The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - August 28, 2026

Starting point is 00:00:04 Well, howdy, folks, today is Friday, August 28th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texan senior editor Rob Laus, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, U.S. Representative Chip Roy sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegsef, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant this week, outlining concerns regarding a, quote, planned Islamic development and quote, being built near U.S. military training base Camp Bullis in San Antonio. Camp Bullis is a U.S. Army training camp on more than 27,000 acres in Bayar County. The camp is primarily used as maneuvering grounds for U.S. Army, Air Force, and Marines

Starting point is 00:00:50 combat units, as well as a field training site for medical units stationed at Brook Army Medical Center in nearby Fort Sam Houston. Roy asked the members of President Donald Trump's cabinet to look into the North Islamic Center of San Antonio and, quote, examine whether any criminal, civil, financial, or immigration statutes have been violated in its effort to fulfill its campus expansion project. Next, in the most recent escalation of a months-long partisan and legal fight over the appointment of interim Fort Bend County Judge Daniel Wong, Republicans on the County Commissioner's Court voted Thursday to give some of the county attorney's responsibilities to a newly created civil legal department and eliminate three temporary associate judges,

Starting point is 00:01:37 without input from the court's Democrats who continue to boycott county business. Wong and Commissioner Vincent Morales and Andy Myers approved the creation of the civil division to handle non-litigation civil legal services to the county, such as reviewing and negotiating contracts, agreements, interlocal agreements, mobility contracts, procurement-related agreements, and other transactions in which the county is entering into or modifying a legal relationship. Those matters have been handled in the past by the Office of County Attorney Bridget Smith Lawson, a Democrat who is seeking to remove Wong from office. Earlier this year, a judge presiding over a civil removal case suspended County Judge K.P. George after a jury found George guilty on felony money laundering

Starting point is 00:02:25 charges. The civil court judge then appointed Wong, the winner of the 26 Republican primary for the office, as the interim county judge. In other news, the November 3rd ballot will contain two elections each for Texas House District 93 and Senate District 22, one for the special election recently called by Governor Greg Abbott, and one for the general election. Whoever wins each district's special election will fill the seats from November through January. The second contests in both different, districts will be to elect the candidate for the 90th Texas legislature starting January 12th, 2027. Abbott called the special election to fill the vacancy in HD 93 after state representative Nate Shatsline resigned his post on July 2nd. The two candidates for that special election are the same

Starting point is 00:03:13 two for the general, Republican Alan Blaylock and Democrat Erica Lomick. Abbott also ordered a special election to fill SD22 vacated by state senator Brian Birdwell on May 10, 29th. Republican State Representative David Cook and Democrat Amy Martinez-Salus are the candidates for both the SD22 special and general elections. Last but not least, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright paid a visit to Midland last week as part of the federal Great American Energy comeback tour. Adjacently, U.S. refining capacity, liquefied natural gas exports, and gasoline prices are all hitting record highs. U.S. Representative August Flea. U.S. Representative August Flugger, who was present at the gathering in Midland, stated, quote,

Starting point is 00:03:59 America runs on the Permian Basin, and frankly, the world runs on the Permian Basin. He added that in 2010, roughly 900,000 barrels of oil a day were produced by the Permian basin, but it now produces over 6.5 million barrels per day. Fluger added, quote, nearly half of all the oil produced in the United States right now, today, comes from the Permian Basin. That is a worthwhile accomplishment. According to the Odessa American, the region is estimated to produce up to 50% of domestic oil production by the year 2027, and its oil rigs already represent over 44% of all active rigs in the U.S. Thanks for listening. To support the Texan, please be sure to visit the texan.News to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - August 28, 2026

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