State Rep. Lyle Larson is a lifelong Republican. He represents House District 122, which is in northern Bexar County. Larson has a long record of being a fiscal hawk and a hard-core principled conservative. And that put him at loggerheads with the leadership with the Texas GOP where the word “conservative” has taken on a different meaning.
Larson had a public feud with Gov. Greg Abbott over pay-to-play politics, and that conflict resulted in many of Larson’s bills dealing with water conservation being vetoed.
Larson is not seeking reelection. And he is publicly endorsing the Democrat for Mike Collier for lieutenant governor over Republican incumbent Dan Patrick.
I asked Larson about that decision.
Voters shut out
Early voting begins on Monday for the Nov. 8 election, and it will be the first general election test for the battery of so called “election security” laws passed by the Republican controlled legislature and signed by Abbott.
If the performance during the party primary is an indicator, many Texans who are eligible to vote will not be allowed to cast a ballot.
And most of those shut out voters will be people of color. That’s according to a new report released by the Brennan Center for Justice.
Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the voting rights program at the Brennan Center, explained.
Harris County election monitors
In an unprecedented move, the State of Texas is sending special election monitors to Harris County.
Houston and county officials say they don't trust these monitors. And the Texas Civil Rights Project says there is good reason to suspect this move as being in bad faith.
Joaquin Gonzalez, senior supervising attorney for the Voting Rights program at the Texas Civil Rights Project, has more details.
