The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - October 8, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy, folks. Today is Wednesday, October 8th, 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, with less than two weeks before early voting begins in the special election for Texas Senate District 9 in Tarrant County, campaign finance reports for the two Republican candidates in the GOP-leaning district show war chests in the hundreds of thousands. John Huffman, the former mayor of Southlake, revealed political contributions of $575,000, 500,000 of which came from the Texas Sands Pack, a political action committee working to get casino gambling legalized in Texas. Miriam Adelson, whose family owns the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, has given over $9 million to the Texas Sands Pack so far this calendar year, according to Transparency USA. Huffman has also received hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising support via independent expenditures from the Texas Defense Pack, also funded by Adelson.

Starting point is 00:01:13 The other Republican candidate, Le Wamsgans, who touts her over 30 years of conservative grassroots political, involvement, has also received sizable contributions, with the total exceeding $844,000 in donations and $617,000 in cash on hand. She has also received in-kind contributions of about $196,000 from the anti-gambling Texans United for a conservative majority to run streaming ads and send out campaign mailers. TUCM is largely funded by Tim and Terry Dunn. Oil and Gas billionaires in West Texas. The group also made a campaign contribution of $100,000 to Wamsgans. In other news, eight individuals were arrested and indicted in connection with a Houston area abortion operation, with charges that include practicing without a medical license while being

Starting point is 00:02:08 involved in the aborting of unborn children. Maria Rojas, the owner of multiple clinics across Houston where abortions were allegedly provided to mothers, was charged in March and indicted on 15 felony counts in June, the first arrest as a result of Texas's abortion ban. As part of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's ongoing investigation into Rojas's network of clinics, he announced the arrest of eight individuals accused of being affiliated with her. Paxton alleged that of the eight arrested and indicted for, quote, providing illegal abortions and practicing medicine without proper licenses, end quote, several of them are not U.S. citizens. Rojas, a midwife known in the area as Dr. Maria, was arrested in Waller County on March 17th over her alleged network of abortion clinics.

Starting point is 00:02:59 Last but not least, two proxy voting firms that dominate over 97% of the U.S. public market have come under a bright red spotlight in recent years due to some of the voting recommendations they have provided. These firms advise institutional investors on corporate governance and shareholder proposals, influencing decisions for a large portion of the more than $60 trillion invested in U.S. public companies. Think tanks, such as the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Manhattan Institute, groups that directly or indirectly influence how lawmakers act, have been critical of proxy advisor firms that focus on promoting environmental issues, raising questions about, quote, the large systemic gap between its preferences and those observed in shareholders' actual votes. The U.S.

Starting point is 00:03:50 Government Accountability Office in 2016 also detailed how some proxy firms, quote, continue to apply policies in a one-size-fits-all manner, which can lead to recommendations not in the best interest of shareholders. The newly approved Texas Stock Exchange has also stated that it will remain apolitical in the face of the environmental, social, and governance, or ESG movement, especially as pension funds with major investments in companies are traded on the exchange. But institutional shareholder services and Glass Lewis have been accused by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in recent weeks for what he alleges is, quote, potentially misleading institutional investors and public companies by issuing voting recommendations that advance

Starting point is 00:04:37 radical political agendas rather than sound financial principles. 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, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - October 8, 2025

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