Good morning, 

We are now accepting applications for our 2020 (paid) college summer fellowship program. More info below.

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Modify your email preferences.

• I voted yesterday morning; have you? Early voting for the March 3rd primary continues through Friday, Feb. 28. 
     

• Liberal State Sen. Kirk Watson (D-Austin) is leaving the senate at the end of April so he can become the first dean of the University of Houston’s School of Public Affairs. TheTexan.news has the details. Watson’s departure will trigger the need for Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special election.
       

•  In a continuing series of one-on-one interviews with the candidates running for Texas’ 11th Congressional District, Matt Stringer sat down with J.D. Faircloth and Ned Luscombe to discuss their campaigns for the U.S. House seat. 
        
• Speaking of CD11, watch Brandon Waltens interview Empower Texans’ board chairman Tim Dunn of Midland about the race, the candidates, and the need for citizens to remember that they are in charge. 
        
• One of just 11 Republican primary challenges to an incumbent state lawmaker this year is taking place in North Texas. Erin Anderson reviews the race between first-term State Rep. Jared Patterson of Frisco and Marine Corps veteran James Trombley for the GOP nomination in Denton County’s House District 106.  Both are claiming to be the most conservative in the race.
        
• In a new commentary, Jackie Schlegel calls for Tarrant County voters to stand with Judge Alex Kim against an attempt by Democrats and the crony establishment to retaliate against him for upholding the law and protecting a mother trying to save the life of her young daughter.
      
• “I have seen an onslaught of egregious parent and children’s rights violations at the hands of over-reaching government extremists, especially in regards to children with complex health and special needs.” – Jackie Schlegel
   
• We received word yesterday that Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley was telling the Fort Worth Star Telegram how horrible it is that Texas Scorecard has been reporting on allegations some district judges are doing the bidding of a local hospital and a corrupt state agency. Whitley claims those judges are worried they might lose their elections if it is found out by voters they are conspiring to undermine a duly-elected fellow district judge whose offense has been to follow the law and protect the life of a young girl.
      
• Well, good. They should be worried.
     
• Too many in the state and federal judiciary think they rule over the citizens, rather than for the citizens.

• Elections have consequences. For years Austinites have voted for leftist and progressive city council members who campaigned on doing leftist and progressive things, which they proceeded to do once elected. The resulting wave of violence brought on by an enabled vagrant population is the inevitable consequence.
      

• Thanks to the radical leftist agenda of Austin’s “progressive” city council, it is on the brink of being a failed city. According to the Los Angeles Times, U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development’s 2019 numbers show there are 25,848 homeless in Texas, with 2,255 of them in Austin. Put in context, Texas’ population is 28.7 million, and Austin’s is 964,254.
         

• So while Austin has ~3.4 percent of the state’s population, it has ~8.7 percent of the state’s vagrants.

       
• Due to the violent vagrant population in downtown Austin, businesses are publicly panicking – and for good reason. But will public outrage over the city’s policies translate into fundamental and lasting changes at city hall?

Your Federal & State Lawmakers