The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - November 8, 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Friday, November 8, 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, it took a landslide GOP election and a messaging kerfluffle, but critics of him in the Texas Democratic Party finally got what they've been searching for in recent years, the ouster of party chair Gilberto Hinojosa. Hinojosa said in announcing his resignation, quote, On Tuesday, the Democratic Party suffered devastating defeats up and down the ballot in Texas and across the country. Voters sent a clear message to our party and our country that they want our leaders to talk

Starting point is 00:00:45 to them about issues that they care about most, including the economy. Texas Democrats came into Tuesday's election with high hopes of taking out Senator Ted Cruz, retaining their state legislative seats, and maybe even flipping one or two. Instead, they left almost entirely empty-handed with a landslide victory for Donald Trump and Cruz in the state, another cycle like the last 15 without a statewide victory, a net loss of three legislative seats, and a wave of GOP appellate court victories. Asked about the fallout and lessons to take from the shellacking, Hinojosa posited that the Democratic Party went too far on a few issues and that Republicans

Starting point is 00:01:25 benefited greatly from it. Next, voters in Harris County chose Democrats at the top of the ticket in the 2024 presidential election, but Republican victories and near-victories in a slew of down-ballot judicial and public safety-related races indicate the state's most populous county is not quite as blue as some once thought. According to the unofficial election results, 10 Republican candidates won races for the county's criminal and civil courts, flipping those seats from blue to red and in some cases unseating incumbent judges who have been under fire for inefficiently handling their dockets and alleged soft-on-crime treatment of criminal defendants.

Starting point is 00:02:05 Harris County Republican Party Chair Cindy Siegel said in a statement, quote, Last night's results show that voters are ready for judges who prioritize the rule of law, community safety, and a balanced approach to justice. This victory is a significant step toward ensuring a safer and more stable Harris County for all residents. In other news, the GOP notched two wins in competitive Bayard County seats in the Texas House, one of them the only partisan even seat in the state, during Tuesday's red wave election, sending State Representative John Lujan back to the legislature and Mark LaHood there for the first time. Short of Cruz, Lujan was the most embattled

Starting point is 00:02:46 Republican incumbent in the state. Democrats saw his seat as the most likely flip in the Texas House, and they were right about that. It just didn't happen. Lujan defeated Democratic challenger Christian Carranza by nearly 2,700 votes, increasing his margin from the 2022 cycle when he won by almost 1,900. Also, State Representative Janie Lopez was thought to be vulnerable in Tuesday's election, but her 10-point win over Democrat Jonathan Gracia put an emphatic stamp on Republicans' monumental night up and down the ballot. Lopez won House District 37 by around 5,500 votes or 10 percentage points, substantially outperforming the district's partisan leaning, D51%, according to the Texans-Texas Partisan Index. With Tuesday's results and the GOP's successful night, that district will likely shift to GOP

Starting point is 00:03:41 leaning. She won the district's portion of Cameron County, the largest section of HD 37, by 12 points, while Gracia won Willisee County, a much smaller county population-wise, by 6 points. Last but not least, Texas received a final judgment permanently blocking a Biden administration parole-in-place policy that would have allegedly allowed over a million illegal aliens to secure citizenship without satisfying clear congressionally issued requirements. The policy established a process for certain non-citizen spouses and non-citizen stepchildren of U.S. citizens to get around federal prohibitions against certain immigration benefits being obtained until after leaving the country and

Starting point is 00:04:25 returning in a legal manner, according to the Department of Homeland Security's press release. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, along with 15 other states and co-counsel America First Legal, filed a lawsuit on August 23rd against the United States Department of Homeland Security, alleging that the Biden administration was violating the U.S. Constitution in its new agency rule adopted August 19th. In case you missed the Texans' live post-election debrief on Wednesday evening, never fear. The entire conversation is available to watch or hear as this week's weekly roundup podcast.

Starting point is 00:05:03 So visit thetexan.news or wherever you get podcasts to hear our team's reactions to the results and what it means for the Lone Star State. 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 - November 8, 2024

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