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Good morning,

This is the Texas Minute for Thursday, July 9, 2026.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan [[link removed]]

Soros Continues Funding Efforts To Turn Texas Blue Left-wing billionaire George Soros is continuing to fund Democrat campaigns across the nation. As Grant Halk reports [[link removed]], Soros' funding engines have put more than $8.5 million into Texas.

Nationally, the Soros family has so far poured a staggering $103 million into the 2026 election cycle.

One of the top recipients of Soros' cash in the Lone Star State is the Texas Majority PAC, which bills itself as “aggressively” recruiting candidates to ensure that every Republican has a challenger. Last year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation into Soros and the Texas Majority PAC for its role in potentially unlawful financial coordination and bribery of Democrat legislators who fled Texas to break quorum.

Meanwhile, Texas Gun Rights is warning that candidates backed by Texas Majority PAC—including James Talarico, Gina Hinojosa, Vikki Goodwin, Nathan Johnson, Sarah Eckhardt, Jon Rosenthal, and Clayton Tucker—all support radical anti-gun policies that violate Texans' Second Amendment rights. Are Texans Ready To Put Child Rapists to Death? Six states have already enacted legislation making child rapists eligible for execution. As Erin Anderson reports [[link removed]], some officials in Texas have already signaled support for the Lone Star State to be the seventh.

Florida, Tennessee, Idaho, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Mississippi have laws making child rapists eligible for the death penalty, though they are currently unenforceable under a 2008 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. In Kennedy v. Louisiana, SCOTUS narrowly decided that the death penalty is unconstitutional when the rape of a child does not result in the child’s death.

State Rep. Mitch Little (R-Lewisville) says he is “supportive” of capital punishment for rapists of children under the age of 12. In a September 2025 letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, Ken Paxton and 14 other Republican attorneys general said they would urge their state legislatures to authorize capital punishment for child rapists.

Texas' next legislative session begins on January 12, 2027, though legislation can be filed starting on November 9. Legislative Leadership Begins to Align Behind Closed Primary Push Ahead of the 2027 legislative session, momentum is building behind efforts to close Texas’ Republican primaries. Brandon Waltens has the details [[link removed]].

Gov. Greg Abbott gave his support to the idea during a speech at the state GOP convention last month. Yesterday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he expects legislation doing so will reach Abbott’s desk next spring. House Speaker Dustin Burrows’ office told Texas Scorecard that closing the primaries is one of the priorities for the 90th Legislature.

Texas currently operates under an open primary system, allowing voters to choose at the last moment which party’s primary they will participate in during a given election cycle. Closing the primaries by requiring party registration has been a priority of the Republican Party of Texas.

The GOP’s goal is to limit Democrat influence in the Republican nominating contests.

MORE LEGISLATIVE NEWS Texas Film Commission Sent Staff To Left-Wing Film Festival Taxpayer‑funded travel took state officials to a European film festival that often advances left-wing cultural narratives, raising concerns that public dollars are subsidizing ideological tourism rather than concrete benefits for Texas. Addie Hovland has the story [[link removed]].

In a social media post, the Texas Film Commission announced that its staff attended the six-day Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Market in France. Included in this year’s lineup of animated works were several pushing progressive cultural narratives, including LGBT themes.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s press office, to which the Texas Film Commission directs media inquiries, said that the commission attended the festival to “promote Texas animation and film production capabilities and to connect Texas-based studios with international opportunities.” The governor’s office declined to provide the cost of the trip.

The film commission is responsible for overseeing the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program. Last year, state lawmakers provided $1.5 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies to the TMIIIP. Houston ICE Agent Shoots Mexican National in Self-Defense A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a Mexican national in Houston’s Magnolia Park neighborhood earlier this week during what the agency described as a targeted enforcement operation. As Michael Wilson reports [[link removed]], the incident occurred shortly before 7 a.m. on Tuesday.

The man, identified as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, reportedly rammed an ICE vehicle, ignored multiple verbal commands, and used his vehicle in an attempt to run over an agent.

The FBI’s Houston field office is investigating a possible assault on a federal officer, while the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General is reviewing the shooting itself. Local Democrat activists want the Houston Police Department and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to be part of the investigation.

In a social media post, Salgado Araujo's son claimed that his father has lived in the U.S. for nearly 35 years and was now in the process of obtaining a legal work permit. Webb County Sheriff Faces Removal Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar, the brother of Democrat U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, faces a state court hearing today as proceedings move forward in an effort to remove him from office [[link removed]] while he awaits trial on federal fraud and money laundering charges.

The removal petition was filed in May by former Laredo City Councilman Alfonso Casso, who alleges Cuellar committed official misconduct based on the conduct underlying a federal criminal indictment returned last year.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Cuellar conspired with his office staff and others to operate a private disinfecting business during the COVID-19 pandemic using county employees, equipment, and other taxpayer resources. Cuellar has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Under Texas law, certain county officials may be removed from office for official misconduct, incompetency, intoxication, or failure to maintain a required bond. Thursday’s hearing is expected to address scheduling and other case management matters as the removal case moves forward. 🔒 Support Texas Scorecard 🔒 [[link removed]] Number of the Day

5,360

The number of miles from the Texas Film Commission office in Austin to Annecy, France.

[Source: TravelMath [[link removed]]]

Today in History

On July 9, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read aloud to the American troops in New York City by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, George Washington.

Quote-Unquote

"Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all."

– George Washington​

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