Time for the week that was in Texas politics with Alex Samuels, political reporter for The Texas Tribune.
A dozen Democrats are running for a chance to appear on the November ballot with Texas Sen. John Cornyn. One of them, MJ Hegar, got an early endorsement from the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, or DSCC. That’s the political organization charged with electing Democrats to the Senate.
“The move is pretty notable,” Samuels says.
Some other Democrats running in the primary accuse the DSCC of snubbing diverse candidates; Hegar is a white woman. Several of the other candidates in the race are African American and Latino.
In the final hours before last week’s deadline for candidates to file to run in their parties’ primaries, prominent Houston lawyer and Beto O’Rourke advisor, Sima Ladjevardian, announced her candidacy for Congress. She’s running as a Democrat for the seat currently held by Republican Dan Crenshaw. Ladjevardian joins two other Democrats in the primary.
Samuels reported Friday on a group called Women for Trump that’s working to keep the Texas suburbs a GOP stronghold.
“There were about 50 women there,” Samuels says, “and their goal was to spread the gospel of President Trump’s message to these women, and encourage them to take their energy and encourage their friends to go out and vote for President Trump next year.”
Samuels says Texas suburbs have been trending bluer, with several Democrats winning congressional seats away from Republicans in 2018.
Written by Shelly Brisbin.
