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Today’s Stories
GREG ABBOTT, like it or not, got some good news with the latest Texas Tribune poll.
The Governor led the way at 60%, followed by West and Huffines in the mid-teens. Prather/Perry/Undecided rounded out the field.
The Tribune poll leans left, and it’s likely oversampling GOP voters prone to prefer Abbott. Also, this latest poll had noticeably lower immigration numbers. Still, this might not ultimately matter in the context of the 2022 GOP primary:
This 10ish point lead is consistent with other public and private polling from the past month headed into the first day of early voting.
A significant portion of the GOP base is pissed with Abbott, but it’s probably short of the runoff threshold.
From COVID restrictions to private sector vaccine mandates to re-emerging homeless camps to Operation Lone Star, the gripes aren’t getting attached to Abbott. At least, not to the degree necessary.
This is similar to the issues seen in the Attorney General race.
That’s not to say Abbott isn’t weakened. He is, significantly. But for a guy who got 90% in 2018 primary to fall under 50% is a tall order.
Regardless of the outcome of March 1, Texas politics will likely trend rightward for the next several years. (AC)
KEN PAXTON’s legal problems, which have been covered previously, don’t appear to worry the vast majority of primary voters, according to polling from the DMN.
Since the fall, every challenger to Paxton has run on a platform of corruption, but it does not appear to have penetrated or convinced Republican primary voters. The 15% who believe Paxton lacks the integrity to remain in office hasn’t budged since the start of the campaign.
The best-case scenario for conservative Republicans will be for Paxton to face off in a primary against Louie Gohmert.
In other Paxton news, the incumbent announced a lawsuit against Facebook, over the social media giant’s biometric data collection.
According to Paxton’s office, by obtaining this sort of information with “informed consent,” Facebook has violated Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices statutes.
Paxton’s approach to so-called “Big-Tech” stands in contrast with Ted Cruz’s (discussed recently). Where Cruz is working with Democrats to enable the Biden administration to hire more lawyers, Paxton is using existing law to go after current bad behavior.
Paxton’s approach may or may not work, but the potential for unintended negative consequences is much lower. Even in a worst-case scenario, Facebook gets bad publicity and legal bills.
The Trib poll linked above has him in a runoff with Bush in other Paxton news.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ was in San Antonio (pronounced with an over-the-top Spanish accent) and Austin over the weekend.
The visit drew attention for a far-fetched prediction that Texas would turn Blue (heard that before) and an attempted dunk on Ted Cruz that got the Congresswoman busted for mask hypocrisy. Points taken and amplified.
Allow us another observation.
On Sunday afternoon, PushJunction unintentionally wandered upon an unannounced “pop-up” rally the congresswoman held with the local Democrat Socialists of America chapter. It was mostly uninteresting aside from the exceptional whiteness of the crowd.
AOC’s private security guard, a black gentleman, was still masked.
A couple more hypocrisy points:
Defund the police supporter as private security.
The Green New Deal supporter drove off in an SUV. (AC)
DAN CRENSHAW continues to receive unwanted scrutiny. He’ll survive the current primary, but the air visibly escapes the balloon.
Crenshaw is likely to launch an ill-conceived Presidential and U.S. Senate (Cruz can’t run for reelection if he runs for President) campaign in ‘24, which means he’ll be out of public office by ‘25.
ELECTION OFFICIALS who want to repeat the wild west administration of elections in 2020 secured a temporary victory on Friday.
Judge Xavier Rodriguez ruled that parts of SB1 infringe on election officials’ first amendment rights, specifically mailing unsolicited ballots by mail applications.
What if, under similar claims of first amendment violations, county officials being forced to issue gay marriage certificates in violation of their sincerely held religious beliefs stopped and were allowed?
The voting provisions are not vague.
Xavier Rodriguez was issued the temporary injunction was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court by Rick Perry before being appointed to the federal bench by George Bush in 2003.
Hit the Links
Texas national guardsmen: OLS is a waste of time and resources
Gas prices rising amid high demand, global tensions
Ted Cruz perfectly explains why authoritarians hate BITCOIN
Sarah Palin Takes on the New York Times
Thanks for reading
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