The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - April 11, 2024

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

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Howdy folks, today is Thursday, April 11th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lausches, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. The two candidates for the U.S. Senate in Texas reported neck-and-neck fundraising halls in the first quarter of 2024, each raising close to $10 million. Senator Ted Cruz announced a $9.7 million haul in the first quarter of 2024, far outpacing himself at this stage in the 2018 race. The total, raised across multiple entities, is nearly $3 million more than he brought in during the first and second quarters of 2018. According to his team, Cruz will have $15.1 million cash on hand at the end of the first

quarter, which covers January through March. Democratic Congressman Colin Allred's haul came in just below Cruz's at $9.5 million. His average donation was $34.75 and came from 285,000 different contributors. He's raised close to $30 million since his launch. Allred's release did not say how much he has left on hand. In an interview with Univision, President Joe Biden confirmed the White House is considering the legality of executive action to fully close the southern border, and commented on a request from the President of Mexico for the United States to fund a multi-billion dollar jobs program for Latin

America. In the interview, Biden expressed his displeasure over the failure of the U.S. Senate bipartisan border security legislation that came under heavy criticism from conservatives and Biden's GOP challenger, former President Donald Trump. Biden noted the legislation would have certainly given the White House full authority to close the southern border and end the border crisis, but that authority would only activate after 5,000 illegal aliens enter the country on any given day. Critics said the loophole simply watered down existing authority wielded by the president, adding that, right now, he simply chooses not to use it. Argentine President Javier Millay will be meeting with Tesla and ex-owner Elon Musk this week as

part of a multi-day trip to the U.S. On April 13th, a trip to Texas is planned to visit the Tesla factory, and on that day the president will meet with Elon Musk, said presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni. A vocal libertarian, Millet, known by his nickname El Loco, or The Madman, was inaugurated as president in December 2023. He ran and won on the platform of cutting government programs and opening up the Argentine economy. Musk has praised Millet for his approach to governance, calling a Millet speech at the World Economic Forum a, quote, good explanation of what makes countries more or less prosperous. In late December 2023, Millais said in an interview that Musk and other U.S. companies are extremely interested in lithium, a key component of the electric vehicle market. Following Musk's move to Austin to open his Tesla Gigafactory in 2021, he began a project

in 2023 for Tesla to become the only U.S. automaker to refine its own lithium. Automakers rely on the element and EV battery technology for power storage and generation. Lithium, along with graphite, cobalt, and manganese are all critical components of lithium-ion batteries. From 2016 to 2019, Argentina provided 55% of the U.S.'s imported supply of lithium, as over 90% of lithium is imported from outside the U.S. Dallas-Fort Worth is the most attractive market in the United States for investment, according to real estate company CBRE in its 2024 U.S. Investor Intentions Survey. Miami, South Florida, Raleigh-Durham, Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, New York City, Phoenix, Tampa, and Austin rounded out the rest of the top 10. Dallas-Fort Worth also led the country

as the best market for total property returns, beating top East Coast performers like Miami, South Florida, Boston, Raleigh-Durham, Nashville, New York City, Charlotte, Tampa, and Washington, D.C. With the May primary runoff elections quickly approaching, one of the most watched races is the Republican race for Senate District 30. In a race that featured four candidates, two were left at the end of the night on March 5th. After all the votes were counted, Brent Hagenbue garnered 36%, and Jace Yarbrough took 34%. The Texan reached out to both Hagenbue and Yarbrough to gain insight into how they view the upcoming runoff race, their campaigns so far, and their future in the Senate, if they are elected in May.

See their answers in our article on thetexan.news. Thanks for listening. Be sure to visit thetexan.news and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters and podcasts.