The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - October 10, 2025
Episode Date: October 10, 2025Want to support The Texan and help us continue providing the Lone Star State with news you can trust? Subscribe today: https://thetexan.news/subscribe/The Texan’s Daily Rundown brings you a quick re...cap of the latest stories in Texas politics so you can stay informed with news you can trust.Want more resources? Be sure to visit The Texan and subscribe for complete access to our in-depth articles, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, videos, podcasts, and more.Enjoy what you hear? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review!
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Howdy, folks. Today is Friday, October 10th, and you're listening to The Texans Daily Rundown.
I'm the Texans assistant editor Rob Lauchess, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics.
First up, it's been coming to this point for quite some time, the moment a novel legal theory and retribution face off against political reality and tepid partnership.
The Texas GOP's State Republican Executive Committee will consider 10 censure resolutions
against sitting Texas House Republicans on Saturday for a variety of offenses.
A path that could, but not necessarily, lead to attempts to keep those representatives off the GOP primary ballot.
The 10 members who could be censured are state representatives Angie Chen Button,
Cody Harris, Stan Lambert, Jeff Leach, Morgan Meyer, Angelia Orr, Jared Patterson,
Dade Phelan, Gary Van Deaver, and House Speaker Dustin Burroughs. Neither Phelan nor Lambert are running for
re-election, and Van Deaver is considering retirement too. The criteria can cast a wide net, but the alleged
offenses by these members range from voting for Burroughs for Speaker instead of State Representative
David Cook, to moving to end debate on the House Rules package, to voting for various pieces of
legislation. Next, the State of Texas via the Office of the Attorney General has joined a lawsuit
against the State of Texas in the form of the Secretary of State that aims in some form to
close future Republican primaries in the state to non-GOP voters. Early last month, the Republican
Party of Texas sued the State of Texas and Secretary of State Jane Nelson, asking the court
to order changes to election procedure that allow the majority party to screen who is allowed to
in its primary. Both parties use the SOS to conduct their primary elections, just like they do
for the general, something the state funds via the legislative budget. In other news, nearly all GOP
U.S. senators made their concerns surrounding chemical abortion pills known to the nation's leading
federal health directors this week, asserting that the pills both threaten the health of mothers
and undermine states' rights. In an October 9th letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,
and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 51 senators, including Senators John
Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas, requested that the agencies halt the distribution of such abortion
products until a comprehensive review is conducted. The request comes on the tail of the FDA
approving another generic version of Mepha Pristone, which kicked up the dust among pro-life
activists who questioned the current presidential administration's commitment to their cause.
Shortly before the product's approval, FDA commissioner Dr. Marty McCarrie had written a letter to 22 inquiring state attorneys general, including Texas's Ken Paxton, reiterating his commitment to a top-to-bottom review of Mifa Pristone, one of the two key drugs used in chemical abortions. Also, Rockwell Independent School District could be pushed into recapture to the tune of $4 million if residents vote to pass the proposed voter approval tax rate election.
increase of 12 cents on November 4th. According to documented estimates by the Texas Education
Agency obtained by the Texan, the increased rate will result in excess Tier 2 funding,
4 million of which would be sent to Austin as part of the state's plan to share local tax revenue
with other school districts that have lower revenue. TEA lists of recapture districts dating from
the 2020-2020 school year until 2024-2020-25 showed that,
Rockwall ISD has not paid into the state's Robin Hood School Equalization Funding System.
Last but not least, former state Senator Kelly Hancock has been at the helm of the Comptroller's
office for a hundred days, during which time he's implemented the state's education savings
account program, overseen flood and opioid relief for Texans, and rolled out modernization
of the state's largest financial programs. Hancock launched his bid for Comptroller on June 19th
after first joining the agency as an employee to avoid a constitutional issue.
Citing a 2002 legal opinion by then Attorney General Greg Abbott
that a sitting state senator cannot be confirmed to a state post during the term for which he was elected.
Since then, he's been simultaneously running for statewide office while overseeing one of the state's largest agencies.
Visit the Texan.News for a review of some of the top changes he's ushered through the office.
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