AGRIC: The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Assoc. PAC, Texas Cattle Feeders Assoc. PAC and the Texas Assoc. of Dairymen PAC endorsed Comm. Sid Miller.
SD2: The Manufacturers PAC of Texas endorsed Rep. Cindy Burkett (R-Sunnyvale) over Sen. Bob Hall (R-Edgewood).
HD8 open: Sen. Brian Birdwell (R-Granbury) endorsed Thomas McNutt for the seat being vacated by Rep. Byron Cook (R-Corsicana).
ED11: The Dallas Morning News endorsed incumbent board member Pat Hardy (R-Fort Worth) in the Republican primary and Carla Morton in the Democratic primary.
ED12 open: The Dallas Morning News endorsed Suzanne Smith in the Democratic primary. Pam Little is unopposed for the Republican nomination to succeed the retiring Tincy Miller (R-Dallas).
CD2 open: Gov. Greg Abbott (R) endorsed Kathaleen Wall for the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Ted Poe (R-Humble). Since 2010, Wall has contributed more than $515K to Abbott’s campaigns for AG and GOV.
CD23: The Jay Hulings campaign announced Texas AFL-CIO COPE has endorsed him as he seeks to challenge U.S. Rep. Will Hurd (R-San Antonio).
Dallas Co. Ballot Lawsuit: Several Democratic candidates have filed a plea to dismiss the Dallas Co. Republican Party’s lawsuit that seeks to have them removed from the ballot. The lawsuit argues that 128 Democratic candidates’ applications for a spot on the primary ballot should be tossed because they were not signed by Dallas Co. Democratic chair Carol Donovan. In the response, the Democrats argued that the Republican party and its chair have no standing to file such a suit because they are not candidates on the ballot. Further, the lawsuit’s claims are moot because early voting by mail has already begun (January 20 was the deadline to mail early ballots for the primary.) for military and overseas voters. Finally, the Election Code does not specifically require the county party chair to sign an application in order for it to be a valid application. As a matter of policy, requiring a party chair’s signature could open the door to various shenanigans that could result in otherwise valid candidates being intentionally left off the ballot.
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