The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - July 23, 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Tuesday, July 23rd, 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. First up, the 2024 presidential election continues to be anything but ordinary, with President Joe Biden abandoning his re-election campaign in the 11th hour despite being the presumptive Democratic nominee and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him, sending Texas Democrats into a frantic regrouping and prompting Republicans to declare vindication in their predictions. Quote, Joe Biden has now endorsed and fully supports his border czar,

Starting point is 00:00:46 Kamala Harris, to be the Democrat candidate for president, Governor Greg Abbott posted, adding that he may need to triple the border wall, razor wire barriers, and National Guard on the border. Abbott also said that if Biden is not fit to run for re-election, he should resign from the presidency. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who is the leader of former President Donald Trump's re-election campaign in Texas, re-shared one of his social media posts from June, predicting that Biden would be replaced by Harris. Next, since the news broke that Biden would withdraw, Vice President Harris has become the Democratic frontrunner,

Starting point is 00:01:23 drawing support from many Democratic figures across the country, including in Texas. Of Texas's 12-person Democratic congressional delegation, seven have backed Harris. All 12 of those members are also superdelegates to the Democratic National Convention, automatically seated delegates to the convention who do not vote on the first ballot, but are also not tied to the winner of their state's primary. Longtime Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee is also registered as a superdelegate, though she passed away over the weekend from pancreatic cancer. Also, Texas' delegation to the Democratic National Convention pledged their support for Vice President Harris

Starting point is 00:02:01 to replace Biden on a Monday night Zoom call. By an overwhelming vote of 260 to 6, the group of delegates backed Harris's bid for president following the vacancy created by Biden's withdrawal. Biden summarily endorsed Harris following his announcement. Since jumping into the race two days ago, Harris's campaign has reportedly raised more than $100 million. On Monday night, Harris wrote on X that she had won enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination at the August convention. In addition, U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheadle provided testimony to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee during a hearing and its investigation into

Starting point is 00:02:43 the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. The attempted assassination, just 10 days ago, has sparked a whirlwind of speculation about the Secret Service's operations and oversight that day. Cheadle stated in her written testimony to the committee, quote, the Secret Service's solemn mission is to protect our nation's leaders. On July 13th, we failed. In other news, disturbing allegations are detailed in a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice against a large Texas-based non-profit organization tasked and funded by the federal government for years with housing unaccompanied minor children who are not legally present in the country. Austin-based Southwest Key, which from

Starting point is 00:03:25 2015 to 2023 received $3 billion in federal grant funding and operates 29 facilities in Texas, Arizona, and California, houses 6,350 children. The DOJ said that during this timeline, multiple Southwest Key employees subjected children as young as five years old to, quote, repeated and unwelcome sexual abuse, harassment, misconduct, and hostile housing environments. Next, at their first Tarrant Appraisal District board meeting, three newly elected members started acting on the platform that they had promoted during their campaigns. Eric Morris, Callie Rigney, and Matt Bryant promised to promote a three-part plan to advocate for all taxpayers, to move residential appraisals to every three years, and to cap residential increases at 5%. They were directly elected by voters in May as a result of an amendment to the Texas Constitution

Starting point is 00:04:23 passed by voters in November. According to Senate Bill 2, authored by Senator Paul Betancourt and passed during the second special legislative session last year, counties with a population over 75,000 people had their boards of directors increased by three members to be elected by voters to staggered four-year terms. Last but not least, Texas Congressman August Pfluger has joined the race to lead the Republican Study Committee, first reported by Politico. Congressman Ben Kline has already announced his bid for the RSC chairmanship. First established in 1973, the RSC is a congressional caucus of conservative members of the Republican Party.

Starting point is 00:05:05 The current chair is Representative Kevin Hearn. Thanks for listening. To support The Texan, please be sure to visit thetexan.news and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - July 23, 2024

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