Rep. Eddie Lucio III (D-Brownsville) is resigning effective the end of the month. He informed Gov. Greg Abbott (R) of his intention via letter late last week. The letter provided no detail as to why Lucio would not be completing his full term.
Lucio did not seek re-election and did not run for his father’s open Senate seat. He was first elected in 2006 and re-elected seven times.
A special election could be called to fill his unexpired term. If so, it would be run in the district as it has been configured for the past decade. While anyone could run for the seat in the special election, anyone seeking to represent the seat beyond Lucio’s unexpired term needs to have filed already, barring a write-in campaign, because the filing deadline was last month.
Campaign Finance: Semiannual campaign finance reports were due today (Tuesday) for all state officeholders and candidates, regardless of their primary election status. These reports disclose contributions received and expenditures made between the earlier of July 1 or the date the campaign committee was formed and December 31. For candidates who filed special session reports, those contributions will also be included in their semiannual reports.
We expect at least the totals for most report to be available online tomorrow (Wednesday), but some larger reports’ detailed contributions will not be available for another day or so. We will be updating our Crib Sheets throughout the day, beginning with our hot primary races, subject to the reports’ availability.
GOV (Likely R): Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) campaign announced he raised $18.9M during the second half of 2021. This would be the most he has ever raised during a semiannual period, just eclipsing the $18.7M he raised during the first half – effectively the last 10 days – of 2021. He will report having more than $65M on hand, also a record, well above the $55.6M he had on hand as of June 30.
The Beto O’Rourke (D) campaign announced he raised $7.2M during the first seven weeks of his campaign. He received more than 115K individual contributions.
Springtown IT support technician Rick Perry (R) reported a single $4K in-kind contribution from Austin attorney Tony McDonald, which was Perry’s filing fee. McDonald, who is Perry’s campaign treasurer, is the general counsel for Texas Scorecard, a successor to Empower Texans, for which he was also general counsel.
LTGOV (Lean R): Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s (R) campaign announced he raised more than $3M during the second half of 2021 and will report having more than $25M on hand.
AGRIC (Likely R): A top political consultant for Comm. Sid Miller (R) was indicted on felony charges of theft and commercial bribery connected to licenses issued by Miller’s office. Todd Smith was arrested in May as part of an alleged scheme to profit personally from commercial hemp licenses. The issue has been raised repeatedly by Rep. James White (R-Hillister), one of Miller’s primary challengers, during the campaign. Smith has denied any wrongdoing.
HD18 (Safe R): Texas Right to Life PAC endorsed primary challenger Janis Holt over Rep. Ernest Bailes (R-Shepherd). The group also backed Bailes’s primary challenger, TRL general counsel Emily Cook, in 2018.
HD19 open (Safe R): Rep. Kyle Biedermann (R-Fredericksburg) endorsed Nubia Devine (R).
HD52 open (Lean R): Texas Farm Bureau AGFUND endorsed Nelson Jarrin (R).
HD60 (Safe R): U.S. Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-Waxahacie) endorsed Rep. Glenn Rogers (R-Graford).
Gillespie Co.: Gov. Greg Abbott (R) endorsed Mike Hagee for an open county commissioner seat, an unusually local endorsement for the sitting governor. Hagee, who is the CEO of the Admiral Nimitz Foundation in Fredericksburg, is in a three-way primary against IT manager Jim Reed and Fredericksburg retired oil and gas executive Don Weinheimer. According to appraisal records, Precinct 4 is home to Doss ranchers Michael and Mary Porter, who have contributed $3.3M to Abbott’s campaign since 2017.
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