The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - February 12, 2026

Starting point is 00:00:04 Howdy, folks. Today is Thursday, February 12th, and you're listening to The Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans managing editor Rob Lauchess, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, nine Republicans are on the primary ballot for the newly redistricted Congressional District 32, which has been held by U.S. Representative Julie Johnson since 2025 and previously held by Colin Allred before his U.S. Senate bid. Redrawn by the Texas legislature in 2025, this district flipped from a Democratic-leaning district to a Republican-leaning one. According to the Texans Texas Partisan Index, it had a pre-redistricting rating of D-62% and is now rated R-60%. The field includes nine Republicans vying to fill the seat. Jace Yarbrough, who is endorsed by both President Donald Trump and Governor Greg Abbott,

Starting point is 00:01:01 ran for Texas Senate District 30 in 2024, but lost in a runoff to now state Senator Brent Hagenbu. Daryl Day has been endorsed by groups such as Moms for Liberty, Colin County Patriots, and Red Wave, Texas. Ryan Binkley, who ran for president in 2024, is endorsed by leaders such as the First Liberty Institute's Kelly Shackleford and Faith and Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed, along with other pastors and community leaders. The primary is on March 3rd with early voting beginning on February 17th. If no candidate receives at least 50% of the votes cast, a runoff election will be held on May 26th to determine who will face the Democratic candidate in November. In other news, Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against social media platform Snapchat's owner Snap Incorporated for, quote, deceiving parents, endangering kids by exposing them to addictive features, and serving as a breeding

Starting point is 00:02:01 ground for extreme conduct. Snap tells Texas parents and their children that mature content on its platform, including drugs, nudity, alcohol, and profanity is infrequent and mild. He called those representations by the company Lies, continuing on to describe the app as rife with extremely mature content in all of those categories, which is frequently and easily accessible at the fingertips of Texas children and teenagers. He alleges that the company knowingly deceive Snapchat consumers and the described features, quote, predictably lead to behavioral addiction among young users, which affects their mental and physical health. The lawsuit states that the office of the Attorney General is seeking a permanent injunction under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act

Starting point is 00:02:51 and is ordering Snap to, quote, stop its false, misleading, and deceptive representations to Texas minors and their parents. He also called on Snapchat to comply with the securing children online parental empowerment or scope act, in addition to civil penalties and other appropriate relief. Last but not least, the Texas comptroller of public accounts provided the Texan with details of the initial applicants for the state's education savings account program. Texas Education Freedom Accounts. Since opening on February 4th, the TEFA program has received 91,000 applications. The Texan spoke with TEFA spokesperson Travis Pillow, who is relocating from Florida, where he worked with Step Up Students, the organization that administers the state's Family Empowerment Scholarship and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship. He said Florida's ESA program consists of three separate programs that together serve about half a million students. He also said Texas is the only state that verifies family income. Because

Starting point is 00:03:57 Texas does not have a state income tax, families must upload their IRS tax returns into what he called an automated system that he said is easy to use. Of the current 91,000 applicants, 86,080 have verified incomes. 34% report household incomes below $66,000 for a family of four. 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 - February 12, 2026

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