.

His remarks still had some jabs at Cruz, such as his trip to Cancún during the 2021 winter storm and his recent opposition to the border legislation negotiated in the Senate.

However, the firebrand Republican rolled out a new digital ad Wednesday touting Cruz’ abilities to draw crossover voters. The video features several self-admitted Democratic voters who share why they’re now supporting Cruz. It’s part of an effort his campaign is calling the “Democrats for Cruz Coalition.”

“The national Democratic Party has abandoned Texans,” said Cruz in a statement. “I am proud to welcome the support of Democrats across the Lone Star State who have placed their trust in me to continue leading the fight for jobs, opportunities, and security.”

Nancy Thompson, who serves as executive director of the progressive group Mothers For Democracy said the approach is laughable. The group is also known as Mothers Against Greg Abbott. When asked whether Cruz has bipartisan appeal among Democrats, Thompson responded, “no, unless it’s bipartisan in that we all don’t like him.”

The Cruz campaign, though, may feel more momentum after Tuesday’s primaries. He received more than 1.9 million votes from Republicans statewide, according to the unofficial results shared by the Texas Secretary of State’s Office. That’s nearly three times what Allred got in his election (597,000).

Joshua Blank, the research director at the Texas Politics Project, pointed out other factors that may have been at play during the elections.

“It’s easy to make comparisons, but the Republicans had a very, very active campaign, especially at the statehouse level that was seeking to really drive out voters, honestly, for down-ballot races,” Blank said. “There was nothing like that going on the Democratic side.”

Thompson’s organization previously endorsed Allred’s primary opponent, State Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio. However, Thompson said she’s now urging supporters to get behind Allred. Her group will also put out its first ad soon against Cruz, she added.

“We’re asking people who are voters and non-voters: the time is now to work together on the big picture so that we can defeat Ted Cruz,” Thompson said.

Polling released ahead of the primary elections by the University of Texas and the Texas Politics Project showed how some voters felt about a potential matchup between Allred and Cruz. Those results showed the Republican leading by 14 percentage points (46% Cruz, 32% Allred), while 13% of the respondents said they had yet to make up their minds and 9% said “someone else.”

Allred would have to defy historical odds to potentially topple Cruz in the Senate race. A Democratic candidate has not been elected statewide in Texas for 30 years. Cruz narrowly won this seat in 2018 by about 2.5 percentage points over Beto O’Rourke.

Uvalde police officers ‘exonerated’ of wrongdoing, city’s investigation recommends

Families of children killed at Robb Elementary School walked out of a Uvalde City Council meeting Thursday, as the city unveiled a report that recommended all Uvalde law enforcement officers be exonerated of wrongdoing in their response to the shooting.

The independent investigation commissioned by the City of Uvalde left families demanding accountability for officers who waited over an hour to intervene as a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers.

Former Austin Police Department detective Jesse Prado examined the actions of each Uvalde police officer as they responded to the deadliest school shooting in Texas history on May 24, 2022.

The report recommends that each police officer should be “exonerated,” stating in most of their cases: “No evidence of serious acts of misconduct in direct violation of Uvalde Police Department’s policies was found in his behavior in response to the incident. I find that (this officer) acted in good faith.”

But the matter-of-fact report, prepared “in anticipation of litigation,” was appalling to families who have demanded the city terminate officers who waited for over an hour to breach the classroom in which their children were dead and dying.

“We keep getting kicked while we are down,” said Kim Rubio, whose daughter Lexi was killed. “No policy change will eliminate their fear and their hesitation to do what is right in the positions they serve.”

The meeting often erupted into frustrated screaming, the crowd chanting “coward” directed toward Prado as he left the room shortly after his remarks. Pressure from the crowd brought him back, in which he spent about an hour listening to families lambast his report.

“There’s kids dead, teachers dead. Children who survived in the class bleeding, teachers who are never going to be the same. And you’re going to tell me nobody did anything wrong? Shame on you. Shame on you,” said Laura Garza, aunt of victim Amerie Jo.

The investigation comes months after the Department of Justice released its review of the shooting, in which it found “cascading failures” of the nearly 400 law enforcement officers who responded to the scene that day. While officers from several local, state and federal agencies rushed to the scene, they waited more than an hour to breach the classroom and take down the the 18-year-old gunman.

The DOJ report is one of several investigations into the shooting, and cited themes of leadership failures in response to the shooting — citing lack of communication and failure to establish a command post on-scene. The federal government’s findings followed similar themes to a summer 2022 Texas House Committee investigation into the shooting. The Texas House of Representatives’ 77-page document uncovered the miscommunication among officers which led to a delay in stopping the shooter.

Prado’s report comes to similar conclusions, finding department-wide failures in communication, leadership, and preparedness.

It also comes amid an ongoing criminal investigation by Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell’s office. A grand jury was summoned earlier this year and some law enforcement officials have already been asked to testify, according to the Associated Press.

Former Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin commissioned the third-party investigation in June 2022, citing frustrations with other agencies reviewing law enforcement action, like the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Uvalde County District Attorney’s office.

Texas Takes Center State During State of the Union

President Joe Biden delivered his third State of the Union on Thursday night. First Lady Dr. Jill Diden hosted two guests from Texas to hear the speech.

Katie Cox, a woman who was denied an emergency abortion by the state’s Supreme Court late last year even though her health was in danger and her fetus had a fatal condition. The mother of two eventually had to go out of state for the procedure.

Another guest of the First Lady, Jazmin Cazares, a gun control advocate, spent her senior year of high school traveling the country telling the story of her sister Jackie, who was among the 19 students and two teachers fatally shot during Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School shooting.

Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz delivered the Republican’s Spanish-language response to the State of the Union.

“[Biden] is clearly a disconnected from the everyday American,” said De La Cruz in an interview after her address “He didn’t talk about the rising gas prices. He didn’t talk about going to the grocery store and how people are struggling just to afford groceries that they need to feed their children.”

Power lines blamed for largest wildfire in Texas history

Power lines ignited massive wildfires across the Texas Panhandle that killed at least two people, destroyed homes and livestock, and left a charred landscape, officials said Thursday,

The Texas A&M Forest Service said its investigators concluded that power lines ignited both the historic Smokehouse Creek fire, which has burned nearly 1,700 square miles and spilled into neighboring Oklahoma, and the nearby Windy Deuce fire, which has burned about 225 square miles.

The statement did not elaborate on what led to the power lines igniting the blazes.

Utility provider Xcel Energy said its equipment appeared to have sparked the Smokehouse Creek fire. The Minnesota-based company said in the news release that it did not believe its equipment caused the ignition of the Windy Deuce fire, nor was it aware of any allegations that it had. A company spokesman said in an email that there are power lines owned and operated by various companies in that area.

The wildfires that ignited last week in the rural area prompted evacuations in a handful of small communities, destroyed as 500 structures and killed thousands of cattle.

At up to $3,000 a head, the loss is a devastating financial strain to many farmers and ranchers. Cattle who survive are left with charred, barren fields unfit for grazing and scarce drinking water. Others are so badly burned they will have to be euthanized.

“People up in this country have missed two cotton crops in a row, so they’re already struggling financially. Now, possibly, they’ve lost all their livestock,” said Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller on Monday. “Hooves are burned beyond repair, their utters are gone, so they’re no longer be able to nurse their calves. It’s a real sad situation.”

Miller urged Texans to donate to the State of Texas Agriculture Relief Fund, a privately-funded lifeline to help farmers and ranchers get back on their feet.

Texans can also find or donate hay at the Department of Agriculture’s Hay Hotline.

More than 500 houses and barns and 120 miles of electric lines have also been destroyed, rendering many ranches inoperable even for those that did not lose cattle.

“With no electricity, no water, no grass, it doubles the problem,” Miller said.

Miller urged anyone in need to contact the AgriStress Helpline at 833-897-2474.

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