Texas Minute: 11/8/2021
Good morning,
There’s a reshuffling in the Texas Legislature, which could provide a prime opportunity for conservatives.
Here is today's Texas Minute.
– Brandon Waltens
• Every election cycle provides an opportunity to reshuffle the proverbial deck of lawmakers in the Texas Legislature.This cycle will be no different, with the addition of the potential to replace many lawmakers who have served for significant periods of time and have consistently been opposed to conservative efforts.
• The Legislature just concluded a regular legislative session earlier this year and three subsequent special legislative sessions with many conservative priorities still left unresolved.
• Republican lawmakers have maintained control over every statewide elected office and the state Legislature for almost two decades. Will the fervor over priority issues ignored by the Legislature (like a prohibition on employer vaccine mandates and true property tax relief) finally reach a fever pitch?
• Thus far, 20 lawmakers have announced they will not be seeking re-election to their current positions. This includes 16 from the House and 4 from the Senate. This represents a potentially significant shuffle in leadership, as some of the lawmakers are current committee chairmen.
• Who has announced they won’t be returning?
• House District 9 Chris Paddie
• House District 13 Ben Leman
• House District 19 James White (Running for Agriculture Commissioner)
• House District 38 Eddie Lucio III
• House District 50 Celia Israel (Running for Austin Mayor)
• House District 61 Phil King (Running for Texas Senate)
• House District 65 Michelle Beckley (Attempted to run for Congress, but dropped that bid as well)
• House District 70 Scott Sanford
• House District 73 Kyle Biedermann
• House District 84 John Frullo
• House District 93 Matt Krause (Running for Attorney General)
• House District 114 John Turner
• House District 122 Lyle Larson
• House District 127 Dan Huberty
• House District 133 Jim Murphy
• Senate District 12 Jane Nelson
• Senate District 24 Dawn Buckingham (Running for Land Commissioner)
• Senate District 27 Eddie Lucio Jr.
• Senate District 31 Kel Seliger
• Barring any successful litigation against the approved new political boundaries, the candidate filing deadline is December 13, 2021, with the primary election date scheduled for March 1, 2022. Any potential primary runoff elections will take place on May 24, 2022. The general election is on November 8, 2022.
• The field of candidates filing to replace both outgoing and current lawmakers continues to grow, setting up some potentially contentious primary elections over the coming months.
Number of the Day
20
The number of currently open seats in the Texas Legislature heading into the 2022 election.
[Source: author calculation]
Today in History
On November 8, 1966, Ronald Reagan was elected governor of California.
Quote-Unquote
“If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
– Ronald Reagan
