SD19: The federal criminal fraud trial of Sen. Carlos Uresti (D-San Antonio) began today and is expected to take about three weeks. Uresti has maintained his innocence since he and two others were indicted in May.
HD126 open: Harris Co. Constable Mark Herman (R) endorsed Sam Harless for the seat being vacated by Rep. Kevin Roberts (R-Houston).
CD5 open: Longtime Republican activist Kaye Goolsby endorsed Jason Wright for the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Dallas). Goolsby, who will serve Wright’s campaign as Grassroots Co-chair, was the national grassroots chair for U.S. Ted Cruz’s (R) presidential campaign and is a chair of Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton’s state leadership team.
Loving Co.: The state’s least populous county (~113 people) has established a new county attorney office. Stephen Simonsen, a Republican, is the only candidate running for the office, which will have an initial two-year term in order to align it with other county attorney terms. Tip of the hat to Frank Baca over at the Texas Assoc. of Counties.
Lubbock: Attorney and former electric utility board member Charles Dunn filed to challenge Mayor Dan Pope. Dunn narrowly lost a 2016 race for county Democratic Party chair.
Redistricting: Pennsylvania’s state Supreme Court ruled the Republican-drawn congressional map “plainly and palpably” violates commonwealth’s constitution and ordered new districts be drawn for the 2018 election. Primary elections are currently scheduled for May 15. The ruling comes just days after a federal panel ruled that the districts were constitutional. In 2012, President Obama carried the state and congressional Democratic candidates received more votes collectively than Republicans, but Republicans won 13 of the 18 U.S. House seats.
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