Early voting is underway in most jurisdictions holding June 10 runoff elections.
AG: The Fifth Court of Appeals agreed with attorneys representing Attorney General Ken Paxton that District Judge George Gallagher has no jurisdiction outside Collin Co., unless the parties consent. Paxton refused consent. Thus, the Court voided Gallagher’s orders issued after April 11, the day he signed the order transferring the case to Harris Co., including the order setting a September 12 trial date. However, the Court did not explicitly remove Gallagher.
HD25: Markham pastor Damon Rambo has filed paperwork establishing a campaign committee for a potential challenge of Rep. Dennis Bonnen (R-Angleton), likely as a Republican. If so, it would be Bonnen’s first contested primary since 2000. In a recent Facebook post, Rambo wrote that Bonnen needs to be replaced with “a true limited government constitutionalist.” Rambo periodically wrote for “The Angry Pastor Blog” on the Christian Post web site until about mid-2015. In one post, dated June 26, 2015, he called the U.S. Supreme Court “a godless, pagan, evil organization” and said its ruling that same-sex couples could marry nationwide “has imposed the acceptance of sodomy on our country.”
HD115: Carrollton attorney and 2016 Democratic nominee Dorotha Ocker confirmed on Twitter that she will again challenge Rep. Matt Rinaldi (R-Irving). Ocker lost to Rinaldi by just over 1K votes despite being out-raised nearly 10-to-1.
CD31: Cedar Park educator Kent Lester has filed paperwork establishing a campaign committee for a potential challenge of U.S. Rep. John Carter (R-Round Rock) as a Democrat. Lester appears to have campaigned for city council, but we did not find a record of an election including him.
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