Ken Paxton's Senate run, state budget, and Texas DOGE: TWITP
The Brief
Big topics this week: Ken Paxton's Senate run, a new state budget, and Texas DOGE
FOX 7 Austin's chief political reporter Rudy Koski and our panel of analysts discuss the big stories from This Week in Texas Politics
AUSTIN, Texas - Texas House members worked into the early morning hours to finalize their version of a new state budget.
The marathon debate capped off an intense week.
FOX 7 Austin's chief political reporter Rudy Koski and our panel of analysts discuss the big stories from This Week in Texas Politics.
Local perspective
RUDY KOSKI: Big votes and some big decisions dominating This Week in Texas Politics. Let's get the headlines from our panel, and we'll start with Philip Jankowski with the Dallas Morning News. Philip, what's your headline for the week?
PHILIP JANKOWSKI: Yeah, Paxton's Senate run sets off party battles.
RUDY KOSKI: Political analyst Karina Kling, what's your headline for the week?
KARINA KLING: I'll stick to that same theme. Get ready for a nasty Senate primary between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton.
RUDY KOSKI: Brian Smith with St. Edward's University. Give me a headline.
BRIAN SMITH: Not going to change much. Attorney General Ken Paxton wants to be your next senator.
RUDY KOSKI: Early Friday morning, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced that he doesn't plan on changing jobs he's running for reelection. But another high-profile Republican is trying to change jobs, Attorney General Ken Paxton, as expected, announcing that he will challenge Senator John Cornyn for the GOP nomination for chair. Philip, no surprise, this one, as everyone's mentioned, has gotten ugly fast.
PHILIP JANKOWSKI: Obviously, no love lost between these two. I can remember a tweet, I think we all can remember this one that John Cornyn put out when Ken Paxton was needling him and Cornyn said, essentially, hard to run for Senate from prison, Ken.
RELATED:Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announces Trump-endorsed re-election campaign
BRIAN SMITH: I think the key to the race though is, who does Donald Trump support?
RELATED:Ken Paxton announced bid for Senate; John Cornyn responds
KARINA KLING: I think that it's interesting because Trump needs him. Cornyn's trying to get his agenda over the finish line there in the Senate and moving that agenda. He's got the support of national Republicans coming out in support of him early on for Cornyn. And I think when Trump does endorse, it's not going to be until late in this primary.
RUDY KOSKI: The Texas House worked into the early morning of Friday, plowing through its big budget bill. There were a lot of amendments, more than 400, and a lot ended up in a trash can called Article 11. There was talk about defunding the lottery, taking money away from the economic development and tourism office in the governor's office. Brian, was there anything in the debate that surprised you?
BRIAN SMITH: I think the commitment to fund border security is something that I was surprised survived because I thought Texas was going to try to move that to the federal level and get reimbursed for the money.
RUDY KOSKI: Ah, but we did have a little political drama before that budget debate began and a little political nose tweaking. It involved Representative Brian Harrison. He put up a motion to unseat Speaker Burrows and he only got two votes. Philip, certainly an embarrassment for Harrison, but does this solidify the position for Burrows?
PHILIP JANKOWSKI: Yeah, I think it does solidify his position, or at the least shows that everybody's moved on past this. An embarrassment. Maybe in the Chamber, people think Brian Harrison is an embarrassment. But Brian Harrison pretty much got what he wanted.
RUDY KOSKI: Well, it looks like legislation to create a new Texas Regulation Oversight Agency will be the first major bill that's going to be sent to the governor's desk for his signature in this session. But, Karina, the Republicans have been in control of state government for a very long time. Is this just an indictment against them that they've blown management?
KARINA KLING: I noticed, you know, we were talking about Brian Harrison and speaking of him, he was the only Republican to vote with Democrats against this. And he was saying just what you're mentioning there, that it's a power grab and expands government. So it's going to be an interesting kind of the give and take on this moving forward.
RUDY KOSKI: Let's circle back now to Ken Paxton's bid for the Senate. His decision means that he's not going to seek reelection as Attorney General. Republican John Bash is the first Republican to jump in. Karina, this creates an open seat, open opportunity for the Democrats.
KARINA KLING: Yeah, I mean, this is going to be a competitive primary in Texas for sure. It could really reset Republican politics here in Texas.
RELATED:Former U.S. Attorney John Bash announced bid for Texas Attorney General
PHILIP JANKOWSKI: They are teeing up, what could be a pretty, you know a pretty contested election with a Trump, you know Mid-Term election coming up.
BRIAN SMITH: There's going to be a lot of pressure for the Democrats to put their best top candidates at the top of the ticket. But I think if they really focus on the AG position, this is how they could get their foot in the door.
RUDY KOSKI: You can see the full discussion on the FOX 7 YouTube page and also on FOX Local, but let's wrap things up with one word for the week, and we'll start with Karina. What's your word for the week?
KARINA KLING:Sleep.
RUDY KOSKI:Brian, what's your word for the week?
BRIAN SMITH: Budget.
RUDY KOSKI: Philip, give me your word for the week.
PHILIP JANKOWSKI: Oh man, I think I said Tariffs last week, so this week I'll say Terrified.
RUDY KOSKI:And that is This Week in Texas Politics.
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Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Rudy Koski and previous coverage
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Boston Globe
10 minutes ago
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Trump charts new territory in bypassing Newsom to deploy National Guard
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Trump invoked a section of the US code that allows the president to bypass a governor's authority over the National Guard and call those troops into federal service when he considers it necessary to repel an invasion or suppress a rebellion, the law states. California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, has sharply criticized the move, saying state and local authorities have the situation under control and accusing Trump of attempting to create a 'spectacle.' Advertisement The directive, announced by the White House late Saturday, came after some protests against immigration raids turned violent, with protesters setting cars aflame and lighting fireworks, and law enforcement in tactical gear using tear gas and stun grenades. Trump claimed in his executive order that the unrest in Southern California was prohibiting the execution of immigration enforcement and therefore met the definition of a rebellion. Advertisement Legal experts said they expect Trump's executive order to draw legal challenges. On Sunday, Newsom asked the Trump administration to rescind his deployment of the National Guard, saying the administration had not followed proper legal procedure in sending them to the state. Trump said the National Guard troops would be used to 'temporarily' protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and 'other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law, and to protect Federal property, at locations where protests against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur based on current threat assessments and planned operations.' 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Advertisement During his 2024 campaign, Trump and aides discussed invoking the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to quell anticipated protests, and he said at an Iowa rally that he would unilaterally send troops to Democratic-run cities to enforce order. 'You look at any Democrat-run state, and it's just not the same - it doesn't work,' Trump told the crowd, suggesting cities like New York and Los Angeles had severe crime problems. 'We cannot let it happen any longer. And one of the other things I'll do - because you're supposed to not be involved in that, you just have to be asked by the governor or the mayor to come in - the next time, I'm not waiting.' Trump's willingness to use the armed forces to put down protests has drawn fierce blowback from civil liberties groups and Democrats, who have said suppressing dissent with military force is a violation of the country's norms. 'President Trump's deployment of federalized National Guard troops in response to protests is unnecessary, inflammatory, and an abuse of power,' Hina Shamsi, director of the National Security Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. 'By taking this action, the Trump administration is putting Angelenos in danger, creating legal and ethical jeopardy for troops, and recklessly undermining our foundational democratic principle that the military should not police civilians.' Goitein said Trump's move to invoke only the federal service law might be calculated to try to avoid any political fallout from invoking the Insurrection Act, or it's merely a prelude to doing so. 'This is charting new ground here, to have a president try to uncouple these authorities,' Goitein said. 'There's a question here whether he is essentially trying to deploy the powers of the Insurrection Act without invoking it.' 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Fox News
10 minutes ago
- Fox News
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Fox News
10 minutes ago
- Fox News
Liberals, anti-Trump figures bash ABC for suspending Terry Moran over anti-Trump social media rant
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