Good morning, 

Border sabotage… Sleazy lawmakers… Woke water…

So, yeah, today’s Texas Minute is a lot….

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, February 10, 2022
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Just a quick reminder that our Conversations interview series continues tomorrow morning with the Republican candidates for the Office of Lieutenant Governor.

Texas Republicans Prefer DeSantis In ‘24

• Amid an already contentious re-election campaign, Katy Drollinger reports a new survey highlights Gov. Greg Abbott’s struggle to prove that he is the right choice for conservative Texans. 
   
• A recent poll issued by CWS Research reported that a majority of Republican voters surveyed would rather vote for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the next presidential election over Greg Abbott (if Donald Trump doesn’t run). Of those polled, 46 percent said they would choose DeSantis, while only 13 percent selected Abbott. Additionally, 18 percent of respondents preferred a different candidate, and 23 percent were still unsure of who would get their vote.
   

• Typically, one expects a high-profile politician to get a healthy poll bump in their home state when compared to outsiders. In his campaign for president, Ted Cruz won Texas even against Donald Trump. Often, candidates for vice president are chosen specifically to help deliver their home state. That Greg Abbott isn’t winning the state of Texas in polls against an outsider doesn’t bode well for his 2024 aspirations, even if he escapes the heated Republican primary.

Tax-Funded Sabotage At The Border

• A Texas Scorecard investigation reveals how illegal aliens are being processed into an opaque, self-dealing and self-sabotaging process – all paid for with Texans’ tax dollars. Robert Montoya breaks it all down.

Sex For Access?

• Yet another establishment Republican lawmaker in Texas is finding himself at the center of allegations of sexual impropriety, as screenshots of lewd conversations and extramarital affairs are beginning to circulate. Odessa Republican Brooks Landgraf has been recognized by the Austin-based Texas Values as a “faith and family champion.” Brandon Waltens has the story.
       
• Allegations have swirled for several months, but the news and satire website Current Revolt made the details public yesterday. The highly explicit messages, as reported by Current Revolt, were sent both over text messages as well as private messages from Landgraf’s social media account. They also contain pictures of Landgraf—a married father—in addition to a voice recording the lawmaker sent as part of a lengthy iMessage thread.
      
• In several of the exchanges published by Current Revolt, Landgraf is asked if he can arrange a meeting between one of the women and various officeholders, including Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. It is not clear if Landgraf ever made those introductions.
     
• Landgraf did not respond to Texas Scorecard for comment on the messages reported by Current Revolt or other allegations. 

City Puts Woke Politics Over Safe Water

• In the nation’s 11th largest city—where local city council members oversee the government-run water utility and spend roughly double per capita compared to Dallas or Houston—Austin officials have had to again notify roughly 1 million residents to boil their tap water before drinking. As Jacob Asmussen reports, this week’s incident is the third such warning in four years. 

      

• Greg Meszaros, director of Austin Water, acknowledged the crisis was probably the result of “a staff operations issue” and “how we operate the plant.”

     
• City residents have pointed to Austin’s propensity to prioritize leftist political agendas over basic city operations.

District Directory Update

• Texas Scorecard’s directory of elected officials has been updated with the new legislative and congressional boundaries. We are also in the process of updating our records so the new boundary information displays at the bottom of the Texas Minute.
   
• Please note that the boundaries displayed on the directory’s mapping function reflects district lines that were redrawn by the Legislature in 2021. Though the new lines do not take effect until 2023, they will appear on the 2022 ballot. In some cases, incumbent legislators and/or district numbers may have changed, and some of those incumbents aren’t seeking re-election but still hold the office.