Harris County
This is from the Chronicle back in mid-December of last year:
Gov. Greg Abbott is prepared to pour $25 million into his effort to turn Harris County — a Democratic stronghold he lost by 10 percentage points in 2022 — “dark red” as he seeks a record fourth term in office, according to details of the plan shared with Hearst Newspapers.
As part of that, the Texas Republican is planning to target House Democrats there with messaging on crime, bail restrictions and property taxes, key planks of his reelection pitch. The governor recruited Republican candidates to run in every state House seat in the county, including some where the GOP has not had a candidate on the ballot in years. And he’s hired a consultant based in Houston, Jessica Colón, to help coordinate their efforts.
“Governor Abbott is going on the offensive in Harris County, a key battleground for the state,” said Eduardo Leal, press secretary for the governor’s campaign. “Governor Abbott’s mission is clear: to keep Texas affordable, safe and prosperous.”
The election is 12 weeks from tomorrow. I am not seeing or feeling a $25 million barrage from Abbott here is Harris County. I don’t believe in stealth campaigns either. Anything can happen, but I don’t think anything is going to happen.
Some folks are thinking dark blue. I could go for that.
I am ready to put the featured photo in my front yard.
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I had no clue this was going on. Again, see this from the Chron:
Houston voters could decide this fall whether to amend the city charter to deprioritize enforcement of low-level marijuana offenses and ban police from carrying out no-knock warrants after activists submitted nearly 40,000 petition signatures to City Hall.
The referendum would thrust Houston into the center of Texas’ ongoing fight over marijuana enforcement and police tactics. Similar voter-approved marijuana measures in Dallas, Austin and other Texas cities have drawn lawsuits from Attorney General Ken Paxton, who argues municipalities cannot limit enforcement of state drug laws.
The warrant provision, meanwhile, would revisit the 2019 Harding Street raid, when Houston police executed a no-knock warrant based on fabricated evidence and triggered a shootout that wounded several officers, killed two homeowners and spurred years of court proceedings. Afterward, HPD restricted the tactic but stopped short of banning it outright.
Houston City Council is expected to vote Wednesday on whether to place the measures on the November ballot. Mayor John Whitmire’s office said in a statement that the signature validation process is still ongoing and the city secretary’s office is “on track and confident that the required verification process will be completed soon.”
Ground Game Texas submitted roughly 40,000 signatures, the mayor’s office said, but the number of validated signatures won’t be known until the verification process is completed. In Houston, 20,000 signatures are required to force a vote on amending the city charter.
If that threshold is reached, council must place the item on the ballot, according to the city legal department.
We will see if we get to vote on this.
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We went 1-2 in San Diego and lead the AL West by a half game. We start a 3-game series in San Francisco this evening with 43 games remaining to be played.