Good morning,

While online gambling is illegal in Texas, several companies are publicly flaunting their efforts to skirt state law and targeting men in their late-teens and early-20s when doing so. Today's One Click Survey asks what you think of this trend.

This is the Texas Minute for Monday, October 20, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Early Voting Starts Today

• Early voting starts today statewide on 17 constitutional propositions and will continue for the next two weeks. Election Day is Tuesday, November 4, 2025.

Holding Mexico Accountable for Water Treaty Obligation

• Mexico might finally be held accountable under the terms of an 80-year-old water treaty, if a Member of Congress has her way. Page Feild has the full story.
     
• U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Edinburg) is pushing for the recognition of the 1944 Water Treaty with Mexico as part of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The 1944 Water Treaty between the United States and Mexico described how the waters of the Rio Grande and other rivers is to be shared.
     
• Mexico has not fulfilled its treaty obligations consistently since 1994. It is estimated that in 2023 alone, Texas suffered nearly $1 billion in losses from crop production as a result.

Dr. Mary Talley Bowden To Appeal Reprimand From Medical Board

• In a case stemming from the attempted treatment of a Fort Worth man during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Mary Talley Bowden plans to appeal the Texas Medical Board’s decision to issue a public reprimand against her. Sydnie Henry reports that the TMB ruling was issued on Friday after years of investigation and contentious hearings.
     
• The case stems from a 2021 incident in which Bowden attempted, with a court order, to have ivermectin administered to a dying COVID-19 patient. Although a nurse was ultimately blocked by hospital staff, the TMB pursued the matter as “unprofessional behavior.” Bowden has maintained she was acting at the patient’s family’s request and following legal advice.
     
• The TMB reprimand means Bowden must inform any hospital or healthcare entity where she works or seeks privileges of the reprimand, which will remain on her record indefinitely. Bowden’s medical license was neither suspended nor revoked.
     
• Bowden said she would appeal, arguing that the process violated her constitutional rights.
      
• The members of the Texas Medical Board were all appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott and confirmed by the Texas Senate.

SCOTUS Could Remove Requirement for Racial Discrimination in Redistricting

• Experts predict that the U.S. Supreme Court will dismantle an aspect of the Voting Rights Act that requires racial consideration when redistricting. As Travis Morgan reports, a case out of Louisiana will have implications for Texas’ own redistricting lawsuit.
      
• The current judicial understanding of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is that certain congressional districts are protected from being redrawn based solely on racial composition. If the majority of a district’s citizen voting-age population is a single racial minority group, state legislators are restricted from modifying it—even when the change is an unintentional byproduct of drawing a map “blind to race,” as required under the Constitution. In other words, the Voting Rights Act conflicts with the Constitution.
     
• In 2022, Louisiana legislators passed a congressional map that reduced the number of black-majority CVAP districts from two to one. However, this was a natural byproduct of redistricting for partisan advantage while “blind to race.”
      
• During oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court last week, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Biden appointee, compared black voters to disabled people who need special accommodations. Another Democrat on the court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, added that “even white Democrats won’t vote for black candidates,” as justification for protecting black-majority districts.
      
• Earlier this month, arguments were heard by a three-judge federal panel in El Paso about Texas' newly drawn congressional districts. Designed to give Republicans five new opportunity-seats, Democrats want the map blocked because they claim it was racially gerrymandered.

Austin Voters to Consider Tax Increase

• Adam Cahn reports that Austin voters will have a chance to weigh in on the politically created affordability crisis in Texas’ capital city. At issue is Proposition Q, a “tax ratification election” set to hike property tax burdens. 
       
• As a matter of perspective, Austin’s city budget has doubled since 2013 when it was $3.3 billion. In August, the council approved a $6.3 billion budget. The new budget includes significant increases in various race-based programs, including a nearly 40 percent increase for the “Office of Equity and Inclusion” and a nearly 20 percent increase for the “Small and Minority Business Resources Department.”
        
• Support for the tax hike is hard to find outside the council chambers, aside from a collection of homeless advocacy groups and labor unions.
        
• The ballot measure is opposed by a bipartisan coalition of groups such as Restore Leadership Austin, Save Austin Now, and the Travis County Taxpayers Union. The Austin Chamber of Commerce and the Austin-American Statesman, which frequently align politically with city hall, also oppose Prop. Q.

Campaigns Launched Over Van Alstyne ISD’s Proposed Bond

• Voters in Van Alstyne Independent School District are divided over a $550 million bond on the November 4 ballot. As Erin Anderson reports, the bonds will end up costing local property taxpayers double the advertised amount.
     
• Campaigns in the small North Texas town have sprung up both supporting and opposing the ballot measure. District officials say expansion is needed to accommodate anticipated growth; Van Alstyne ISD currently serves about 2,900 students.
     
• Van Alstyne ISD property taxpayers are already on the hook for $440 million in outstanding school bond debt principal and interest.

Today In History

On October 20, 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr was acquitted of treason following a trial resulting from his role in an alleged invasion of Texas. 

Quote-Unquote

"We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive."

– C.S. Lewis​

One Click Survey

While gambling is generally illegal in Texas, some online sports gambling and "predictive market" companies are publicly flaunting their operations in Texas. They are targeting men in their late teens and early twenties with an emphasis on sports betting, despite state laws to the contrary. 

Should Attorney General Ken Paxton crack down on these illegal online gambling outlets targeting Texans?

Once you’ve clicked an answer, reply to this email with any thoughts you’d like to share!

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