The Blast - June 6, 2025

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The Blast | Texas Tribune
June 06, 2025

By Renzo Downey and The Texas Tribune Politics Team

1 day until the local election runoffs
16 days until the governor’s veto deadline

IN TODAY’S BLAST

  • Talarico may step up to the plate in 2026

  • TDP chair to O’Hare: “Chickenshit, racist, MAGA bootlicker”

  • Cruz’s front row seat to the Trump-Musk blowup

TALARICO MAY STEP UP TO THE PLATE IN 2026

Texas Democrats’ boy wonder, state Rep. James Talarico, is considering a run for the U.S. Senate.

As reported by Hearst newspapers’ Edward McKinley — on his last day as a journalist — Talarico is seriously considering a bid in what Democrats hope will be a bounceback year.

Talarico, a 36-year-old Austinite serving in his fourth term, has had his name in the mix for several years now. Democrats view him as one of their best messengers, and his social media posts often go viral, reaching beyond normal political circles. He’s been making a lot of calls in recent days, including to national donors.

There’s increased national attention on Texas because if Democrats hope to retake the Senate in 2026, the tipping point could be the Lone Star State. And with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton giving U.S. Sen. John Cornyn a serious contest in the Republican primary, Democrats are dreaming about taking on Paxton and all his baggage at the top of the ticket in a Trump blowback year. The blowback could get worse if the president continues to create economic uncertainty.

But before Talarico can face Cornyn or Paxton, he’ll have to get through the Democratic primary. Former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas is considering another shot at the Senate.

Allred lost to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz by 8.5 points in November — but that was more than 5 points better than Democrats did at the presidential level. Allred received nearly 200,000 more votes than former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Previously, some confidants had suggested that Talarico might sit out 2026. He’s young, he has an influential gig in the Texas House Democratic Caucus and there will be other chances to run again.

But what’s to say Talarico would benefit from more playing time in the minor leagues?

“I think his celebrity is as high as it may ever be right now and it appears to be a good year in ’26,” one Democratic operative told The Blast. “Who knows if those two will ever coincide again.”

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TDP CHAIR TO O’HARE: “CHICKENSHIT, RACIST, MAGA BOOTLICKER”

Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder was a little bit late with his response to the Tarrant County redistricting vote. But the new chair leaned straight into name calling in his public statement today.

The Commissioners Court voted 3-2 on Tuesday to redraw its districts, making Precinct 2 now favorable to Republicans. Retiring state Rep. Tony Tinderholt followed up the vote with plans to run for that district, currently held by Alisa Simmons. Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare says they are redrawing the lines “to get another Republican on the Commissioners Court.”

Calling it a coordinated power grab between O’Hare and Tinderholt, Scudder released a statement this morning calling the new districts “surgical strikes against Black and Hispanic voters.”

“Judge O’Hare, let me make your day… you are a chickenshit, racist, MAGA bootlicker,” Scudder began his quote.

It’s emblematic of the grittier approach the new chair said he would take when he took over a little more than two months ago.

Some county residents are suing and are being represented by former TDP general counsel Chad Dunn. Dunn is an election attorney who stepped down when former TDP Chair Gilberto Hinojosa handed the gavel to Scudder, although Dunn decided to step down before Scudder emerged as the frontrunner to replace him.

Late in the race to succeed Hinojosa, Scudder and his attorney publicly accused Dunn of trying to create confusion after Dunn issued an opinion that Scudder wasn’t eligible to run because of an elected office he held. Although Scudder ultimately resigned his office to put those questions to rest, some Texas Democratic insiders saw Scudder’s response as a reflection of his fitness to lead — or a lack thereof.

But today, to close out his statement, Scudder said the TDP proudly supports the lawsuit.

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CRUZ’S FRONT ROW SEAT TO THE TRUMP-MUSK BLOWUP

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz had a front row seat to yesterday’s falling out between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Sharing the story on his podcast today, Cruz called it an incredibly painful dispute, which comes as the president is trying to pass his “One Big Beautiful Bill” through Congress.

In case you’ve been doing your post-session media detox (yet still reading The Blast for some reason), Musk criticized Trump’s bill for squandering all of his DOGE work, Trump responded by threatening to cut his government contracts and Musk countered by saying he’d decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft program and claiming that Trump is in the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Cruz was sitting in the Oval Office as the tweets and truths started flying, he told his listeners.

“When I was in the Oval, Trump was pissed. He was venting on this topic, and I understand it,” Cruz said, comparing the feud to the Anchorman Ron Burgundy “That escalated quickly” gif.

He likened himself to the kid in a bitter divorce — “I really wish mommy and daddy would stop screaming” — and he implored Trump and Musk to make up. Those celebrating the war of words don’t wish America the best, he said.

“These are two alpha males who are pissed off, and unfortunately they are unloading on each other and I wish that were not the case because I think the country does better when these two amazing heroes are working side by side for the country,” Cruz continued.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed four oil and gas-related bills yesterday during a ceremony in Midland:

  • HB 48 — creating an organized oilfield theft prevention unit in the Department of Public Safety

  • SB 494 — creating a task force on the theft of petroleum products in the Railroad Commission

  • SB 529 — maintaining Midland’s eligibility for hotel and convention center incentives

  • SB 1806 — more DPS tools to combat oil theft

Big news: 20 more speakers join the TribFest lineup!

Texas’ future takes center stage at the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. TribFest brings together Texas’ boldest thinkers and doers for three days of conversations guaranteed to inspire, challenge and surprise you.

The newest additions to the lineup include Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center; Michael Curry, former presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church; Beto O’Rourke, former U.S. Representative, D-El Paso; Joe Lonsdale, entrepreneur, founder and managing partner at 8VC; and Katie Phang, journalist and trial lawyer.

These dynamic speakers — and hundreds more — will take the TribFest stage to dive into the issues shaping Texans and the nation. See the lineup so far.

Get tickets now and join us this November. Donate $50 or more to become a Texas Tribune member and get a ticket discount, access to members-only sessions, and more. Also, discounted tickets (just $65!) are available for educators and students.

Buy your tickets now and see the future of Texas at TribFest.

TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.

TX-SEN: U.S. Sen. John Cornyn’s campaign is highlighting “damning information” that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign paid the office of former solicitor general and impeachment defense attorney Judd Stone $125,000 for legal services in November 2023, about a month after Paxton was alerted to sexual harassment allegations against Stone. The payment was Paxton’s final payment to Stone’s firm — and significantly less than his prior payments that year.

Attorney general: State Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, has decided against running for attorney general and will instead run for reelection. State Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, is already in the race and has continued to rack up endorsements.

TX-18: State Rep. Jolanda Jones, D-Houston, is running for the seat once held by Sheila Jackson Lee and Sylvester Turner. George Foreman IV, son of the acclaimed boxer, is also running in the 2025 special election as an independent, launching his campaign this week.

  • U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, will be on Fox News Sunday at 8 a.m. Central time.

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

  • Texas Department of Criminal Justice Executive Director Bryan Collier has announced plans to retire in August. He’s held the position since August 2016.

  • William Inboden is the sole finalist to be the next executive vice president and provost of the University of Texas at Austin, interim school president Jim Davis announced this week. Although Inboden is coming from the University of Florida, he previously was a professor at the LBJ School of Public Policy and executive director of the Clements Center for National Security. He also moderated a TribFest panel in 2018.

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Op-ed: “Congress must reimburse Texas for Biden’s border security malpractice” by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn for Fox News

@realmitchlittle: They don’t tell you when you decide to run for office that you’re going to get 107 spam emails a day encouraging you to vote for bills in front of the US Congress after your own legislative session is over.

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

(June 6) State Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe
(June 7) State Rep. John Lujan, R-San Antonio
(June 7) State Sen. Molly Cook, D-Houston
(June 7) State Rep. Erin Gámez, D-Brownsville
(June 8) State Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress
(June 8) State Rep. Matt Shaheen, R-Plano
(June 8) State Rep. David Lowe, R-North Richland Hills

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