Redistricting: Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to hear “and correct a U.S. District Court ruling from August that invalidated two of the state’s 36 congressional districts.” The high court stayed that ruling last month. “The lower court’s decision to invalidate parts of the maps it drew and adopted is inexplicable and indefensible,” Paxton said in a statement. “We’re eager for the high court to take up the case.”
Rep. Ron Reynolds
HD27: Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Missouri City) announced he would seek re-election. Reynolds won a fourth term in 2016 while appealing misdemeanor convictions of barratry, seeking to reinstate his suspended law license and filing for personal bankruptcy. He was forced into a Democratic primary runoff after a four-way primary but prevailed, becoming just the fifth incumbent legislator to win out of the last 25 forced into runoffs since 1996. Reynolds has not filed a campaign finance report since February 2016 and is currently listed on the Texas Ethics Commission’s delinquent filers page as owing more than $48K in fines for failure to file those reports and another $1.5K for failure to file required personal financial statements. In February, the Office of the Attorney General sued Reynolds over his delinquencies. At the time, Reynolds said he had established a payment plan and was “almost finished” with his campaign finance reports. As far as we can tell, no other candidates have taken a formal step toward running against him.
Williamson Co.: Russ Boles, a Round Rock commercial broker and director of the Brazos River Authority, announced he would seek the Republican nomination for county commission P4. Incumbent Larry Madsen, who was appointed following the death of Ron Morrison, is not seeking a full term. Boles has been endorsed by Sen. Charles Schwertner (R-Georgetown) and U.S. Rep. John Carter (R-Round Rock).
Heath: Mayor Brian Berry announced he would not seek re-election.
Sugar Land: Mayor Joe Zimmerman announced he would seek re-election.
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