“Donald Trump’s letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) demanding he pursue an ‘audit’ of the 2020 election set off a ‘mad dash’ in the governor’s office as aides sought to figure out just how serious the former president was,” Politico reports.
“The scramble among Abbott’s team to placate the president illustrated the degree to which Trump and his election conspiracies continue to set the rules of engagement for virtually all other GOP elected officials.”
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) put out a statement calling on his former boss Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) to resign immediately after allegations of bribery and abuse of his office.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) “issued an order Thursday requiring counties to close multiple locations where voters can drop off completed mail-in ballots,” the Austin American Statesman reports.
“As an election security measure, counties will be limited to one dropoff site where poll watchers — designated by political parties and candidates — must be allowed to observe ballot deliveries by voters.”
“Texas Republicans warn the traditionally red battleground is on the verge of turning blue and fear Joe Biden will answer the Trump campaign’s dare to sink major resources into flipping the state’s crucial 38 Electoral College votes,” the Washington Examiner reports.
“The Trump campaign is scoffing at polls showing the president and the presumptive Democratic nominee tied, taunting Biden that he should waste money in a futile bid for an expensive state with 20 media markets. That cavalier attitude concerns veteran Republican insiders. Trump is underwater in the suburbs, and party strategists caution a sizable investment in communities ringing Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio could push Biden past the incumbent and tank Republicans down ballot.”
“Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced that he will pause any further phases of reopening Texas and that he is once again putting a stop to elective surgeries to preserve bed space for coronavirus patients in certain counties,” the Texas Tribune reports.
“Texas health authorities said there are currently 2,153 patients sickened with Covid-19 across its hospitals, marking the third-straight day Wednesday of record-breaking coronavirus hospitalizations in the state,” CNBC reports.
“The steady rise in coronavirus hospitalizations in Texas will likely add to scrutiny from some U.S. lawmakers and infectious disease experts that some states opened businesses too early as the virus continues to spread throughout parts of the country.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has made it plain that Texas is her top target for the 2020 elections, will appear as the “special guest” of the Texas Democratic Party’s State Convention next week, the Austin American-Statesman reports.
Said Pelosi: “As I’ve stated previously, Texas is ground zero for this election.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said the state will reject the resettlement of new refugees, becoming the first state known to do so under a recent Trump administration order, the AP reports.
“Deserted by even his staunchest allies, embattled Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen (R) said that he will not seek reelection, the Austin American Statesman reports.
“It was a stunning coda to the long rise and sudden demise of a remarkable Texas politician who, over the course of half his lifetime, went from the youngest member of the House to its speaker before falling victim to his own hubris.”
CNN notes the scandal involved “an audio recording in which he apparently sought help ousting incumbent members of his own party.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) warned that Texas will be “hotly contested” in 2020, Politico reports.
He said that while he had confidence his colleague Sen. John Cornyn and President Trump would win the state, both will face a “serious race.”
Said Cruz: “I think the Texas election in 2018 is powerful foreshadowing for what to expect across the country in 2020. The Democrats in Texas increased their turnout more than 100 percent.”
“Twenty-three Texas towns have been struck by a ‘coordinated’ ransomware attack,” CNBC reports.
“Ransomware is a type of malicious software, often delivered via email, that locks up an organization’s systems until a ransom is paid or files are recovered by other means. In many cases, ransomware significantly damages computer hardware and linked machinery and leads to days or weeks with systems offline, which is why it can be so costly to cities.”
Sean Trende: “It seems a stretch, but remember that Mitt Romney won Texas by 16 points, Donald Trump won by nine, and Cruz won by just three. These are not good trendlines for the GOP. States do shift their partisanship quickly at times. George H.W. Bush won New Hampshire by 26 points in 1988 and New Jersey by 14; in 1996 New Jersey went for Clinton by 18 points, while New Hampshire was a 10-point Clinton win. That same year, West Virginia was a 15-point Clinton win; eight years later George W. Bush won it by 13.”
“We might write off 2018 to the bad GOP year and Cruz’s unpopularity. But that requires ignoring some substantial evidence to the contrary. One has to ignore that John McCain won the state by double digits in a 2008 environment that was probably even worse for the GOP than 2018, while John Cornyn won re-election against a hyped Democratic opponent handily.”
“Most importantly, one has to ignore the nature of political coalitions in the Age of Trump. Trump has generally improved GOP fortunes in rural American and in the towns, and in states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio, all of which has generally helped the Republican Party. But there is little doubt that the GOP has suffered substantial losses in the suburban areas that once formed the backbone of the party while doing little to advance its cause in the major cities.”
Texas Speaker Dennis Bonnen (R) apologized to his 149 colleagues for “terrible things” he said about some of them, the Dallas Morning News reports.
Said Bonnen: “I said terrible things that are embarrassing to the members, to the House, and to me personally. You know me well enough to know I say things with no filter.”
Direct Action Texas transcribed an audio tape with some of those “terrible things.”
“Republicans have long idealized Texas as a deep-red frontier state, home to rural conservatives who love President Trump. But political turbulence in the sprawling suburbs and fast-growing cities are turning the Lone Star State into a possible 2020 battleground,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): “The president’s reelection campaign needs to take Texas seriously.”
“For a state that once elevated the Bush family and was forged into a Republican stronghold by Karl Rove, it is an increasingly uncertain time. Changing demographics and a wave of liberal activism have given new hope to Democrats, who have not won a statewide elective office since 1994 or Texas’s presidential vote since Jimmy Carter in 1976.”
A new University of Texas poll finds Beto O’Rourke leads the Democratic presidential field in his home state with 27%, followed by Joe Biden at 24%, Bernie Sanders at 15%, Elizabeth Warren at 11%, and Kamala Harris at 9%.
Key takeaway: “Independent Democratic-learners (especially women) are a key to O’Rourke’s success in our poll. When included, these voters expand his lead to 38% among primary voters (with Joe Biden receiving 19% support), though they are also the least likely to be enthusiastic about participating in the March primary (only 19% are “very” or “somewhat” enthusiastic about the race).”
Washington Examiner: “Wealthy Republican donors are preparing a multimillion-dollar effort to register more than 1 million new GOP voters in Texas for 2020 amid anxiety that President Trump could be in more trouble in this reliably red state than some in the party realize.”
Embattled Texas Secretary of State David Whitley (R), who had questioned the U.S. citizenship of nearly 100,000 people, “resigned Monday ahead of being forced out of office, stepping down as Republicans went home to defend their vulnerable majority in 2020 rather than try forcing a late vote to save Gov. Greg Abbott’s nominee (R),” the AP reports.
Washington Post: “Whitley, a gubernatorial appointee and former aide to Abbott, spent less than six months overseeing Texas elections. He will leave office best known for the disastrous elections-integrity operation that wrongly identified thousands of naturalized citizens as suspected noncitizens illegally registered to vote.”
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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.