The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - December 8, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy, folks, today is Monday, December 8th, and you're listening to The Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans assistant editor Rob Lauchess, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett has made official her long-awaited run for U.S. Senate, entering the mix with several other high-profile Republican and Democratic challengers to U.S. Senator John Cornyn about five hours before the filing deadline. Her filing on Monday afternoon followed several campaign shifts as the filing deadline on Monday night approached, including former Congressman Colin Allred, who dropped his bid for U.S. Senate despite having been last year's nominee for the same position the morning prior to Crockett's campaign launch. Crockett is a

Starting point is 00:00:54 regular in national news headlines, often highlighted for sparring with other similarly robust GOP members, and for her unfiltered rhetoric typically targeted at the Republican Party's leadership. She flirted with a potential run for the U.S. Senate as various candidates jumped into the race, including Republicans, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Congressman Wesley Hunt, and Democratic candidates Allred and State Representative James Talarico. Crockett indicated on numerous occasions that she'd only consider jumping into the ring for U.S. Senate if she was shown general election polling that proved she has a path to victory, and teased the possibility on various media hits leading up to Monday night. Next, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the East Plano Islamic Center and Community Capital Partners, alleging they have been, quote, engaging in an illegal development

Starting point is 00:01:51 scheme that violated Texas securities law, end quote, regarding their proposed epic city Muslim residential development. Now, the commissioner of the Texas State Securities Board, or SSB, has issued a press release that, quote, refutes claims, end quote, made in connection with the lawsuit. Last week, Paxton filed a lawsuit against Epic City and CCP, alleging, quote, fraud, deception, or misleading statements regarding the sale of a security, end quote, under the Texas Securities Act, or TSA, allegations of potentially fraudulent solicitations of funds via social media posts, public meetings, and general advertising are made in the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that the Texas SSB Commissioner had requested Paxton to, quote, to initiate this suit in the name and on behalf of the state, adding that, quote, the attorney general is authorized to proceed in relation to the TSA violations set out hereafter. In other news, Texas Democrats are trying to fill out a slate at the top of the 26 ticket, and to that end, state Senator Sarah Eckhart announced a bid for Texas

Starting point is 00:03:03 comptroller of public accounts on Monday. She had previously launched a run for Congressional District 10, which stretches from Austin out to Bryan College Station. CD10 moved to R-62% in the Texans' Texas Partisan Index due to the summer's mid-decade redistricting, slightly less GOP favorable than under the old map. Until Monday, the only Democrat who's filed for comptroller was Michael Lang, leaving a gap in the race without a high-profile figure running for the seat. Also, the Tarrant County judge's race is heating up as Elisa Simmons, the current commissioner for Precinct 2, has announced her candidacy against current county judge Tim O'Hare. Unlike other local government races, the county commissioner and county judge elections are partisan. Simmons is a Democrat and O'Hare is a

Starting point is 00:03:53 Republican. As part of its redistricting effort, the county commissioner's court redrew Precinct 2 to create a third, more strongly Republican-leaning precinct. State Representative Tony Tinderhold has filed for that seat as a Republican. Simmons has often been in the minority of split votes in the commissioner's court, including a vote to eliminate the county's Department of Human Services, a move that the county's budget director claimed would save the county about $1.8 million every year. Fellow Democrat Roderick Miles voted in favor of the vote. Last but not least, the Wise County conservatives hosted a 2026 Republican primary candidate forum on December 4th that included candidates running for Attorney General, Agriculture Commissioner, and Governor. State Representative Andy Hopper

Starting point is 00:04:41 opened the event stating, quote, Texas is going to be the savior, the salvation of the Western world, end quote, and that it is the state's destiny to, quote, stand up for the cultural identity. Visit the Texan. News to read reporter Meredith Dyer's breakdown of the form. Thanks for listening. To support the Texan, please be sure to visit the Texan. News and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - December 8, 2025

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