Texas Tidbits: Big Money, Red Paint, And Border Theater
When billionaire PACs play kingmaker, Texans lose.
Texas Tidbits is a collection of quick snapshots of the most interesting, outrageous, and important political stories across the Lone Star State. Each edition will feature several short stories highlighting the issues shaping Texas today.
Billionaires are the Republicans’ puppet masters.
While everyday Texans pawn off the chores of democracy, billionaires, like those behind Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR), are treating our state as their private playground. The Houston Chronicle reports that after failing to ram through TLR’s agenda this session, TLR fired off a scorched-earth letter blaming elected Republicans, Speaker Dustin Burrows, Rep. Marc LaHood, and freshman Mitch Little for “gutting” key reform bills. Yes, a billionaire-backed PAC with $26.8 million in cash is vowing to primary lawmakers who dared to disappoint their corporate masters.
For decades, groups like these have whispered in the ears of legislators, spending millions on campaigns, cozying up to judges, and shaping tort laws to shield corporations from liability. But guess what? When these same lawmakers refuse to serve as their rubber stamps, the masks come off. TLR’s boss, Lee Parsley, outright threatened to “redouble our efforts” and find new puppets by next March.
It looks like we’re headed to another Republican primary session that is all about Tim Dunn vs. Dick Weekly (CEO of TLR). Although this time, Panhandle oligarch Alex Fairly has promised to be a contender.
Normal Texans don’t bankroll these billionaires. They don’t get hyper-charged lobbying memos or backroom favors. They show up at school board meetings, not corporate gala fundraisers. When Republican lawmakers ignore us, but bend over for billionaire cash? It’s subservience. Republicans are only beholden to their billionaire overlords.
When citizens get sidelined, Texas representatives run the risk of facing more than just a slap from TLR’s bank account. They’ll face a full-scale primary onslaught unless they choose the pockets over the people.
Vandalism hits the Georgetown Confederate lawn ornament…again.
Looks like someone brought their red paint back to the Confederate rock on the Williamson County Courthouse grounds, marking the second vandalism incident in the past month, with “Fuck your racism” and “Time’s up” scrawled in bold red letters
Local activist group Wilco Patriots, who’ve been leading the fight to respectfully have this ode to white supremacy removed through protests, petitions, and commissioners’ requests, made a statement on Facebook distancing themselves from the defacement:
Williamson County Patriots do not condone vandalism of public property. We might share your feelings, but this isn’t about feelings.
I loathe these racist rock relics as much as anyone. But if we’re serious about the De-Confederate Movement winning hearts and minds, not to mention those commission seats, we need a smarter approach. Let’s relocate statues to Confederate graveyards or museums, not plaster them with red paint every few weeks.
And hey, if you’re tempted to ask, “Is this kind of vandalism really that bad, if you don’t get caught?” Well, that’s a philosophical rabbit hole you’ll have to climb down on your own.
Dan Patrick launches 2026 bid… in Beaumont?
Lt. Governor Dan Patrick kicked off his re-election tour at Jack Brooks Regional Airport in Beaumont, using the occasion to campaign and boast about this year’s legislative wins on property taxes, school vouchers, education funding, religion in schools, and border security. Plus, he dove head-first into the controversial SB3, which would criminalize all THC products.
Why Beaumont?
Beaumont’s got a special political pull in Southeast Texas, and its airport has hosted major GOP campaigns since Dade Phelan ran there. Plus, it’s a tip of the hat to coastal conservative power bases and industry pockets.
Vs. Vikki Goodwin: A fresh Democratic contrast.
Meanwhile, Rep. Vikki Goodwin has just stepped into the race, telling CBS that Dan Patrick’s corruption mortifies her, as well as his iron-fisted Senate rule and the crumbs Democrats receive under GOP dominance. She called for real public education funding, affordable housing, water infrastructure, healthcare access, and even Medicaid expansion. All the things Patrick doesn’t mention on his jet-setting circuit.
The differences are like night and day.
Patrick’s Beaumont launch screams calculated stagecraft, in a Republican red stronghold, familiar turf, a nod to Big Donor dynamics.
Meanwhile, Vikki Goodwin emerges as the policy-centered antithesis, emphasizing everyday Texans and their issues, rather than ideological drama.
This is shaping up to be a well-worth-watching election.
So… Is the border actually fixed?
In a twist that speaks louder than any press release, as first reported by El Paso Matters, El Paso officials confirmed that no Texas National Guard troops have been deployed there, despite Governor Abbott’s statewide announcement of “peace & order” deployments for planned immigration protests.
Riddle me this?
Abbott claimed border unrest was imminent, yet El Paso, a major immigration flashpoint, got no Guard?
Meanwhile, 5,000 Guard troops were sent to San Antonio, and hundreds to DFW, supposedly to maintain peace.
If border chaos were real, El Paso would be ground zero, not an afterthought?
It’s almost like Abbott accidentally admitting it was all political theater all along, and the border is under control. Of course, it should be noted that no Republicans had “press conferences” about the border in El Paso this week, either. Yet, taxpayers are still shelling out $6 billion for “border security.” Make it make sense.
Hill Country water wars.
In Comfort, Hill Country residents are digging in their heels against Lennar Homes’ plan to build 1,100 homes on 590 acres, amid Stage 4 drought and strained water supplies.
Nearly 200 neighbors gathered at Comfort Park on June 7, led by the grassroots group Comfort Neighbors and subdivision president Roy Die. Standing before a sign that eerily reads, “You won’t miss the water till the well runs dry.”
Die urged Lennar to pull its TCEQ wastewater permit, which would release 600,000 gallons daily into North Creek and downstream into the Guadalupe River, citing both quantity and quality concerns.
Frustrated residents are also demanding a special legislative session from Governor Abbott to revive the stalled water-safeguarding bills. It won’t happen, though, as I wrote about a few weeks ago, the Legislature did a few things on the waterfront, but nowhere near enough. However, Republicans have already started touring with the slogan, “We fixed Texas’ water.”
If they call a special session, they’ll have to admit they lied when they said, “They fixed Texas’ water problems.” Therefore, it’ll never happen.
Texas GOP says, “We can’t make districts whiter.”
A plan pushed by Trump’s team to redraw Texas’ congressional maps ahead of 2026, shifting Republican voters into blue districts to flip them, has left state Republicans scratching their heads. They’re hesitant, admitting there’s “no more of the pie left to slice.”
Trump aides floated the idea at a private meeting of Texas’ congressional delegation in Washington. Still, some GOP incumbents worry that this could backfire by turning their safe seats into competitive ones.
Gov. Abbott hasn’t signed on, and there’s no sign he’ll call a special session to redraw the lines, especially while federal judges are already scrutinizing the existing maps for possible racial dilution of Black and Hispanic voters.
Legal experts stress that any mid-cycle shuffle could spark new lawsuits, delay elections, and lead to significant confusion for voters.
Bottom line? Texas Republicans have sucked the “white-district” juice enough. These lines are as red as they can get without risking their own seats. It’s the political equivalent of running out of icing on a cupcake you already overfilled.
Texas politics this week reads like a Shakespearean farce, including puppet-masters playing kingmakers, swaggering stagecraft over substance, grassroots grit fighting corporate greed, and maps so red they’re bleeding into absurdity.
Stay tuned for next week’s edition of Texas Tidbits, where we’ll continue tracking the theater, the fury, and the slow grind for real change.
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When billionaires threaten elected officials like mafia bosses with a checkbook, it stops being democracy and starts sounding like a corporate hostage situation. And I don’t know what’s more embarrassing—Dan Patrick launching his campaign in a glorified hangar or the fact that we’re still arguing over Confederate pet rocks in 2025.
Meanwhile, Abbott’s “border crisis” skips El Paso like it’s not even on the map? Border theater with military cosplay doesn’t fix water, healthcare, or schools. But it does drain wallets.
Texans aren’t red or blue. We’re parched, pissed off, and paying attention.
Keep spilling the tea. We’ll bring the match.
jazzy jasmine on Chris Hayes -MSNBC
beautiful explanation on the hurts headed our way with Medicaid cuts