Good morning,

Democrats lose in court again.

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Brandon Waltens

Friday, June 26, 2020
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• Democrats have lost another attempt to change Texas voting laws by using lawsuits instead of the legislature.
   
• On Tuesday, a federal district court dismissed a suit filed by the Texas Democrat Party and other Democrats that sought to block a new state law eliminating “straight-ticket” voting. Erin Anderson has the details. 
   

• Straight-ticket or “straight-party” voting allows voters to select all of a party’s candidates on the ballot with one mark. November 2020 will be the first Texas election without that option. The state legislature voted to end the practice in 2017, with the new law taking effect in 2020. Democrats argue the change will “confuse” minority voters who “on average have lower educational attainments,” among other claims.

• Some businesses were shut down in mid-March due to the Chinese coronavirus. Since then, the state has been on a slow and steady track of reopening under a phased approach. Now that appears to be paused.
   
• A recent uptick in cases has caused Gov. Greg Abbott to announce a "temporary pause" on further reopening efforts, as well as restrictions on elective procedures in hospitals in Bexar, Dallas, Harris, and Travis counties.
   
• “The last thing we want to do as a state is go backwards and close down businesses. This temporary pause will help our state corral the spread until we can safely enter the next phase of opening our state for business.” –Gov. Greg Abbott

• What will this mean for the Republican Party of Texas' upcoming convention in Houston? As of this week, according to RPT Chairman James Dickey, the event is still on track to take place as scheduled.
   
• In an interview with USA Today this week, Dickey says that while masks remain optional, prudent steps have been taken to make individuals feel safer and more comfortable going about party business.
   
• The gathering—which was originally scheduled for May—has now been moved to July 13-18.

• Meanwhile, another local government has implemented a mask mandate: Tarrant County.
   
• Robert Montoya reports that, despite the decline of deaths from the coronavirus in the county, businesses will now be required to force customers and employees to wear masks—or face a $1,000 fine.
   
• The City of Colleyville announced they will not participate in enforcing Tarrant commissioners' mask mandate, and sources have told Texas Scorecard that law enforcement officers in Tarrant County are refusing to enforce the mandate, and Justices of the Peace in the county will not uphold any fines the county issues to businesses for violating the mandate. 

Please join me, Michael Quinn Sullivan, and the rest of the Empower Texans team in wishing a very happy birthday to Michael's mother, Ellen Sullivan!

Friday Reflection

by Michael Quinn Sullivan

Recently, my teenage son – Flash – asked me to participate in a 5K race with him. I used to run for miles and miles and sprint 5Ks. Today, I aggressively jog.

I know what he was saying: “Dad, will you drive me to the race so I can speed past you, and then be eating doughnuts in the truck when you finally finish?” So, of course, I agreed.

A quarter of the way through, my knee was bugging me. Then the other. Gotta keep going. There was a lovely spot where it would have been nice to sit and rest, perhaps read for a bit. Can’t stop. Yet there were all these other people trudging along, too. One fellow had mentioned before the race it was his first time. A nearby lady’s t-shirt proclaimed she was a cancer survivor. How could I stop?

Discouragement, like cancer, spreads; it’s malignancy infecting everything it touches.

I was reminded of the words of Paul in Hebrews 12, “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

The most important word there isn’t run – it’s perseverance.

We’re called to persevere, to keep going. That’s even more true in the fight for liberty than in my recent 5K. It’s easy to be discouraged by the faithless and feckless politicians for whom we have spent time, energy, money, and sweat. It’s easy to be pained by their unending capacity to capitulate against us. 

It’s OK to slow down, to change up the pace, to even walk a few steps. But it’s not OK to give up. It’s not acceptable to stop. We must persevere. We must keep going, keep pursuing, never stopping. Not now, not ever.

The fate of the Republic rests on the perseverance of patriots. As Patrick Henry once proclaimed, “The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.” This American experiment in self-governance ends when the people give up. 

A 5K ends after, well, five kilometers. The course of self-governance is never complete. To secure liberty and its blessings we must keep running, keep fighting, keep persevering.