The First Called Session of the 87th Legislature convened yesterday (Thursday). Both chambers’ election bills will be heard in their respective committees tomorrow. The Senate State Affairs Committee will consider Senate Bill 1 by Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola), the same committee and bill author as during the regular session. In the House, a new bill author will bring his bill before a new committee.
House Bill 3 by Rep. Andrew Murr (R-Junction) will be heard by the newly formed Constitutional Rights and Remedies Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Trent Ashby (R-Lufkin). Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park), who shepherded his House Bill 6 through his Elections Committee during the regular session, is not a member of the select committee. House Democrats officially killed the conference committee report for Senate Bill 7 by Hughes, the Senate companion measure, by breaking quorum with an hour remaining for the chamber to pass legislation, but the Republican managers of the bill effectively enabled its death by mismanaging the legislative calendar and announcing a compromise bill with numerous new provisions just three days before the deadline.
Reps. John Bucy (D-Cedar Park), Travis Clardy (R-Nacogdoches) and Jacey Jetton (R-Angleton) are the only Elections Committee members serving on the select committee.
Unlike the regular session, the two bills begin the process more closely aligned but not identical to each other or the conference committee report from the regular session.
CD6 special: The Jake Ellzey (R) campaign released a new ad featuring Trump voters who support him over Susan Wright, the candidate endorsed by Trump.
GOV: The campaign of Republican primary challenger Don Huffines (R-Dallas) announced he raised $9.1M since declaring his candidacy. It is unclear how much the candidate contributed to his campaign, but that will be disclosed in a July semiannual report next week.
Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) campaign announced he raised $18.7M during the last 10 days of June and will report having $55M on hand, which will be the highest such figure ever reported by a Texas candidate, breaking his own record of $43M.
The Abbott campaign also released an internal poll showing an 87/12 approval rating among Republican primary voters. More than two thirds of respondents said they would vote for Abbott in the primary, followed by Republican Party of Texas chair Allen West (13%) and Huffines (3%).
SD24 open: The Ellen Troxclair (R) campaign announced she raised more than $363K during the first three weeks of her campaign.
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