The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - October 29, 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Tuesday, October 29th, 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 Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has issued a letter detailing ex parte communication between state representative Jeff Leach and a sitting judge regarding the case of death row inmate Robert Roberson. The CCA decided in a 5-4 ruling to overturn a temporary restraining order issued by a lower court judge that had paused the death of Roberson, effectively allowing the execution to proceed. But the Texas Supreme Court granted a temporary restraining order to delay the execution to proceed. But the Texas Supreme Court granted a temporary restraining order to delay the execution so that the district court could review the House

Starting point is 00:00:50 Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence's right to compel Roberson's testimony at a hearing. In the messages, Leach appeared to be hesitant to begin communications, writing that he has racked his brain regarding if it is legally and ethically permissible to reach out to the judge. The judge involved in the text exchange alerted Leach that this communication is considered ex parte and that the topic cannot be discussed, to which Leach responded that he was, quote, unaware there were any pending matters in front of the court. Ex parte communication is a legal term for when one party in a case, or someone connected to them, communicates directly with the judge about case-related issues without informing the other parties. The Texas Office of the Attorney General sent a letter to the Supreme Court of Texas alerting them of the communication between Leach

Starting point is 00:01:40 and the Court of Criminal Appeals judge. Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that he has made a criminal referral against Leach and called for his resignation over the messages. Next, Representative Lacey Hull is seeking a third term to represent Texas House District 138, but Democrats are hoping to leverage angst over school choice politics and shifting demographics in hopes that criminal defense attorney Stephanie Morales will make inroads into the Republican-leaning district in northwest Harris County. In 2022, Hull handily defeated Morales by 14 percentage points, despite Morales campaigning that year against Hull's opposition to biological males participating in girls' sports,

Starting point is 00:02:23 among other social issues. This year, Republicans are employing the sports controversy as a wedge issue, especially in Senator Ted Cruz's re-election campaign against Representative Colin Allred. Democrats have focused on abortion politics, but the party has done little campaigning in HD 138. In this election cycle, Morales dropped the discussion of transgender politics to rebrand as a moderate with a focus on foster care, public school finance, and opposition to school choice legislation. Endorsed by the Texas American Federation of Teachers Union, Morales served on a Spring Branch Independent School District Financial Advisory Committee

Starting point is 00:03:02 and argues that public schools are underfunded. Last year, the Spring Branch ISD Board announced a boycott of their required recapture payment to the state for public education, but then quietly voted to send in the payment after acknowledging that state lawmakers had reduced the payment from $80 million to $10 million in 2024. In other news, Texas House District 80, situated southwest of San Antonio beside the southern border, will be the battlefield of an electoral showdown between Democratic candidate Cecilia Castellano and Republican nominee Don McLaughlin. Castellano defeated challenger Rosie Cuellar, the sister of Congressman Henry Cuellar, in a runoff for the nomination back

Starting point is 00:03:46 in May, Cuellar crossed party lines and endorsed McLaughlin following her defeat. McLaughlin coasted to a decisive victory in the three-way race to top the Republican ticket, picking up 58% of the vote. Current HD80 Representative Tracy King made the decision to not seek an eighth term in office last year. According to Mark P. Jones' legislative rankings, King was rated one of the least liberal House Democrats during the 2023 legislative session. the Texans' Texas Partisan Index, indicating a toss-up district that could go either way for Republicans or Democrats. Republicans are eyeing the seat, newly rated as a slightly red district, as one where they could add a new GOP member to their ranks come January's legislative session. Last but not least, the latest campaign finance reports spanning from September 27th through October 26th have been published. These will be the last formal finance reports published, save for daily cash-on-hand disclosures before the election. Visit TheTexan.News to read senior reporter Brad Johnson break down four themes from this latest batch of numbers.

Starting point is 00:05:01 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.

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The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - October 29, 2024

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