Early voting begins Feb. 17
Early voting in the March 3 primary begins Monday, Feb. 17 and concludes on Friday, Feb. 27. A full slate of contested races will be on the ballots in both Republican and Democratic primaries. The deadline to request a mail ballot is Feb. 20, according to votetexas.gov.
Redistricting attracts a spate of GOP candidates
Redrawing the state’s congressional maps, though being challenged in court, has drawn 114 Republican candidates in the state’s 38 districts with nearly two months left until the filing deadline, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Abbott signs voucher bill into law
Voucher bill has backing of House majority
A slim majority of Texas House members have indicated they will back House Bill 3, which creates education savings accounts that allow families to use taxpayer money for private school education. The Dallas Morning News reported that 75 Republican legislators have signed on with the bill’s author, state Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Salado, to support the measure.
Gov. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Patrick say they want to raise teacher pay, but, if finally enacted, SB 2, the voucher bill passed by the Senate, would make it increasingly more difficult for public school classrooms to be adequately funded and public school teachers to be adequately paid.
State Rep. Ken King (R-Canadian) and three other rural Republican representatives—Travis Clardy of Nacogdoches, Drew Darby of San Angelo, and John Raney of College Station—each drew the attention of Texas Monthly in a recent report, titled: “The Rural Republicans Who Defied Greg Abbott and His Billionaire Buddies.”
House kills school choice plan
The Texas House on Friday defeated a proposed voucher plan, also leaving in doubt a comprehensive public school funding plan that became tied to it, The Dallas Morning News reported. A coalition of rural Republicans and Democrats joined together to take education savings accounts out of the bill by an 84-63 margin.
