The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - March 12, 2026

Starting point is 00:00:04 Howdy folks, today is Thursday, March 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, U.S. Senator John Cornyn appears to now be backing changes to the filibuster in the U.S. Senate in order to get legislation passed in accordance with President Donald Trump's demand and its potential implications for Cornyn receiving Trump's endorsement for his re-election. After the Republican primary resulted in a runoff between Corny and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on March 3rd, Trump announced he would be issuing his long-awaited endorsement in the race, and that once he did so, he would be requesting the odd man out exit the race.

Starting point is 00:00:51 Initially, Paxton stated during a media interview that he wouldn't drop out if it came to a Cornyn endorsement and that he owes it to the people of Texas to stay in the race. However, after Trump responded in a Politico article criticizing Paxton's statement, Paxton came out with a new statement on the matter. He vowed to consider dropping out of the race in the case of Trump endorsing Cornyn if, quote, Senate leadership agrees to lift the filibuster and passes the Save America Act. Amid much jockeying online with Paxton over the legislation and endorsement, Cornyn came out with an op-ed on Wednesday morning explaining why he's changing course.

Starting point is 00:01:29 Next, the state of Texas is advising Collin County Commissioner's Court to continue denying land applications from the East Plano Islamic Center's Epic City Development, also known as the Meadow, which is facing ongoing litigation over its allegedly Muslim-centric community structure. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote to the Commissioner's Court on Tuesday, noting that his office had recently sued to prevent what he alleged was the, quote, illegal annexation of land intended to facilitate. the development, end quote, of Epic City, referencing his February lawsuit against double R municipal utility district number 2A of Hunt and Colin counties, or double R mud. His letter to the commissioner's court references the February lawsuit and states, quote, I am advised that to date you have refused to approve Epic City's requested plat application due to its multiple deficiencies and the insufficiency of the information provided. Paxton's suit in February included a claim that Double R. Mud had held a highly unusual special meeting in September, in which the previous board members resigned and a new board wasn't stated. In other news, Governor Greg Abbott spoke harshly of the city of Corpus Christi's handling of its water crisis, warning of potential state intervention in the future. South Texas has attracted more than $57 billion in investment over the past decade, growing the annual revenue of its port,

Starting point is 00:02:57 by $100 million between 2015 and 2023, with the city of Corpus Christi growing the annual revenue of its port by $100 million between 2015 and 2023, and according to the city's website, Corpus Christi, is currently at a stage three, urgent, on its drought status meter. That means that non-essential outside watering is prohibited, with restrictions on car, plant, and foundation watering. Abbott commented on the city's water issue at a March 10th campaign rally, quote, we've been actively involved in it going back a long time. We provided them with $750 million, three quarters of a billion dollars, in funding for them to address their water problem. Last but not least, the Tarrant County Commissioner's Court sought clarification from County Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig at its March 10th meeting about the

Starting point is 00:03:50 reason for and expenses associated with, the post-election hand-counted audit of the Texas Senate District 9 runoff election in January. The county elections administration conducted a post-election audit of the SD9 race to bolster the public's confidence in the electronic balloting system that the county uses. Ludwig said it was to address some allegations of inaccuracies by the electronic system. During routine testing of the election equipment, some errors occurred, most likely attributable to some stray lint or debris in the machines. Because of the issues, Ludwig sought permission from the Texas Secretary of State, as required by statute, to conduct a post-election hand-count audit of the SD-9 race. On February 19th, a notice was posted to the Tarrant County website

Starting point is 00:04:37 announcing the, quote, successful completion of the hand-count audit, stating that all hand-count results matched the electronic results. 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, newsletter and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - March 12, 2026

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