July Christmas
This just came out. See this from the Chron:
James Talarico is the most well-funded Texas Democratic Senate candidate in years. Some in the Republican Party are worried about the challenge Attorney General Ken Paxton is mounting in return.
“A joke,” one GOP strategist said of Paxton’s fundraising this week. Another, when asked if they were worried about the impact Paxton’s cash disadvantage could have on downballot races, said “everybody is.”
“I’m more concerned than I was in 2018,” said Jill Tate, president of the Texas Federation of Republican Women, referring to Beto O’Rourke’s close loss to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. “Talarico is a formidable opponent.”
Paxton’s campaign said it raised $9 million in the quarter ending last month, compared to Talarico’s $30 million
Some Republicans who support Paxton are optimistic that his strong connections to the base and to President Donald Trump will drive turnout in November. Others say his scorched-earth primary fight with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn turned off traditional GOP donors and is evidence that enthusiasm in the broader Republican umbrella is not what it needs to be ahead of a pivotal election.
A candidate’s fundraising is important outside of the fate of their own race. Down-ballot candidates are often buoyed by high performers in their party who fund get-out-the-vote efforts, campaign events and generate excitement.
Here is the entire Chron read: Ken Paxton’s fundraising woes are beginning to worry some in the GOP.
I said yesterday that cheating, crooked Ken Paxton was a lazy sleazeball and pathetic. He is not a likeable guy. MAGA has a problem with him leading the MAGA ticket in Texas. Voters are realizing this. This is a no brainer.
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Texas MAGA is bent on destroying public education. They don’t adequately fund public education. They shortchange our teachers. They divert funds to vouchers. Now see this from the Chron:
Tens of thousands of children are about to head to private schools as part of the first batch of recipients under Texas’ $1 billion voucher program.
Though the first day of most academic years is still weeks away, the program is already causing headaches for some public schools, which may need to cut back on teachers and other resources as students leave for private school or homeschool.
Administrators at more than half of the state’s school districts still don’t know how many of their enrolled students, if any, have been awarded a voucher and plan to leave their classrooms. That’s because the state comptroller’s office, which runs the program, is withholding data to districts where fewer than 30 students got a voucher, citing a need to keep families’ data confidential.
As a result, about 16,000 voucher recipients aren’t accounted for in the data, or 15% of all recipients.
The redaction is mostly hitting smaller and rural districts, where administrators say losing even a handful of students could significantly impact their operations. Brandon Enos, legislative chair of the Texas Rural Education Association, said he and his colleagues’ requests for more data for their individual districts have so far gone unfulfilled.
Enos serves as superintendent of Gunter ISD in North Texas, which serves just 1,200 students. The lack of information is casting uncertainty over much of his planning for next school year, he said, including everything from teacher hiring to bus routes.
“We are asking for the information we need to responsibly operate our schools,” Enos said. “We can’t just react afterwards because, unlike large urban districts, a relatively small number of students dramatically affects our staffing.”
Here is the entire Chron read: 16K school voucher recipients are still unaccounted for in state data.
This is unacceptable. I hope all these folks running ISDs across Texas remember this when they go vote this November.
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Yesterday was the hottest day on record for H-Town – 102 degrees. Meanwhile, the Hallmark Channel is running their July Christmas flicks. This past weekend was Christmas in July at Daikin Park. This morning on “Today,” the Radio City Rockettes in the featured photo gave us a taste of what is to come this November. Just a little July Christmas for folks to enjoy.
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It can get dizzying, if you let it. I prefer to take it game by game. I am talking about the Astros getting swept this past weekend at Daikin Park by the Orioles. We followed up sweeping the Marlins. We are back to two games behind in the AL West. Support the team and root for Yordan Alvarez. We have today off then open a weekend series in Chicago tomorrow against the White Sox.