The Texan Podcast - Weekly Roundup - July 18, 2025

Episode Date: July 18, 2025

Show off your Lone Star spirit with a free "Remember the Alamo" hat with an annual subscription to The Texan: https://thetexan.news/subscribe/The Texan’s Weekly Roundup brings you the latest news in Texas politics, breaking down the top stories of the week with our team of reporters who give you the facts so you can form your own opinion.Enjoy what you hear? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! Got questions for the reporting team? Email [e-mail] — they just might be answered on a future podcast.Federal Judge Denies Motion to Reopen Record in El Paso Redistricting Case Due to Special SessionTexas, National Democrats Coalesce Against GOP Congressional Redistricting EffortState Sen. Angela Paxton Files for Divorce from Attorney General Ken PaxtonNine Indicted on Election Fraud Charges Include Texas Democrat's Chief of Staff, Former House CandidateDepartment of Justice to Continue Bribery Case Against Congressman Henry CuellarTexas Congressman to Introduce Resolution Demanding Release of Epstein FilesNathan Johnson Announces Democratic Run for Texas Attorney GeneralNew Execution Date Set for Death Row Inmate Robert RobersonBorder Patrol Union, Sheriffs, Former Texas DPS Head Endorse Cornyn in U.S. Senate RaceU.S. Closes Border Again to Livestock Imports After New Screwworm Case in MexicoAttorney General Paxton Demands Alleged Texas Flood Fundraising Scam Cease OperationsTed Cruz Aims to Designate Muslim Brotherhood as Foreign Terrorist Organization

Hey folks, it's McKenzie here with Mary Elise, Cameron, and Brad on another edition of the weekly Roundup podcast. It's been, it does definitely feel like summer in that people are traveling, people are remote. There's a lot of different moving parts in and around the office, or not in the office right now. And special session starts on Monday, so things are, it's a good time for everyone to get that in ahead of being back in session Probably even out of the office for a little bit

So Cameron has really been you know between us for the one holding down the fort Cameron. How's it been? I've missed you guys Around the office. I missed the hot goss Spilling the tea as the kids say You know, I have to fill fill my days sharing Twitter posts with Rob But I you know, I know there's a lot of things going on if people are watching the podcast right now, they'll see I'm sitting in a different chair. I am now sitting at the head of the podcast table because you're at home right now. It feels weird sitting here. I hope it gives you like some I hope it feels good you know sitting in

that chair. It feels good for me so I hope I hope it's doing you know you some favors there. Bradley welcome back to the. You've been out for a little while. Are you ready for session to start again next week? I am actually. I'm excited. It's going to be a fun special session. Oh yeah. Lots of follow. Cameron's going to be following the THC stuff like he did during regular session. I'll be following Redestricting, which I'm really glad because I was mad that Daniel, a friend, got to cover it in 21 when they did it, when they drew the maps. And so while it's not as extensive of an episode here on redistricting, I'm glad to get a little bit of a taste of it.

Yeah. It was fun. And not just that, there's so much on the call that we didn't expect, which we've talked about because in the last week's episode, but there is a lot to get into policy wise, the special session, and it'll be fun to see what makes it across the finish line. So all around and Mary Elise, you're going to be this is the first time the legislature has been in session since you've worked for us, where you'll be doing coverage remotely and not from Austin.

So this is going to be a different muscle to exercise for you. Yeah, I'm curious to see how this pans out. But in a sense, I'm kind of excited for the special session to start. I mean, it's kind of it's kind of a sick excitement. You know, you enjoy it so much while it's in session, then you're so glad to be out of it. And then you kind of miss it a little bit. So we'll see how this goes. Oh, for sure. And specials are so different from the regular too. Like it just is a different animal. It's a lot more, I should really knock on wood before I say this, but a lot more manageable usually than a full on regular. So it'll be fun to, I don't know, watch everybody do their thing.

Well speaking of redistricting and the special session, let's Brad talk about all that's happened on their district in front ahead of the legislature reconvening on Monday. Recap where we're currently at. Yeah, so we you and I talked about this a couple times on the smoke filled room podcast, but now we actually have some some answers on what this is going to look like Governor Abbott did put Redistricting congressional redistricting on the special session call That is going to be I Think the most contentious

Fight THC will be a big fight as well. Maybe it's 1a 1b there in this special Yeah, but this is gonna be a knockdown dragout fight that extends well beyond the boundaries of the state. This is this is becoming a national issue. So when the governor put this on the call he cited a DOJ letter that I put out. Specifically that DOJ letter was trying to provide political cover to the legislature to do this. And keep in mind, they can redistrict whenever the heck they want. There's nothing constitution-wise that prohibits them from doing mid decade redistricting. If the shoe was on the other foot, Democrats had this ability,

they'd do it too. Of course. So, um, and we'll talk a bit about that more, uh, in another state. So, um, the DOJ letter cited the Galveston decision that we have talked about previously. It was a Galveston decision ruling by the Fifth Circuit last year that ruled that majority minority coalition districts are no longer count under the Voting Rights Act requirements to preserve communities of interest. Pract, practically that means, uh, where you might have a requirement to preserve a 50 plus one black majority district that is a majority minority district

because, um, you know, blacks are considered minority races race under the, the VRA. You have other districts that are coalition districts where you have Hispanics and blacks making up a majority of that district's population. So any district that's like that under this new ruling, you're free to just carve up. And so that is the strategy. Even though it's a legal decision, that is the political justification that the DOJ, the Trump administration and Abbott are using to put this on the call.

Specifically, that letter mentioned four districts, congressional districts nine, 18, 29, and 33. The first three are all in Harris County. 33 is in Dallas County and that one notably is not currently a coalition district, but it was previously and by my understanding it's very convoluted there was a court ruling before the last redistricting that required it to be the lines to be drawn the way they were to preserve its coalition status and then after the demographic changes happened in the U.S. Census it then became a Hispanic majority district. So the lines are still drawn as if it was the old coalition district even though it's not anymore. And so that those are

the four named now it's not going to apply to just four. They're like the, I think the whole map's getting redrawn. They are not just limiting themselves to those districts. This is going to affect the two South Texas districts. We'll see stuff in Harris County and in Dallas County. Those are the three areas that the state, state Republicans are going to try and make gains in. And we've talked previously how Trump wants five seats. I kind of think that's a bit of a Mott and Bailey strategy where you make a more extreme demand or statement and then retreat to a more defensible position, which is... A little harder to deal.

Right. Which is more like two or three seats because it once you to get five seats you would have to make a number of Republicans more competitive in their seats and then you might lose that next year. So the whole point of this for Republicans is to try and increase the number of seats they have because they already have a razor-thin majority in the US House. That's the purpose. You know, I've heard talk about trying to pair Mark Vesey and Jasmine Crockett in a seat together. That would be packing, you know, packing them into one very heavily Democratic district. Both are pretty heavily Democratic currently, but then you could take, let's say, uh, a slice of VC's district and, uh, the re the Republican voters and move them into, um, you know, let's say Julie Johnson's district, which

is more competitive and make that a Republican leaning district. So that's the strategy they're going to go for. Um, we'll see how much of a redraw they do, but I think the entire state's going to get largely redrawn. You know, you're not going to have Chip Roy's district move up in the pan for, we'll see how much of a redraw they do, but I think the entire state's gonna get largely redrawn. You know, you're not gonna have Chip Roy's district move up in the panhandle, but he will have, probably have a significantly different district if and when this map is passed. And that applies to all the other congressmen as well.

Can you explain just a little bit about how they draw the lines for the district? You mentioned how it's based upon the majority minority, the demographic switch, but how do they actually like determine where the lines of a district are on the map? Like, is this just a discussion that they have or? Well, it usually starts with conversations with the current members. So in this case, Congress, the incumbent congressional delegation, first they'll go to Republicans. And primarily because this is a Republican operation, they're going to say, all right, where

do you want your district drawn? And they'll work from there. And obviously, they're going to want the lines drawn that is going to help support their re-election. And you know, you'll get into instances where it's not even about like, oh, I want this group because they're gonna, they're solidly Republican, they'll vote for me. You have things like, from what I'm told, Michael McCall really wanted Bryan College Station in his district in Texas 10 in 21. And so that when you have

that geographical demand if you accommodate it it can throw off various other plans. It's a domino effect right? So if let's say Michael McCall doesn't run again if he is telling people that he's not going to which is a question I haven't heard for sure that he is not going to, which is a question I haven't heard for sure that he is not going to, but this is something talked about quite a bit. He can say, all right, carve up Texas 10 however you want, because I'm not running again, you know, kind of falling on a sword, allowing the Republicans in this to advance, to, more at their disposal to get a map that they want, right? Interesting, okay. So it will then usually go to during the initial redistricting, it'll then go to the Democrats, the minority party delegation. This time around, I don't think they're going to go to the Democrats. Oh, so they can just

withhold having a conversation with them at all and just draw it on their own? Yep. Yeah. Because they, maybe that will occur for some Democrats, some not, who knows, but you know this is this is a pure power grab. That's what this is. Right. And there's no gussying it up. We're gonna hear a lot about right and wrong, whatever, all this stuff, legal arguments made. Ultimately, Republicans control the state and they can redraw the maps if they want. You know, we're gonna, there'll be arguments about whether they should do it, but that's different from whether they can do it, and they absolutely can. And so... Well, because the reason why I ask is because when you look at the maps of how these lines are drawn, you know, there's these, they can be these long strips that are congressional. Dish.

Or like a little. Look at the Illinois congressional map. Yeah. It's insane the way that they've done it. Um, but you know what? They can do it and it's totally in the, and you know, that's the Democrats doing it in Illinois. Um, they've managed to, in Illinois Illinois you got the power center of Chicago and some

of the other bigger cities, same factor here, except there what they do is they draw an elongated district and connect it to a chunk of Chicago. So the voting population there counterbalances the rural red areas. And so that's when you get this, like I joked with my friends the other day in the group chat that picture of the 13th congressional district in Illinois looked like a golf hole that my slice

would play at very well. It elongated basically dogleg, but it was connecting to population center in order to balance out the rest the geography, the rest of the map there. So you might see some strategies like that here. You know it comes to mind like if you're trying to get 34 you might bring it north more and get more of the rural Republican voter base closer to Corpus Christi. Right. That's kind of how Adam Hinajosa's district looks at SD 27 I think it is. It's more elongated, it gets more of the the rural area north

along the coast. Well what do you you think is going to happen with how the 2024 election shook out with Latino voters shifting towards the Republican Party? You think that's going to play into this congressional redistricting? Absolutely, absolutely. And you know, it plays into the legal side of it, too, because think about the coalition argument. Well, the demand under the VRA to maintain a coalition majority district is that the idea that well, black voters and Hispanic voters, they vote the same way and therefore... This is the quote-unquote interest.

Interest, yeah. And so therefore, by drawing them a district, you give them more representation where they otherwise wouldn't have it. But I think a big argument for redrawing this is, and we saw Senator John Cornyn state this explicitly on Twitter, that, well, they're not necessarily aligned politically anymore. So what's the point in making them a, giving them a district, right? Yeah. If they're under this logic, if their interests are no longer aligned. Right.

So there'll be counter arguments. There have been counter arguments in the, in the ongoing lawsuit and the future lawsuits that will come after this. The, to finish recapping the, the El Paso case that we've talked about that was kind of the trial finish of the four-week trial that finished, there was a motion by the Mexican American Legislative Caucus after this DOJ letter came out to reopen testimony because, and you know they're right about this, at least to some extent, the DOJ letter came out to reopen testimony because, and you know, they're right about this, uh, to at least to some extent, the, the DOJ letter is conceding because it specifically calls the current congressional maps racially

gerrymandered, uh, Abbott's call, you know, con conceded that as well. So they're saying, Hey, Republicans are, are, um, conceded that as well. So they're saying hey Republicans are are Conceding that this was racially gerrymandered and We have multiple witnesses including Senator Joan Huffman Who was the redistricting chair and in the Senate last time around saying no, it wasn't now all different kind of legal arguments, you know the the argument the Counterargument to that from from the Republican side would be, well, it's racially gerrymandered in the way that now there are these coalition districts that are now no longer legitimate. Right? So they'll go back and forth, back and forth. But that case is on pause because of this effort to redistrict. denied Malk's motion to reopen testimony, but said if for some reason these new maps

don't pass, then we'll consider, I'll consider reopening testimony. So we may go back to that. Now, you know, what happens if this gamble that's made Republicans fail to pass maps for whatever reason, a new map, and then you have this DOJ letter hurting their case in, and I can tell you the people that are arguing this case are very upset about that DOJ letter. Basically undermining their case made in the El Paso lawsuit and trial.

And then you, what if that is then used to nullify the current maps. And so now you're left with who the hell draws these maps, right? I don't know where that goes from there. So this is a whole can of worms that's been opened up and it's fascinating, but ultimately it comes down to, it's a political fight. This is a fight over raw political power. Oh, absolutely.

And that's all redistricting ever is. You can gussy it up in all kinds of talking points about, you know, whether it follows federal law vis-a-vis the Voting Rights Act. It comes down to do you have the power to draw the maps the way you want? Ultimately, Republicans in Texas do. But Democrats, they have some tools in their toolbox. You know, they don't have to just sit there and take it and they aren't going to. One more thing on this, I think they're gonna move fast on this in session.

Because the leverage for them to keep Democrats in town is the flooding stuff. So that'll come probably later. It'll also take a lot more time to hash out what they're gonna do in response to this, the disaster preparedness side of the special session. And then there's a lot of talk about in the House, a select committee.

And I think we'll probably know maybe by the time this podcast goes out how that looks, if there is a select committee. I ran through and forth reading the current House committee and the makeup there there's three people on that who are either running for Congress or thinking about running for Congress so that would give them a huge sway and incentive to move the map in a certain direction for them in their preferred district. Yeah right so a lot of wrinkles to this, but yeah, this is going to be a big fight.

And Democrats are, you know, rallying the troops against it. Well, and that's what we should get into speaking of the political side as Republicans kind of home in on their messaging and all of this and how they were going to present this to the public. Democrats are doing the exact same thing. Very, very quickly, Brad, tell us what Democrats are saying about this and what their angling and messaging seems to be. So House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met with Texas Democrats, and specifically House Democrats earlier this week, and he encouraged them to keep every tool in their toolbox.

It was the nomenclature that I was told was used. That includes breaking quorum. Now it doesn't mean they're going to, it is a very difficult thing to break quorum. It's tough on them as individuals, tough on their businesses, tough on their families, because they gotta flee the state in order not to get rounded up by state police and brought back to the House chamber. So they're talking about

that but you know there's going to be lawsuits without a doubt whenever this thing passes. Multiple groups have promised that. You've got the Democratic National Redistricting Coalition or Commission, something like that, that is watching this intently. Then you have stuff happening out of state. California Governor Gavin Newsom is talking about redistricting if Texas moves forward with this, redistricting California because there's meat left on the bone there. Now the notable thing there is they can't just draw a new map like and pass it through

the legislature like Texas can because they passed a constitutional amendment that requires it to be done by a nonpartisan redistricting commission. And I use air quotes there because it's never nonpartisan, right? Like you can't get that out of it. I'm from Ohio. They tried to do that. Those maps immediately got sued into oblivion as partisan maps.

Like it's just, it's gonna be partisan. But the difference there is they would have to amend the constitution back to allow the legislature to draw the map. And he's talking about doing it. That would be an incredibly heavy lift. I'm not sure there's an there's as much leverage there as Newsom is leading everyone to believe so doesn't mean they couldn't do it but it sounds

good on a podcast to say it though right but it is kind of an example of Democrats getting mad about gerrymandering as they say across the country and making kind of making a reform to that process because it sounds good that then bites them in the rear down the road and so there was a reporter that specifically asked Hakeem Jeffries that question at one of the press conferences and he kind of shrugged it off he said you can ask Gavin Newsom about it. But I mean, it's totally fair point. Democrats have kneecapped themselves in California on this aspect. Now, you know, they'd argue

the ones who passed it that it was a necessary reform to prevent gerrymandering. I don't know. It's hurting them in this point. And maybe they get enough support to amend the Constitution back. That's certainly possible. But it will not be as easy of a lift as Republicans will have here to, to, to change the maps. So going forward, who knows what, what, even what maps we have, where the districts are drawn next cycle. You know, if they get new maps, you're going to have, uh, candidates who are in one race jump to another race.

You know, I've heard Myra Flores is, is very much talking about going back to the 34th congressional district and running there in the seat that she had previously held for a bit and then ran for twice and lost. She has declared for the 28th congressional district now because she sees that as an easier under the current maps, an easier fight. Well, if she gets an easier district in 34 she will probably jump back so that's going to happen all over the state there's going to be a lot of different moving parts there but it all starts with the legislature figuring out making the first

move figuring out what they're going to draw when they're going to draw it i think it'll happen pretty quickly during this special session. And it all starts on Monday. Buckle up folks and check out everyone's reporting. It's going to be interesting. Let's dive into a story that of course happens to break right after we recorded our weekly roundup last week. So we have lots to discuss here. Cameron, you wrote this story, but State Senator Angela Paxton confirmed reports that she has filed for divorce on biblical grounds. Her words from her husband, Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Tell us about this breaking news. Yeah, so this divorce was first made public by KUT, but shortly after that report came out we saw social media posts from both Angela Paxton and Attorney General Ken Paxton. Angela Paxton said that, in light of recent discoveries, I do not believe that it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or can to remain in the marriage. I move forward with complete confidence that God is always working together for the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purpose. We also saw Kim Paxson shortly after the news of the divorce was made

public also post on social media saying quote after facing the pressures of countless political attacks and public scrutiny Angela and I have decided to start a new chapter in our lives. And according to the divorce filing, the grounds for the separation was listed as quote adultery. Additionally, the petition details how the two have not lived together for over a year. And this is huge news in Texas politics. Obviously, the Attorney General of the state and a state senator filing for divorce and worth mentioning, Kim Paxson as well running against John Cornyn for the U.S. Senate seat. And you know, what's interesting is there was all sorts of rumors and things that were bubbling up during the impeachment trial. That was happening in, oh man, all the way back in 2023, the impeachment trial. It's

been that long. And when that impeachment trial was going on, there was allegations of an affair, which really became a focal point of the discussion early in the process. The alleged mistress to Ken Paxton, Laura Olson, was named as a potential witness in the impeachment trial, but ultimately did not testify. So this has been something that's sort of been percolating in political conversations within Texas politics and this is just really the final shoe to drop on this entire conversation. I don't know what you want to say, Brad, what's your thoughts on this whole ordeal here?

Well, she says in there that new, she had, what was it it new findings or something like that. Yeah. Kind of alluding to another affair. Not Laura Olson because that was already out in the open. Everyone knew it. It was mentioned in the it was a theme in the impeachment trial. Everyone remembers the white dress in the Valencia Aga bag. Yeah. Well, did you see what she posted or she changed her bio on her Instagram account? Yes. It said like Laura Olson did, it said you can't get everything you want but I can or something like that. Something like that, yeah. As this came out, wild, but you know this is I think probably been coming for a while Notable that the the first judge that was assigned to this case has recused him or herself

I forget if it was a male or female But then There is a new judge that has Contributed apparently and Lauren McGuy he found this at KUT Austin she There is a new judge that has contributed apparently, Lauren McGuy, he found this at KUT Austin. She also first reported the story of the divorce filing, but the judge has contributed both Ken and Angela Paxton's campaigns before.

I'm not sure how that affects it. But what do you think, is there political implications to a story like this? Like, because like I mentioned, Paxton is running against Cornyn for the U.S. Senate seat. Do you see this divorce playing into the campaign at all on Cornyn's side? Oh absolutely. Now the question is does it work? right? I don't know You know, there's a lot of argument that voters don't care about this anymore. Yeah particularly Republican primary voters and we've seen some of the reaction that shows they don't care now

Are those the very online ones or those the the vote the average Republican primary voter, right? online ones or those the the vote the average Republican primary voter right a lot to see and when we have the primary right we won't know but this does this timing is very notable Pakistan is in a very high level US Senate race against incumbent John Cornyn and Cornyn's down at least in the initial polls that we've seen it Cornyn has down at least in the initial polls that we've seen It Cornyn has already talked about this a General issue before in the campaign, but he's gonna put it in the hyperdrive now, right? Because this is some of his biggest ammunition. Yeah Question is doesn't matter. I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, what are your thoughts on on this story Mac?

You've been intimately involved in Texas politics for years now. What do you see the political implications being? I think in a post-Trump and current Trump world, it is such a different environment for Republicans running for these kinds of offices. And I think. We will see if voters care and obviously, you know, online reactions can only tell you so much about how an electorate will respond. But the online reactions have been very interesting. A lot of folks who are loyal to attorney general Ken Paxton's really just re-upping that loyalty and that support for him in all sorts of ways after Senator Paxton released her statement confirming the filing and the fact that she was in fact filing for divorce from her husband. So very interesting to watch.

I'm curious how that will affect the electorate. I'm not exactly. Will it be used? Absolutely. Will it work? CBD. But I do think that it is, I mean, I think back to the impeachment trial and that photo, that haunting photo of the Senator at her desk, which I think it is important to remember that throughout the entire impeachment trial, while these accusations and articles of impeachment were being levied at the attorney general and testimony was being provided on both sides, one of the jurors was Senator Angela Paxman. She sat at her desk and listened to this testimony for hours upon hours for weeks. And one of the most haunting photos from that trial and from Texas politics in modern history is her at her desk during that trial and was very publicly supportive of him throughout all of that. And so it is kind of, you know, the statement did say there are basically new things that have come to light in their marriage that has caused her to move forward with this. move forward with this, but it's not like this couple has not weathered unbelievable storms before and she has remained in the marriage. And I just think back to that photo and what that looks like.

And I think it would be an understatement to say, you know, we were surprised seeing that news story break. It was an unbelievable surprise. The timing of it is very interesting in the middle of a Senate campaign. Just very interesting all around and to like, the attorney general statement in response really cited political pressure and scrutiny. Whereas the filing and what the Senator has said is very different from that. So just lots to consider and encourage folks to go read Cameron's reporting here. But really, I mean, the stroke last Thursday and it was really quite a, the day changed very quickly after this story broke in terms of how we were approaching everything we were doing that day. Really wild to watch. But yeah, go read Cameron's reporting. We also have great reporting of the impeachment and encourage folks to go check that out if you are rusty on all that entailed.

From a political perspective, it's very, it's still impacting what's happening in Texas politics at large and specifically Republican Party politics in the state today. So go check out that reporting at protects some news. Mary Elise, we're going to come to you. Let's talk about the Attorney General in a different context here. He released information on several indictments and arrests made related to election fraud. One issue that he is intimately familiar with and advocating for not advocating for election fraud. And before we go public with that, that is not what I mean. But the election integrity unit he has within his office.

And this list included some notable names. Give us those details. Yeah, well, if this isn't just a classic example of the news cycle marching on, I mean, this, you know, the divorce was the hot topic for Texas news just a couple of days ago. And I mean, this hasn't garnered quite the same amount of attention, but you know, the political cycle keeps marching on the news cycle. So he released, Ken Paxton released information on the arrests and indictments of nine different individuals. This is following an investigation that he kicked off in 2022 that we've been following

over at the Texan. It's been a few different times where he came out with information on, okay, these are folks that we are that we're charging with this with different forms of tampering with elections or different forms of voter fraud. So there are definitely some interesting names. One included a former mayor, Friar County Commissioner, and then a trustee of the personal ISD board. So not just random citizens, although it's still a serious crime,

but it's pretty notable. One was Chief of Staff to State Representative Liz Campos, so her Chief of Staff, Manuel Medina, and that was on two counts of vote harvesting. And then there's Cecilia Casalano, who is a former candidate for House District 80, and also is somebody that's been kind of a name thrown around to watch running for HD 80 again come the 2026 election cycle and then we also saw charges given to former Dilley mayor Marianne O'Bregan. So there were different charges given to these different folks there is the individuals who got one count of vote harvesting were Friar County Commissioner

and then former personal City Council candidate and then the personal ISD Board Trustee I mentioned and then two other individuals who are not serving any form of public office. And then the former Dilley City Council member, Enelda Rodriguez received three counts of vote harvesting. And so we heard back in November 2024 from Paxton that he had executed multiple search warrants that were the result of this investigation he kicked off in 2022. Just this multi-year election integrity investigation launched by attorney general's office.

Um, and so the reason they kicked this off in 2022 was they received, uh, multiple allegations, um, concerns about election fraud and vote harvesting that were allegedly going on during, uh, elections in 2022. Um, and then back in another story we covered related to this was in May 1st, Paxton announced the indictment of six different individuals in Frio County. And four of them were elected officials. We covered that in the weekly roundup. Pretty notable when it's an elected official,

it's of course, it's still a crime regardless, but it's the most newsworthy when you see, okay, we've got an elected official that is being charged with tampering with our elections. And of course, with the way the election integrity has really taken a front seat in our legislative conversations recently. This just brings that up right back again. Paxton said when he announced these indictments, he said, let me be crystal clear. The integrity of our elections is a bedrock of our democratic process, and any elected official trying to cheat the system will have to answer for it. He said, under my watch, attempts to rig elections and silence the will of voters will be met

with the full force of the law. And since this has been an investigation going on since 2022, I'm sure that we will keep seeing more arrests and indictments being made. I mean, we had the ones back in May. Now we've got this batch of nine individuals. So we'll keep following that and seeing who are these folks that they're finding in this investigation and just where does this where does this land in the end once investigation is finished. Absolutely very notable names and like you said could affect

how folks are well one whether they're eligible to run for office as some of these names have been floated but very interesting to watch all of this and the downstream effects for some of these races. So Mary Elise, thank you for your coverage. Cameron, let's talk about a story that has certainly taken up most of the oxygen on the federal level in so many ways. And here in Texas, Representative Mark Vesey, a congressman, introduced a resolution to release documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. Tell us about this. This has dominated my timeline over the past week. All this comes on the heels of a report from Axios, which obtained a U.S. Justice Department and FBI memo that found there was no evidence that Jeffrey Epstein kept a quote, client list or quote, blackmailed prominent individuals. It also concluded that he quote, committed suicide. I say that in

quotes for the reason that those three things have been the impetus for much of the discussion over the past few days regarding the want from these, not just members of the Republican base or MAGA base for wanting a release of documents, because what we've seen related to Jeffrey Epstein is lots of, you could say, conspiracies floated around. And people believe that there are documents being hidden from the public. Well, we've seen a number of congressmen get on board with this call for transparency, one of them being Mark

Veazey. He said on social media that he was planning to introduce a resolution. He ended up doing that. We haven't seen movement on his resolution, but we have seen some of these procedural votes to get these resolutions to the floor blocked by Republicans in Congress, which has upset many on social media wanting the release of Jeffrey Epstein documents. And I don't need to run through for our audience everything related to Jeffrey Epstein and the prior convictions and all the information swirling around his involvement with many different operations around the world. So this is just a very interesting story in regards to how it highlights the differences of opinion between the base of voters in the Republican Party and then now the current Trump

administration who is not being very receptive let's say to the release of these documents. President Donald Trump himself has been asked on multiple occasions about releasing documents. He has called it a hoax and said things are made up in these documents and it would harm certain people potentially if they were released and things of that nature. So just a very, very interesting, not just a story

Just a very interesting, not just a story about how there is this big, there's this gulf that is widening between what the base wants and what the administration wants to do, but also highlighting the fact that these documents have been available to the federal government to release for almost 10 years now, and they haven't released them. This is just the first time we've seen a lot of energy getting behind wanting the release of these documents and seeing public pushback by the current administration to do that. So, yeah, just a very interesting story, social story, cultural story, but also a story about intelligence agencies and federal government and transparency issues. So it's a complex issue. Absolutely. And it's partisan politics meets campaign promises, meets all sorts of different

things. So we'll keep an eye on what this revolution looks to do in Congress here. But Cameron, thank you for that coverage. Mary Elise, we were talking about the attorney general, Ken Paxson, running for US Senate. And obviously a lot of our attention has been on the Republicans who've entered the race. It's a pretty broad field now at this point with some high profile names. And now we have a similar candidate jumping in on the Democratic side. Walk us through that. Yes.

So state Senator Nathan Johnson announced on Tuesday morning that he would be running for attorney general, Texas attorney general, as Ken Paxton aims for U.S. Senate. There are three things that he specifically highlighted when he was talking about his experience. Three things he highlighted that will make him a good attorney general. He was saying that he's had a significant role in increasing the state's Medicaid coverage. He talked about how he helped to stabilize the power grid after the 2021 winter storm. And then he mentioned protecting taxpayers from large businesses while he's been serving Senate District 16 for the past over six years. He said, Texas stands among the most powerful and important governments in the world. We ought to have a good lawyer, we don't. I'm

running to be Texas's next Attorney General in order to change that. We note a few different aspects of his, notable aspects of his tenure in the legislature in this piece, one of which was that he was one of the state senators who voted to convict Paxton during his 23 impeachment trial. And he's, you know, he's joining a couple of names that we've been talking about extensively on this podcast. The most recent one was his colleague, Republican Senator Joan Huffman, and then there's Senator Mays Middleton and Aaron Reitz, former Department of Justice employee under President Donald

Trump and then he was also former staffer for Paxton and Senator Ted Cruz. Johnson said in his press release that the voters don't want more of the same. The way power is held and used is changing dramatically right now across the country and here at home. Texas needs an attorney general who can meet the moment with strength, strength, independence, and a genuine commitment to serve the people of Texas instead of partisan ideology." He talked about how when he was a member on the Texas Energy Fund Advisory Committee and the Energy Policy Advisory Council after the winter storm.

He played a central role, and this is his words, in fortifying the Texas power grid, restructuring energy markets, and then preserving Texans vital renewable energy resources. So Johnson was first elected in 2018 to serve Senate District 16 and he notably flipped the seat against the then state Senator Don Huffins. And something we highlight in this piece too is just, you know, Johnson has filed a total of 433 bills during his tenure and he's had 134 of those signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott. And so he kind of just reiterated in his announcement

that the need for change in the attorney general's urging, kind of tapping into the fact that he's the only prominent Democratic candidate for the Texas Attorney General right now, the way it is currently. And he just talked about that Texas needs and deserves an attorney general who won't take orders from DC or mega donors But who will take on market abuse and political corruption who isn't driven by party shock colors or political ambition But by a commitment to serve the people of the state who uphold our freedoms and protect our rights and who respects and understands the law So this week you'll be a fascinating one to watch in this Texas Attorney General race.

I have yet to see responses from the Republican candidates on him jumping in because we saw when Senator Joan Huffman jumped in, we saw an immediate response from the other candidates. So we'll see how this pans out, of course. But for now, we've got our Democratic candidate for the Texas Attorney General. Absolutely, Mary Elise. Thank you for your coverage. Let's talk about Cameron. The very interesting story broke this week, according to sources that spoke to the New

York Times, the DOJ is going forward in its case against Congressman Henry Cuellar, case we've not heard about for a little while now. So tell us about it. Yeah, this is a story we've been following for a number of years now. Back in 2022, Cuellar's home and campaign office was raided after allegations of financial misconduct. In May, 2024, Cuellar and his wife were indicted for having, quote,

allegedly accepted approximately $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities, an oil and gas company wholly owned and controlled by the government of Azerbaijan and a bank headquartered in Mexico City. So some big allegations there. We also saw two political consultants involved with Cuellar pleading guilty to conspiracy charges days after the DOJ indictment. Third individual was also entered a guilty plea in connection with the ongoing investigation into the congressman. And according to this New York Times reporting, like you mentioned, these were sources that spoke with the New York Times that the DOJ is going to move forward with its case against Cuellar. But they did mention in their reporting that charges related to Cuellar's dealings with

Azerbaijan and Mexican citizens are expected to be withdrawn and What's interesting is that's pertinent because in February President Donald Trump's administration and US Attorney General Pambani issued directives that would limit the extent of enforcement of foreign bribery and lobbying laws and There was reporting at the time that one of Cuellar's lawyers said

that affirms their position in the case, adding that they are evaluating this new policy and assessing the best manner to address it with the DOJ. So what's interesting as well, the Texas Democratic Party has was planning to propose a resolution that would have condemned Cuellar for his quote repeated deflection and disregard for the values of the Texas Democratic Party, but ultimately they withdrew that resolution from consideration. And even though Cuellar has faced mounting criticism from both,

like I mentioned, the federal government with the DOJ and his own state party, he won reelection in 2024. But we will see now that Texas 28th congressional district is on this, quote, target list for the NRCC for these 2026 midterms so lots of public attention legal attention being paid to Cuellar and now the Republican congressional committee is seeing his see as being something that is up for grabs. So, um, more to, more to come here on, on this story related to Quay are.

Cameron, thank you for your coverage. Probably quickly, I want you to run through the big takeaways from the latest campaign finance filings that came out this week. Okay. I'll try and be quick. Uh, John Cornyn has eight and a half million cash on hand, Paxton has two and a half million cash on hand. Paxton also has 2.6 million cash on hand in his state account. That's interesting to note and he spent quite a bit of his money that

he reported having spent on legal representation in that state account. Wesley Hunt, who has been flirting with a run, has three million cash on hand and Ronnie Jackson, who has also been flirting with a run, although not as much as Wesley Hunt, has four million cash on hand. Notable that a poll was in the field last week gauging Ronnie Jackson's candidacy against both Cornyn and Paxton and the effect that a Trump endorsement for Jackson would have in that race. I haven't seen the results, but I know the polls in the field. I tweeted about it. Other statewides in the AG's race,

Mays Middleton, he raised 166,000, not a ton, but he did loan himself $10 million. Aaron Wright's raised $2 million. He has about 2 million cash on hand. Pretty notable haul for him. but he did loan himself $10 million. Aaron Wrights raised $2 million. He has about two million cash on hand, pretty notable haul for him, especially as a first time candidate anywhere near this level on a ballot. One of the biggest checks for him came from Jeff Yass, the guy who gave Abbott,

I think the final was what, $12 million for the school choice crusade. Senator Joan Huffman raised $763,000. She has a few million cash on hand. And then Nathan Johnson, who Mary Elise just talked about raised $435,000 cash on hand. Notably Joe Jaworski, who ran for AG last time around is back in the race. He announced this morning On I missed this section but Abbott and Patrick post really big hauls again Abbott raised 20 million dollars 87 million dollars cash on hand Notable Justin Miller from the Texas Texas Observer pointed this out

He earned 20 million dollars in investment returns So he invested a bunch of his money and he earned 20 million extra dollars with that At least according to the filings and what Miller found so that's insane Patrick raised five million dollars has 37 million cash on hand, you know, there's been long been talk about Patrick not running for reelection. It's all been speculation and I think this fundraising hall shows that he is going to run for reelection though. Who knows that could change? I don't know. Speaker Burroughs raised a million dollars. Notable expenditure in there. He paid $200,000 for legal defense to Eric Opiella. Eric Opiella is a Republican attorney

who's been traveling around defending members of the Texas House Republicans who've been presented with censure resolutions. So it looks like the Speaker is paying for that. On behalf of his members, Mark LaHood, he notably out raised the speaker, raised 1.2 million dollars from what I've seen, that's the biggest haul in the entire house. That was quite notable. Comptroller's raised, Don Huffins has 14 million dollars cash on hand, he raised 3 million dollars from his brother and he gave himself a $10 million loan. Self-funding for the Huffins is, is part of the course and they are doing it prolifically in this race. Chrissy Kratik actually raised the most amount of money outside of her family.

Um, raised $2.8 million. Uh, she has 3.2 million cash on hand. And then Kelly Hancock, the latest entry into the race, who is now acting comptroller, raised $1.5 million, $6 million cash on hand. In the Ag Commissioner's race, Sid Miller posted a paltry $70,000 raised. He has $37,000 cash on hand. We've seen this developing for a while. It seems like he's getting boxed out of a lot of fundraising from other statewides He has ruffled a lot of feathers including

Governor Greg Abbott who clearly is the biggest fundraiser in the entire state Nathan Sheets his opponent Who there's actually really interesting interview I recommend you go listen to it on current revolt Tony Ortiz interviewed Sheets about why he got in the race and had a very interesting tidbit of information for why he jumped in. Sheets raised 400k, some of that is his own self-funding. He's very wealthy, he can self-fund his entire campaign if he wanted to. We might see more of that. Miscellaneous items, Texans United for Conservative Majority, that's the Tim Dunn funded apparatus. $5.1 million

in this filing report from Tim Dunn, so that's going to be something to watch. That's more than I've seen, not in the totality of him giving to this group, but any one chunk so How where and how is that deployed that's gonna be fascinating to watch Kind of continue a continuation of the 2024 Primary at least an aspect of it then we have my my favorite topic that I talked about anytime I can the TLR versus the trial lawyers fight. We talked about this before, I think, but now we see it on paper.

Texans for Truth and Liberty, that's the Arnold and Nick Kinn funded PAC. They put $10 million of their own money into this PAC that they're going to then dole out. I think we had talked about that before, the amount of money that they're putting into that, but now we see it for sure. It was $10 million. That's gonna play a big role. They gave Mark Lohde $200,000 and Mitch Little $100,000.

Both of those members played a big role in ultimately tanking the nuclear verdicts bill that TLR wanted through the process. So they're getting rewarded for that. Another group that is on that side of the ledger, Coalition for Working Families PAC, they raised $1.6 million. They're going to play a role in this. We're kind of seeing that the trial lawyers

compete with TLR on the aggregate. You know, there's a bunch of different groups putting money in because no one group can compete on their own with the amount of money that TLR has, but they might make up for it in total. And so they're going to stack all this money on top of each other. Can I just ask a quick question? Is there any campaign finance laws? that prohibit packs from coordinating Even though they might be separate but coordinating on issues. I'm just not sure I don't know about that Yeah, good question because I you can't well

That's a super pack at the federal level. I don't know if there's a state level prohibition on that. Yeah, I just don't know if like all these separate PACs are like on a long text, you know, thread together like, all right guys, we need XYZ to do this or we need someone to put in a certain amount of money and they're just coordinating together to fight back. Oh yeah, that happens, that happens. You know, you see TLR, Associated Republicans of Texas, usually the AVID campaign, they're all working together in most cases. Maybe there's a few cases where they're not aligned,

but generally they are. And they coordinate money that goes where, they vet candidates together, you know, it's a pretty big operation. And so now I think we're seeing that on the other side on this tort reform issue. So TLR, they raised $11 million. One million of that came from Elon Musk. Elon Musk also donated another million dollars to the Judicial Fairness Pack, which was was it's an arm of TLR they use to specifically target judicial

races and they were very successful last year in flipping a lot of seats judicial seats from Democrat to Republican that puts TLR at 37 million dollars cash on hand that's a massive amount of money. Obviously only Abbott and Patrick can compete with that. They gave $245,000 to Jeff Leach who carried the bill in the House or not carried, was the chairman of the committee through which it went. He's a big player in this. And then last one I'll add is the Agave Democratic Infrastructure Fund raised 1.1 million dollars, which is a new pack created by Luke Warford, former candidate for Railroad Commission. Them, along with a few other groups, are going to try and spur some sort of democratic movement

in the state. And we'll see if that happens. But they've got some money behind them. So there we go. I hope that was fast enough, Mackenzie. That was as fast as I expected you to go when I said please be fast. So I'll take it. I'll take it.

Let's hit one more story before we went to our Twitter section here. We have a lot more at the Texan.News. So folks, any stories we did not get to, just go read our coverage, subscribe, get access, go and make that happen. But Cameron, there's a new execution date for Death Row inmate Robert Roverson. We've been waiting for developments in this story for a long time now, just to kind of see where things were headed, Give us the rundown. Yeah, Judge Austin Reed Jackson has set the new execution date for October 16th. And this is 364 days after the July 16th, or the initial date back in last time the execution date came up and Uh as as everyone knows, uh, we've been covering this issue

uh extensively all the legal maneuvers and Appeals and rulings and opinions that have come out regarding robber roberson. I encourage everyone to go Read our coverage in the past. I include some of that in this latest update. But this is the first development we've seen in a month or so. And yeah, I'm sure there's going to be another appeal, but this is just the latest update, the new execution date. There we go. Cameron, thank you.

And folks, Cameron's been following this from the get-go even before it was a national story. So I'd encourage folks to go check out his coverage from start to finish. Let's move on to our Tweetery section here, which, you know, I think is even more high stakes than usual and that we are being rated on Twitter according to how engaging and Texan and fun

and just subjectively appreciated our Tweetery, each of our individual Tweetery choices are by three several days on Twitter, our favorite TexLedge anonymous account. So you know, the stakes just continue to get higher and higher, I'll say. Brad, why don't we start with you? What do you have for us this week? Well, I could have pandered and gone with three several days as tweet at me earlier today Insulting me for my my golf swing Rather Bryson DeChambeau's golf swing at the open which is happening right now and Scottie Scheffler's in the mix by the way I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that. Okay, Scottie Scheffler's

Like press conference clip that went viral this week was one of the best things. Yeah by the way I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that. Okay Scotty Scheffler's like press conference clip that went viral this week was one of the best things. Yeah I just loved it. It was really good but instead of pandering I will not pander because I have some sort of self-respect and I will go with the announcement that Maya Lesnar, Brock Lesnar's daughter, who is a pretty successful, I believe, track and fields, specifically field thrower in college, she got married to an NFL linebacker from the San Francisco 49ers.

I think his name is Drew Moss. Wow. I never heard of the guy, but you look at the photo and he's an absolute hoss of an individual and she is Brock Lesnar's daughter. Yeah. So she is not tiny, but the tweet that stuck out to me was some rando said of their their wedding photo every NFL recruiter is setting an 18 year reminder for that inevitable child and the athletic beast that he will surely be. Oh my gosh. So, there you go.

Or she. He or she. Either way you gotta do one after the other. She's not gonna play in the NFL. So that wouldn't matter for NFL. Well for NFL. I'm trapped. Every NFL recruiter. Excuse me. Open your ears. Thanks for that Bradley.

I needed to be reminded about how that works. Oh, you're done? Yeah. I finished. Well, you did a great job. Cameron, let's go to you. So there has been so much focus after the 2024 election that it was the podcasters that put Trump in office. And so the Democrats have been trying to search for who's going to be their Joe Rogan, because

the Democrats, they blamed Joe Rogan and Tim Dillon and Andrew Schultz for giving a platform to Donald Trump and JD Vance to talk. And they think that's what swung the election. So they've been searching. Who's going to be the liberal Joe Rogan? Well, in semaphore, they are reporting here that Jamie Harrison, former party chair, is going to be launching At Our Table. It's an interview show he's recording. Going to be having guests like Tim Walz, the Maryland Governor, Westmore, South Carolina Kingmaker and Harrison mentor, James Clyburn and Hunter Biden.

And I just think this is interesting strategy. I wrote a newsletter about how the Democrat Party's pumping millions of dollars into reinvigorating a social media campaign targeting young men to try and bring them back to the Democrat Party, but it just all seems way too forced. And what, at least in my analysis, when I look at the podcast scene and what makes people popular and what attracts young men to these certain podcast hosts is authenticity.

It's something that grew organically, their popularity. It wasn't they were specifically political. In other words, Cameron, you can make Fetch happen. You can't. And starting up a podcast with the intention of it being a counterbalance to Joe Rogan, it just doesn't work. Another example is the Democrat Party has started up like a YouTube channel where they do like daily news and it hardly breaks a thousand views so This the strategy of deliberately going after a certain demographic

And on social media just hasn't panned out for the Democrat Party so far It needs to come organically some way. You know, an existing host or someone coming out. Well, that's the thing. Like, it seems as though they think they need to tailor a podcast to a specific demographic and on specific issues but is in a way the issues that they're focused on have turned people that were already on their side away from them so it seems like it's a policy issue thing not right not a demographic reach issue so I just thought I'd bring that up on a podcast talking about podcasts.

Well, also, speaking of Joe Rogan, we're waiting for the James Tallarico episode. Yeah, what is it? I've been waiting every day at noon and it hasn't come yet. I'm excited for that. That'll be fascinating. Yeah. Yeah. Well, this is the thing too about Joe Rogan is he's not a combative host either.

Like if his guest says something he usually agrees with their opinion or add something to it to keep the conversation going. And so it would be interesting to see some of the opinions that we've seen here in Texas following the text ledge and we know who James Talarico is and how some of his positions are quite opposite of Donald Trump. And people are saying online that Joe Rogan is this huge Trump's awarder, but maybe when this Talarico conversation comes out and they see Joe Rogan agreeing with Tau Rico on some of the things that he says that might change people's opinion about Joe Rogan, or maybe at least open their eyes to see,

okay, this is not a ideologically driven person. You know, it's just a podcast. So it was the comedian UFC compensator. So I just thought I'd bring that up. Thought it was interesting. Oh, for sure. And somebody who for a long time has claimed to be liberal and, um, obviously he's gone through his own dissertation of where he's at politically and did

support Trump in the past election, but that's what makes it so unique. Right. So very interesting all around. Mary-Lise, what do you have for us? Okay, so I think I'm going to go with, I had two options here, but I'm going to go with the comedian related one, Shane Gillis. I don't know if y'all saw some of his lines. I think it was last night at the ESPYs. Yeah, it was pretty hilarious. He made a plethora of comments, but one of the, some of them people thought were funnier than others, which of course is just gonna happen when you're a comedian up on a stage, especially when you're talking to a bunch of celebrities

and you're cracking very specific jokes that hit kind of close to home But one of the he he cracked a joke about the WNBA and then but he also Mentioned Epstein and that one got some mixed responses like at first it seems though. Everybody was laughing really hard He said oh there was an Epstein joke on here, but it got deleted everyone laughed And then he said, or maybe deleted itself. And then I think he got some mixed responses there. But it's interesting to see politics kind of these topics that are like these political, these political hot topics right now, especially with this,

because so many more people are invested in this, I think than your average political news cycle. And then to see it kind of make its way into comedy, especially with someone like Shane Gillis delivering it. He's just a hoot. I think he's amazing at what he does because he's so incredibly awkward. And I think that makes for a really good comedian and yeah so just Shane Gillis he's the in case you haven't heard of him before you've

probably heard of the couple of beers commercial that's Shane Gillis's masterpiece one of his one of his jokes that was really funny was he pointed out some random woman and said she was a multi-time and WNBA All-Star and everyone applauded. And he's like, I'm just kidding, that's my friend's wife. I knew none of you knew any WNBA players. And then he caught the whole crowd just like, oh, clapping and stuff, pretending as though they knew who she was.

And she was just losing it. He also the entire monologue was like leaning into the fact which I don't know, it seemed that way based on like the, you know, video footage, but obviously we weren't there. But he was leaning into the fact that he's like, you guys hate me. Like the entire time just kept being like, you guys really hate me. Or let's see if this one goes over better. He was constantly commentating on the responses from the crowd, which I thought was really interesting. Yeah, like you said, Mary Elise, he leans into the awkwardness and it was just very

interesting dynamic all around, especially in a room like that where it's athletes. It's not Hollywood, it's athletes. And so it's just interesting to kind of gauge the reactions from different crowds. Yeah, it's a great one. I wanted to quickly talk about something that caught my eye this week from the Department of Homeland Security. It reads, illegal aliens, take a page from ET and phone home. If you are here illegally, leave now the easiest way using the CBP home app. This literally sounds like some like HGTV commercial. You'll receive travel assistance and a stipend to return to your home country. And the graphic attached to this tweet is a photo that that famous scene from ET with the bike going over the moon, ET in the basket,

saying even ET knew when it was time to go home. Take control of your departure using the CDPHome app. Like this is real. This is a government agency tweeting this out and making it basically like tweeting this out and making it basically like, like advertising or promoting their platform to get people out of the country they don't want here. It's wild. But I came across my homepage and I thought it was satire, but no, it's literally at DHS gov. I think there are social media interns for the various agencies and for the White House are probably

just having so much fun. I would love to kind of be a fly on the wall in those offices and see how this goes down, how these things get approved and created. Oh my gosh, 100%. Obviously, there's more leniency in some ways. And we have seen this with previous administrations, even Democrat administrations. I think there's success for posts like these when they just have sick like engagement and success period But it's wild. It still is so wild

posters in charge Very very interesting Okay. Well folks, um, I think that wraps up this episode of the weekly roundup We appreciate you tuning in each and every week to hear us blather about the news. Catch us next week. Bradley, anything to end? You won't be here next week. Maybe possibly. We'll see. Some changes. We'll see.

Mac's getting fired. Something like that. something like that. Every single, do we already say this on the podcast or have you been texting me every single morning? No, we haven't said on the podcast. Brad has made it his rhythm every morning to say, have you popped yet? And every morning I have not.

And so that reminder is just very welcome. I'm just making sure, you know, this is going to affect me quite a bit. So I just want to make sure I'm ready. Yeah, it actually will. So good luck, me amigo. Folks, thanks for listening and we'll catch you next week. Thank you to everyone for listening. If you enjoy our show, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you

listen to podcasts. And if you want more of our stories, subscribe to The Texan at thetexan.news. Follow us on social media for the latest in Texas politics. And send any questions for our team to our mailbag by DMing us on Twitter or shooting us an email to editor at thetexan.news. Tune in next week for another episode of our weekly roundup. God bless you and God bless Texas.