Good morning, 

Don't be alarmed, I will be filling in for Michael Quinn Sullivan for the next few days!

Here is the Texas Minute for Tuesday, March 15, 2022.

– Brandon Waltens 

Top Military General Out Amid 'Operation Lone Star'

•  Texas’ embattled top general has been replaced amid criticisms of the state’s border security operation.
   

• Maj. Gen. Tracy Norris was appointed the Texas adjutant general in January 2019 by Gov. Greg Abbott. Her appointment technically expired on February 1, but she continued to serve in the position as Abbott had not appointed a successor.
   

• In recent months, Norris has come under fire for problems plaguing Operation Lone Star, Abbott’s border security initiative that has placed National Guard forces and Department of Public Safety officers along the state’s southern border with Mexico. Since launching last year, OLS has been criticized for being poorly planned “political theater,” all while personnel reported problems with pay and poor living conditions, on top of other issues that have come to light.
   
• Yesterday, Abbott announced that Norris would be leaving the position immediately and would be replaced by Maj. Gen. Thomas Suelzer.

Woke Corporations Support Child Mutilation 

• As the fight to protect children in Texas continues, more than 60 major corporations—including some that receive taxpayer money—are stepping into the conflict and promoting experimental “transgender” operations on minors. Jacob Asmussen has the details.
   
• Apple, Google, PayPal, Meta (Facebook), Macy’s, LinkedIn, and dozens of big businesses signed onto the Human Rights Campaign open letter urging Texas politicians to “abandon efforts to write discrimination into law and policy” and allow the disfiguring procedures, which include cutting off the healthy breasts of adolescent girls and chemically and surgically castrating minors.
   
• The letter is a retaliation against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s recent legal opinion on the issue—in which he called the experiments “child abuse”—as well as Gov. Greg Abbott’s subsequent letter to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, ordering them to investigate such cases in the state.
   
• Notably, some of the corporations that signed onto the recent letter have also collected taxpayer cash bonuses and other exclusive perks, thanks to state and local politicians.

Victory for Texas Heartbeat Act

• Amid a massacre currently unfolding in the state (more than 53,000 Texans were killed through abortions in 2020), the new life-saving Heartbeat Act has survived recent legal challenges and remains in effect to protect children in Texas.
   

• On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that abortionists cannot sue state officials to proactively block or overturn this particular act, because state officials are not involved in enforcing it.
   

• Since the act was approved by the state Legislature in May, pro-abortion businesses, media, and elected officials—including President Joe Biden and his administration—have raged against the law and sued the state to force them to halt it. Biden even called the Heartbeat Act “un-American” and promised a “whole-of-government effort” to retaliate.
   

• However, the Heartbeat Act’s unique legal design has outmaneuvered attacks so far. Confirmed in the Texas Supreme Court ruling, abortionists cannot force state officials to stop a law that they’re not responsible for enforcing.

Two House Races Head to Recounts

• With a nationwide crisis of a lack of voter confidence in election integrity, and some voters still questioning the outcome of the 2020 presidential race, two Texas House races will face recounts over the upcoming weeks.
   
• Sydnie Henry reports in House District 64, Wise County Conservative co-founder Andy Hopper is challenging the 88-vote margin lead of incumbent State Rep. Lynn Stucky.
   
• “With an election this close, I feel as if we owe it to everyone to make sure the votes were counted properly, and this manual recount will help ensure that.” –Andy Hopper
   
• Meanwhile in House District 17, third-place finisher Tom Glass, a retired system security specialist, is also calling for a manual recount of the votes. Glass missed a spot in the runoff race by 424 votes. 
   
• “My understanding is that if I did not take this step, the opportunity for the people of Texas to see results of a manual paper recount in this cycle might not have happened, and that was another motivator for pushing for the recount." –Tom Glass
   
• Although recounts rarely change the vote margin by much, the change could be significant if counting errors did occur. This occurred in 2019 in Midland when a previously uncounted mystery box was found to contain more than 800 votes and changed the outcome of a local bond election.

Your Federal & State Lawmakers

The districts displayed here should reflect those recently redrawn by the Legislature. Though the new lines do not take representational effect until 2023, they will appear on the 2022 ballot. Please note that your incumbent legislator and/or district numbers may have changed.