Earlier this week, Governor Abbott deployed 400 Texas National Guard troops to Chicago, at the request of Donald Trump [1]. The deployment is illegal, illegitimate, and insulting to all of us. The Texas Attorney General should already have filed suit in federal court to enjoin the action. But he won’t. As the next AG, I will. 

 

 

Already, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Portland has twice ruled that deployment of national guard troops to American cities is unlawful in the absence of conditions that could be called an “insurrection“. 

 

Deference to the President does not, the Court reasoned, mean ignoring the facts on the ground. Included in Judge Immergut's rulings: an injunction preventing federal troops from one state being deployed to another as a way to circumvent the home state's legal challenge.

 

Now Governor Abbott has sent our National Guard troops to Chicago. Our troops. And if they’re in Chicago they’re not in Texas to help us in a natural disaster or other on-the-ground emergency. They’re not here for their families, or their jobs, and they’re not here to help us in the case of a genuine violent uprising. 

 

Instead they’re in Chicago — against the express wishes of the City of Chicago and the state of Illinois — to satisfy the desperate, pathetic need of Republican leadership (and a far-right fringe minority) to ingratiate themselves to a lawless president who maliciously peddles a false narrative, to try to buoy his sagging popularity with a public that has grown disillusioned with his failed leadership.

 

That’s not why we have the Texas National Guard. This deployment is disrespectful of our troops, it’s an abuse of taxpayers, and — as a grossly submissive capitulation to the president’s illegitimate power play — it’s a betrayal of the Texas spirit of independence.

 

We cannot abide another AG who'll stand by idly while Governor Abbott serves Trump's blatantly illegal actions. 

 

In the Texas Lege, I've fought against political corruption at every turn. Paxton's legal team knew it — that's why they tried unsuccessfully to kick me off Paxton's impeachment jury!

 

And it's why, John, I know we can win the AG race. With Trump's popularity plummeting, MAGA Republicans have never been more vulnerable. We have an opportunity to replace Ken Paxton with a pro-Constitution Democrat, at one of Texas' most powerful and consequential offices. 

 

This race will likely be the most expensive AG race in the entire country. If I'm going to be able to defeat someone like Chip Roy and flip the AG's seat blue, I need folks like you to chip in now to my campaign.