Jilted Wife Outs Republican SBOE Member And Other Texas Election News

Another day, another Republican scandal.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And with only twelve days left until the filing deadline and no primary challengers in sight, SBOE02 member LJ Francis’s wife dropped a bombshell on a right-wing podcast yesterday. It would seem the Francises are getting divorced “on biblical grounds,” with the former Mrs. Francis citing Leviticus 18:22, though some of us might call that a fun Friday night.

Now, it’s hard to keep the Republican scandals in line, since there are so many.

• This is the second Republican divorce this year, “based on biblical grounds.”

  • The first one was AG Ken Paxton, because apparently a bunch of Republican women think he’s a stud-muffin, and he can’t keep it in his pants.

• This is also the second Republican’s jilted lover’s interview with the press about their secretive behavior.

  • The first one was Representative Giovanni Capriglione’s long-time girlfriend, who alleged he paid for abortions.

Of course, the wife had no right to out him, no matter how angry she was. Whether you are part of the community or know someone who is, you know how harmful outing someone can be, especially if they are a Republican official, and especially if they are outed on a Republican podcast. Whether or not we agree with LJ Francis’ policies, as humans, we can all probably recognize that this is perhaps a moment of trauma for him and hope he can heal from it.

He already has a primary contender.

There’s no guarantee he will stay in the race at this point, and within hours of the podcast dropping, State Senator Adam Hinojosa’s wife, Victoria, announced she’d be running for SBOE02.

SBOE02 was a seat I had already identified as one I expected to flip. I still expect it to flip, no matter who the Republican is in that seat. The numbers are already in Democrats’ favor, and we’re already expecting a Democratic over-performance in 2026.

Thomas Garcia is the Democrat running for SBOE02 (and the only one I’m aware of, so far). Check out his Website, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Here is SBOE02:

Not only are the numbers in Democrats’ favor, but this district also overlaps with several Democratic State House candidates’ districts and Congressional districts. So, if they have enough coordinated campaigning, they can make magic happen here, especially in Hidalgo, Cameron, and Nueces County.

But can we talk about Senator Adam Hinojosa and his family for a minute? Because his brother is also running for TX34.

Have you ever seen Adam Hinojosa talk? Or his mannerisms? He kind of reminds me of Troy Nehls, like a mob character from a movie. I wanted to find out more about him.

His Wikipedia page says he “chose to join his family’s business instead of pursuing law enforcement.” His About Page on his website says he’s a “successful entrepreneur and job creator.” But there’s a lot of secrecy about his “business (es).”

And now he’s pulling his family into Texas politics with him, where we know corruption is rampant and Republicans are enriching themselves on our taxpaying dimes. It just doesn’t sit right.

And as long as we’re talking about the races in this area.

Someone has filed to run against Todd Hunter (R-👿). I’m ecstatic about this. I’m trying to sit on talking about how excited I am about some of these races until the filing deadline ends BECAUSE more candidates could file, but Todd Hunter is responsible for so much harm in Texas.

Todd Hunter has blocked fixing the grid, clean energy, he was in charge of the racist maps last go around, and lots of other stuff. And the stupid mofo isn’t even from Texas.

Gabriel Marroquin (D) just filed to run against him. I haven’t found a website yet, but he does have an ActBlue page. We’ll talk about this race again.

We also have challengers against Denise Villalobos (R-Nueces County).

And so far, we have three Democrats running against Janie Lopez (R-HD37), a seat in Cameron and Willacy Counties that really should never have been red in the first place.

I’m hoping to see Etienne Rosas (D) win against incumbent Vincente Gonzelez (D) in March, and then campaign with the down-ballot candidates to help them take back those seats.

Are we keeping a running tally?

How silly would that be? Candidates could literally file at any time. It isn’t a contest. And there are still twelve days left to go.

• Congress:

  • Democrats are on 33 out of 38 seats (so far)

  • Republicans are on 28 out of 38 seats (so far)

• SBOE

  • Democrats are on 4 out of 8 seats (so far)

  • Republicans are on 6 out of 8 seats (so far)

• State Senate

  • Democrats are on 12 out of 15 seats (so far)

  • Republicans are on 13 out of 15 seats (so far)

• State House

  • Democrats are on 94 out of 150 seats (so far)

  • Republicans are on 93 out of the 150 seats (so far)

I’m only including those who are actually on the ballot via the Secretary of State, and I expect a flood of additional candidates next week. Especially those who were strategically waiting until the last moment (because SURPRISE!).

But as you can see, we’re basically keeping pace with Republican candidates. And because it’s a holiday weekend, don’t expect any significant updates over the next several days. Next week should be a big filing week.

Despite the GOP’s ongoing meltdown, Democrats are matching them race for race, seat for seat, and district for district.

That alone is a seismic shift from past cycles.

Republicans can keep spiraling into scandal, backstabbing, and “biblical divorces,” but voters in these districts care about real things like schools, energy, wages, healthcare, and safety. And on that, Democrats are already winning.

If this week was the warm-up, next week is the main event. I’ll be here tracking every name that pops up, and every seat that suddenly becomes winnable.

• Who Will Be On The 2026 State Ballot?

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