The Blast - July 11, 2025

4 days until the TEC and FEC filing deadlines
10 days until the first special session

IN TODAY’S BLAST

• Trump endorses House members, officially

• Paxton divorce puts Senate race in frame

• Trump bats down flood concerns

TRUMP ENDORSES HOUSE MEMBERS, OFFICIALLY

President Donald Trump is beginning to officially roll out his endorsements of Texas House Republicans, undercutting the Texas GOP’s effort to kick some members off the ballot over questions of party loyalty.

In the run-up to the House vote on school vouchers, Trump called into a Texas House Republican Caucus meeting with Gov. Greg Abbott, where the president promised to endorse everyone who voted for the education savings account program. Since then, members of the caucus have been touting their endorsements — particularly those who are facing censures.

Under the Texas GOP rules, the party can block censured members from the primary ballot, a measure Chair Abraham George says is about accountability.

A task force will present the State Republican Executive Committee with a list of censurable offenses for county parties to include in their censure resolutions at its Aug. 9 meeting. The county parties must complete and return censures to the SREC by Sept. 6. The SREC will then have a marathon day of censure votes in October.

Last month, the Texas GOP adopted a resolution asking Trump to hold off on endorsing candidates until the beginning of the 2026 candidate filing period on Nov. 8, citing the substantial influence of the president’s endorsement on primary voters. The following week, George tried to level with Trump in a 4½-minute face to camera video.

“Yes, we agree, school choice is and was essential, but many of these same individuals have fought against you for years,” George said. “Some of them are ‘Never Trumpers.’ They are career politicians who do not reflect the conservative values, and they don’t belong on the Republican ballot without some scrutiny.”

Thirty-six Republicans voted for Dustin Burrows for House speaker, representing the upper bound of who could be censured. Only two of those didn’t vote for the voucher bill, therefore missing out on Trump’s endorsement.

Members — Burrows supporters and critics alike — began sharing the endorsements on Wednesday evening. The endorsements came in the form of a letter paid for by the Trump-affiliated Never Surrender PAC.

Reps. Cody Harris of Palestine, John McQueeney of Fort Worth and Angelia Orr of Itasca were among those who touted the endorsement, all of whom have censures in the works against them.

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PAXTON DIVORCE PUTS SENATE RACE IN FRAME

State Sen. Angela Paxton has filed for a divorce from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and the AG’s critics have already pounced on the news.

The senator says she filed for divorce “on biblical grounds” in “light of recent discoveries.” She didn’t go into details about her recent findings, but biblical grounds for divorce essentially comes down to cheating.

The public has known about the attorney general’s extramarital affair with Laura Olson since 2020 — his staff have known longer. The public has also known about his legal woes for nearly a decade, since he was charged with securities fraud on July 31, 2015. Sen. Paxton stayed with the AG through it all, his impeachment trial and every other public airing of his dirty laundry.

But her decision to split, first reported by The Texas Newsroom’s Lauren McGaughy, comes as the attorney general is in the throes of his primary challenge against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, and every poll shows Paxton leading that race. There’s no separating the divorce proceedings from the primary.

“What Ken Paxton has put his family through is truly repulsive and disgusting,” posted National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez, whose organization is backing the incumbent, Cornyn. “No one should have to endure what Angela Paxton has, and we pray for her as she chooses to stand up for herself and her family during this difficult time.”

“Ken Paxton is morally unfit to hold office. He cannot be the next U.S. senator from Texas,” posted former Tyler state Rep. Matt Schaefer, who led the conservative Texas House Freedom Caucus.

He followed that up with, “I’m not voting for Cornyn.”

With “19-0” Cornyn detested by the most vocal GOP voters and others morally opposed to Paxton, there could be room for a third candidate. U.S. Reps. Wesley Hunt of Houston and Ronny Jackson of Amarillo have both expressed interest in running for the Senate.

This week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the Senate Leadership Fund, both of whom are supporting their incumbent, spoke with President Donald Trump about the Cornyn-Paxton primary, a source briefed on the conversation confirmed to The Blast. The White House declined to weigh in yet on the primary.

However, Cornyn already has Trump’s pollster, Tony Fabrizio, on his team, as well as Trump-tied Andy Hemming as his campaign manager.

Earlier this month, the SLR announced that it and the leadership-affiliated One Nation group raised a record $85 million in the first half of 2025. And today, a new committee called Secure the U.S. Senate 2026 filed paperwork to jointly support Cornyn and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

TRUMP BATS DOWN FLOOD CONCERNS

President Donald Trump surveyed the flood damage in the Hill Country today and had words for reporters and Democrats who question how prepared and how much warning people in the flood’s path had.

The first question during the press conference came from CBS Texas, whose reporter asked about what to say to families who are upset because warnings didn’t go out in time. Trump said only a bad and evil person would ask a question like that.

“This has been incredible, really, the job you’ve all done,” the president said, addressing rescue crews. “It’s easy to sit back and say, ‘Oh, what could have happened here or there?’ you know? ‘Maybe we could have done something differently.’”

Every subsequent individual who asked a question praised the president or criticized Democrats and the media for fundraising and pointing fingers.

“They have automatic — they have their soundbite,” Trump said of Democrats. “They send out a soundbite and you’re supposed to say that, and if you don’t say that, they throw you out of the party.”

“When you see 26 feet of water rising a foot per minute, don’t go around pointing fingers,” U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, added.

Speaking on CNN after the press conference, Texas House Democratic Leader Gene Wu of Houston said the survivors’ pointed questions, as relayed by reporters, aren’t new along the flood-prone Guadalupe River.

“I know there’s a future time to have questions answered,” Wu said, “but to call parents who are asking these tough questions losers, it just compounds the pain that the governor is causing.”

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• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows have created select committees on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding for their respective chambers. Each will appoint nine members, the names of whom are still to come. The committees will have a joint meeting on July 23. Patrick said the committees will hold a hearing in Kerrville the following week.

• Patrick and Burrows “have prioritized redistricting legislation” for the upcoming special session, per a joint press release.

Next week:

• The House Natural Resources Committee will meet at 1 p.m. on Tuesday to hear invited testimony about groundwater production in the Neches and Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District.

View the full list of upcoming committee notices here and here.

• TX-SEN: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton raised $2.9 million in the first 12 weeks of his Senate primary campaign against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. Story here. Meanwhile, the Tribune’s Owen Dahlkamp confirms that the pro-Paxton Lone Star Liberty PAC raised $1.85 million in Q2.

• TX-SEN cont’d: Former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, appeared on the NFL Players: Second Acts podcast in an interview released on Wednesday but filmed in May. He was also in Houston yesterday for a kickoff rally for Blue Texas, a statewide organizing program from Texas Majority PAC and the Texas Democratic Party.

• TX-SEN, again: A National Republican Senatorial Committee poll this week had U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas leading former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of El Paso and Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio in a prospective Democratic primary with 35% — potentially a nudge to the controversial Crockett to get her in the race. “Depending on how many people reach out, we’ll determine if there’s something to actually consider,” Crockett told The Daily Caller’s Adam Pack. “But as of now, I am proudly serving Texas 30th congressional district.”

• TX-02: State Rep. Steve Toth, R-Conroe, has officially filed to challenge U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Spring. Toth’s announcement is expected on Tuesday.

• MI-07: Josh Cowen, a Michigan State University professor of education policy who has testified before the Texas Legislature against school vouchers, is challenging freshman Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett in his swing district.

• The Texas Ethics Commission today ordered Tony Buzbee-tied political operative Daysi Marin pay $12,438 for failing to name a campaign treasurer and running ads opposing Houston City Council member Mary Nan Huffman during Buzbee’s campaign challenging her in 2023. Marin was the registered agent for the Houston Hispanic Political Action Committee, which sent mailers boosting a long-shot candidate, as covered by the Houston Chronicle. According to IMDb, Marin and her husband were producers on Buzbee’s unaired food series, “Tony Buzbee Uninvited.”

• Taral Patel, the former chief of staff to embattled Fort Bend County Judge KP George, faces no more penalty from the TEC after he was sentenced to 24 months’ probation and 200 hours of community service for posting fake racist social media posts in George’s replies.

• We warned y’all to be on the lookout for an Alligator Alcatraz copycat. From attorney general candidate Aaron Reitz: “When I’m AG, and we build Texas’s (bigger, better) version of Alligator Alcatraz, what should we call it?”

• Quorum Report’s Scott Braddock says he won’t be on the Texas Take podcast anymore, saying that his “former co-host, Jeremy Wallace, has become increasingly hostile to the insider crowd in Austin. In other words: You.”

Do you or someone in your office have a new job you’d like mentioned? Email us.

• J.R. Johnson, the former executive director and general counsel of the Texas Ethics Commission, has joined Butler Snow in the firm’s Austin office as a member of its specialized advocacy team.

• Texas Tech University System Chancellor Ted Mitchell announced his plans to retire by the end of the year. Story here.

“Texas leaders have repeatedly claimed the state’s voting maps are race blind. Until the Trump DOJ disagreed.” by Eleanor Klibanoff and Gabby Birenbaum of The Texas Tribune

“Can sirens help save lives in the next flood? Yes, but there’s more to it.” by Emily Foxhall of The Texas Tribune

“Austin fighters OK no-confidence resolution against chief over apparent delayed flood response” by Austin Sanders of the Austin American-Statesman

Do you or someone in your office have a birthday you’d like mentioned? Email us.

(July 13) State Rep. Sam Harless, R-Spring

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