Good morning, 

The Democrats’ hopes of a blue vanguard crashed against Republican reality in Fort Bend County last night. Oops. 

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Wednesday, January 29, 2020
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• For months the establishment media in Texas and around the nation parroted the wishful thinking of delusional Democrats that 2020 will mark the beginning of the end of the GOP. They wanted it to be so desperately true that the Democrats’ national campaign organs funneled money into a special election in the strongly Republican House District 28. 
     

• According to Texas and national media groups, citing Democrat-sponsored polls and Democrat-run advocacy groups, far-left Democrat Eliz Markowitz would be able to beat Republican real estate developer Gary Gates in last night’s runoff.
     

• Except, of course, that did not happen. Gates won by a larger margin than his establishment predecessor – former State Rep. John Zerwas (R-Richmond) – had enjoyed in recent years. Reagan Reed has the results.
     

• In fairness, Gates’ win is about as predictive of the future as his loss would have been: not much. This was a special election, held in late January; November is still a long way away. Republicans must work hard to keep the Lone Star State in the win column, and since straight-ticket voting was abolished each candidate must be working every day to make an affirmative case for voters to work down the ballot.
     

• If Democrats and the sloppy leftist hacks in the establishment media were half as smart as they pretend, they’d stop making irrational predications. But where’d be the fun in that?
         

• Recognizing his strong record of standing up for taxpayers in the Texas House, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility has announced its endorsement of Tony Tinderholt for re-election in House District 94. Cary Cheshire notes that Tinderholt—a military veteran, college professor, and small business owner—has a career “A” rating on the Fiscal Responsibility Index.
      
• Texans for Courageous Courts has released its first round of judicial endorsements for the 2020 election, supporting:
  -> Gina Parker for Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3
  -> James Lombardino for First Court of Appeals, Place 5
  -> George Flint for the 401st District Court of Collin County
  -> Jim Johnson for the 431st District Court of Denton County
  -> Eric Yollick for the 457th District Court of Montgomery County
       
• “Our judicial system is plagued by judges who are nothing more than cogs in a system that distorts our Constitution and further empowers powerful interests to weaponize the courts to deprive Texans of life, liberty, and property.” – Tony McDonald
      
• An online petition calling for a ban on “homeless camping” in Austin has gained more than 72,000 signatures after being launched by Travis County Republican Party Chairman Matt Mackowiak. “We continue to see the disastrous effects of the Homeless Camping Ordinance on our city,” Mackowiak wrote this week. “It is absolutely tragic.”
          
• The Austin ordinance allows the city’s vagrant population to set up camps in public spaces, such as parks and in the right-of-way under or along highways and roads.

• More than a quarter of a million in taxpayer funds was doled out last year to the unqualified son of U.S. Rep. Kay Granger (R-Fort Worth) to manage a controversial real-estate project. Ross Kecseg and Robert Montoya obtained records showing taxpayer dollars were used to pay J.D. Granger more than $250,000 in salary and benefits between November 2018 and November 2019, as executive director of the Trinity River Vision Authority.
      

• The TRVA is a secretive local government agency tasked with overseeing the $1.2 billion “Panther Island” redevelopment scheme in Tarrant County. Texas Scorecard discovered Granger’s Island is stuck in the “design” phase after 13 years and $383 million spent. J.D. Granger has so-far kept his executive title and generous compensation, courtesy of you the taxpayer.
      

• Meanwhile, six months after TRVA’s parent agency – the Tarrant Regional Water District – began a cover-up of a taxpayer-funded water conservation campaign, answers are slowly emerging. Robert Montoya reports it’s still unclear how much taxpayer money has gone to the shadowy contractors involved or why they were selected.