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Good morning,

This is the Texas Minute for Thursday, March 7, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan

UPFRONT: With apologies, I got Marc LaHood's first name wrong in yesterday's Texas Minute election roundup. I'll have plenty of opportunities to get it right, given his victory in the GOP primary [[link removed]] against an establishment incumbent.

RE-ELECTED: Devine to SCOTX and Craddick to RRC

Among the last races to be called following the Tuesday night primary, Supreme Court Justice John Devine and Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick won their respective Republican primary races outright after close contests. Luca Cacciatore has the details [[link removed]].

Devine was challenged by Brian Walker, whose father sits on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The incumbent has long been considered one of the most conservative voices on the Supreme Court. There are nine justices on the court, serving four-year terms. Devine faces a Democrat opponent in the general election.

Craddick is one of three Railroad Commission members who together oversee —the name notwithstanding—the state's oil and gas industry. Each commissioner is elected statewide to staggered six-year terms. After fending off four GOP challengers, Craddick will face a Democrat opponent in November.

Potential Speaker Candidate Works for Bonnen-Phelan Bank With Dade Phelan forced into a runoff, House members have already decided he is too damaged to serve as speaker, even if he survives. As Brandon Waltens reports [[link removed]], a rumored replacement is employed by a bank tied to current Speaker Phelan and former Speaker Dennis Bonnen.

When State Rep. Cody Harris (R-Palestine) was first elected to the House in 2018, he was a real estate broker for Liberty Land & Ranch LLC. In August of 2021, however, Harris added a new item [[link removed]] to his resumé—Vice President of Business Development for Third Coast Bank.

In late 2019, after Bonnen was forced to resign from the speakership amid a scandal, Third Coast Bank acquired his bank. Bonnen currently sits on the Third Coast board of directors, which has close ties to the Phelan family network of businesses. Speaker Phelan himself owns shares in Third Coast.

Lawmakers have told [[link removed]] Texas Scorecard that the Bonnen-Phelan network wants to position one of their loyalists to serve as speaker in 2025. 'Come & Take It' with Sara Gonzales Premieres Next Week! Texas Scorecard's newest show, Come and Take It [[link removed]] with Sara Gonzales, will premiere on Tuesday, March 12. A well-known media personality and conservative activist, Sara Gonzales also hosts a popular, nationally focused show on The Blaze. With "Come and Take It," though, Sara will be training her sights squarely on the Lone Star State.

New episodes of "Come and Take It" will launch on Tuesdays. "School Choice" Was the Big Winner on Super Tuesday

The 2024 primary election was a major success for school choice advocates in Texas. Daniel Greer explains [[link removed]] how the races went for opponents of education reform.

Corey DeAngelis, a school choice advocate and head of the American Federation for Children Victory Fund, noted [[link removed]] that there were six wins and four forced runoffs in the 13 races where his PAC was engaged. Looking To November... Will Biagini offers a preview [[link removed]] of the dozen November races pitting new Republican nominees against Democrats. For the GOP candidates, the good news is that they won primary races in solidly Republican districts and are projected to win their districts in November. Gillespie County Republicans Successfully Hand-count Primary Ballots Republicans in Gillespie County successfully completed a hand count of all ballots cast in Tuesday’s GOP primary, accomplishing a goal set last year to make their elections more transparent and secure. Erin Anderson has the full story [[link removed]].

Counting was completed around 2:00 a.m. Wednesday.

“This was six months of hard work,” Gillespie County Republican Party Chairman Bruce Campbell told Texas Scorecard [[link removed]]. “To be honest, I was a skeptic ... I just didn’t know if we would have the people and the wherewithal to do it.”

In all, more than 250 volunteers counted almost 8,000 paper ballots—4,100 cast during early voting and about 3,900 on Election Day.

Paxton Now Suing Seven School Districts for Illegal Electioneering

Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced a lawsuit against the Hutto Independent School District, bringing the number of districts being sued for allegedly using government resources for illegal electioneering to seven. Amelia McKenzie has the latest details [[link removed]].

🔒 Donate to Texas Scorecard 🔒 [[link removed]] Today in History

On March 7, 1901, the Bluebonnet was proclaimed the state flower.

Number of the Day

30,000

The weight, in pounds, of bluebonnet seeds sown by the Texas Department of Transportation along the state's highways each year.

[Source: Texas Department of Transportation [[link removed]]]

Quote-Unquote

"Texas is the finest portion of the globe that has blessed my vision."

– Sam Houston​

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