Re-election Announcements: Reps. Doc Anderson (R-Lorena), Justin Holland (R-Heath), Dade Phelan (R-Port Neches) and John Wray (R-Waxahachie) recently announced they would seek re-election. We cover the week’s challenger filings in another post.
LTGOV: Mike Collier, a Houston accountant and 2014 Democratic nominee for Comptroller, kicked off his campaign against Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) at a Round Rock rally.
AG: District Judge Robert Johnson was randomly selected from the pool of Harris Co. state district judges to preside over Attorney General Ken Paxton’s state criminal trial. His appointment follows the Court of Criminal Appeals siding with Paxton’s attorneys, who were seeking to have District Judge George Gallagher, a Republican from Tarrant Co., removed from the case after he transferred it to Harris Co. Johnson was elected in 2016 as part of the Democratic sweep of county and judicial offices. He defeated incumbent Ryan Patrick, son of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, 51%-49%.
Voter Fraud: Ellis Co. Constable Tyron Davis (D) has resigned following his conviction on six misdemeanor counts of voter fraud and two misdemeanor counts of falsely identifying as a law enforcement officer. Prosecutors contended that Davis helped several nursing home residents fill out requests for mail-in ballots without indicating he assisted them. The other charges stemmed from campaign advertising in which Davis altered an image of a Tarrant Co. constable to look like it was him. He was indicted in May 2016, the same month he won the Democratic runoff. He was unopposed in the November general election.
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