Good morning,

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Wednesday, September 16, 2020
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• Yesterday was a bad day for Texas Democrats and their attempts to force universal vote-by-mail schemes. Which means it was a good day for Texans.
      
• Late yesterday afternoon, acting on a request from Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Supreme Court of Texas ordered Harris County’s Democrat County Clerk not to send unsolicited mail-in ballot applications to all two million voters in the county. The SCOTX order prevents Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins from following through on his original scheme that had the potential to confuse voters and open the door to massive fraud and abuse.
      
• It has been repeatedly shown vote-by-mail is more vulnerable to fraud and abuse than in-person voting. Which is why Democrats and their enablers have been pushing for it at the last minute.
   
• “The Harris County Clerk knowingly chose to violate Texas election law and undermine election security. I thank the court for preventing the clerk from proceeding with his unlawful plans while this case continues.” – Attorney General Ken Paxton
      
• Meanwhile, a federal court dealt Texas Democrats another loss on the topic. As Erin Anderson reports, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that allowing older voters to cast mail-in ballots does not violate the 26th Amendment, which prohibits denying or abridging the right to vote on account of age.
      
• Under Texas law, only voters who are 65 or older, disabled, in jail, or outside their home county during an election are eligible to vote by mail.

• Concerned Texans, conservative activists, Attorney General Paxton, the Texas Supreme Court, and President Donald Trump are all speaking out against the dangers of universal vote-by-mail programs. On the other side of the debate is disgraced former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, who is publicly demanding that Republicans stop fighting the Democrats’ schemes.
      
• For those who may not remember, Joe Straus – a “Republican” from San Antonio – infamously took the speaker’s dais thanks to 65 Democrats and a dozen Republicans. He spent his tenure thwarting the Republican Party platform, trashing conservative reforms, and enabling his Democrat base of political power. (Straus left office when the House GOP passed a rule requiring its members to vote en masse for a single Republican speaker candidate and without Democrat support. That was a hurdle Straus knew he could not overcome, so he quit.) 
     
• It’s almost as if Joe Straus – and the closely affiliated “Associated Texans of Republicans,” which works with him to defeat conservative candidates – would be happy for Democrats to steal the 2020 elections.

• A national Democrat group is planning to spend $6.2 million to target Republicans in the Texas House. The leftwing “Forward Majority” political action committee is targeting state-level races in an attempt to sway the 2021 redistricting fights. Brandon Waltens has the details.
     
• Interestingly, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott – who is not on the ballot in 2020 – has a campaign war chest of $38,154,024, according to our friends at Transparency USA.
   
• The worst kept secret in Texas is that Abbott is planning on running for president in ’24; seems he’d be willing to use all of his campaign cash to guarantee he can grow the Lone Star State’s GOP majority. But will he? Or, will the governor cling to his campaign cash while letting the Texas House GOP majority continue to dwindle on his watch?

• Meanwhile, nursing home residents are suing Gov. Abbott over his Chinese coronavirus mandates that have essentially imprisoned them inside facilities without access to family and friends.
   
• Robert Montoya reports Arlington-based attorney Warren Norred is leading the legal fight.

• From the “What Did They Think Would Happen” file...
   
• As the final budget vote approaches on defunding their police department, Dallas City Council members were informed that the city’s violent crime has risen since last year. As of Monday, there have been 156 murders in Dallas, compared with 150 at this time last year.

• Check out the latest Liberty Cafe podcast, in which Bill Peacock explores how the Texas GOP missed opportunities in recent years, and reflects on the path forward to liberty.

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