The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - February 13, 2026

Starting point is 00:00:04 How do folks? Today is Friday, February 13th, and you're listening to The Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Senior Editor Mackenzie Delulo, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, the Tarrant County Elections Administration is conducting a post-election hand-count audit of the Texas Senate District 9 runoff that was held on January 31st. According to elections administrator Clint Ludwig, the hand-count audit provides an opportunity to bolster the public's confidence in the electronic balloting system that the county uses. Some concerns arose from logic and accuracy tests performed for the Senate election and the primary election coming up in March. During the Senate election test, 72 test ballots were scanned on the central ballot scanner that is generally used to scan mail-in ballots. The elections administration creates the test election ballots so they know if the results are

Starting point is 00:00:57 accurate or not. One of the 72 ballots was rejected, so they ran the sack again with the same issue. Then they determined which ballot was the problem, ran it by itself, and got the correct result. In the test conducted for the primary election, the issue appears to have been stray pieces of debris on one ballot and possibly a hair on another ballot that changed the result. In one of the affidavits, a witness acknowledges that the error was likely caused by debris on the lens that would have been seen and corrected during a manual adjudication. In other news, a contentious primary is shaping up for its moment on the ballot in two weeks between the self-funded, two-time congressional contender Kathleen Wall and Trump endorsed incumbent,

Starting point is 00:01:36 State Representative Angelia Orr. Orr has represented House District 13 since 2023. She's focusing her re-election messaging on topics including property tax reform, rural advocacy, and her record on various red meat Republican social issues. Her campaign website reads, Angelia doesn't just represent rural Texas, she lives in. She's a proven conservative voice fighting for faith, family freedom, and the future of our communities. It notes her experience as an election judge, precinct chair, Hill County District Clerk, and most recently, a Texas lawmaker. Wall similarly has emphasized her rural experience, having grown up on a ranch, and is placed heavy emphasis on communication with constituents throughout her campaign.

Starting point is 00:02:17 Her campaign manager, Charlie Johnston, told the Texan that Wall may vote for Governor Greg Abbott's new five-point property tax reform initiative, but that she intends to release her own property tax reform plan in the coming days. Her campaign website doubts that she's a sixth generation Texan who grew up on a ranch in District 13. It continues, I'll prioritize communication, show up in person, and roll up my sleeves to solve your problems. Together we'll protect our kids, secure our communities, fix our infrastructure, and defend our Texas values. Last but not least, the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs released a new poll on Friday, surveying likely Houston voters in the March Democratic primary election. Among those likely voters in Congressional District 18, Congressman Christian Menafee, who is just elected in the January 31st special election, is leading against Congressman Al Green, who has been in Congress since 2005.

Starting point is 00:03:10 Menofy took 52% of the vote, compared to Green's 28%, while Amanda Edwards, who Menafee defeated in the special election, took 9%. In Congressional District 29, Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia received 46% to primary challenger Jarvis Johnson's 27%. In Congressional District 9, Letitia Gutierrez took the largest plurality of likely Democratic primary voters at 24%. 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 13, 2026

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