Beverly Powell rep
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">g</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">OP state Rep. Phil King announces he'll run for new Republican-friendly Senate seat held by Democrat Beverly Powell</font><div class="sc-bdVaJa distStackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-6 dzdLcy basicStory"><figure class="sc-bdVaJa distStackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-6 hNqMww promo full-width"><div class="sc-bdVaJa bDnovr imageWrapper"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><figcaption class="sc-bdVaJa emjuGi"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="sc-bdVaJa distTextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-2 hlMdWg">State Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, questions a fellow lawmaker regarding a proposed amendment to HB 10 on March 30, 2021.</span></font></figcaption></figure><section class="sc-bdVaJa distStackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-6 gSRTvp articleBody" itemprop="articleBody"><p class="sc-bdVaJa dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-2 hLMqRF"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">State Rep. <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/directory/phil-king/">Phil King</a>,
R-Weatherford, announced Monday he is running for the newly redrawn
Senate District 10, which has been primed for a GOP pickup under the
proposed map.</font></p><p class="sc-bdVaJa distTextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-2 hLMqRF"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Within half an hour of declaring his bid, King got the endorsement of the Senate's presiding officer, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.</font></p><p class="sc-bdVaJa distTextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-2 hLMqRF"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Since
a new Texas Senate map has been proposed that places Parker County in
Senate District 10, I have received many encouraging calls from
conservatives urging me to enter the race so we can defeat a liberal
Democrat," King said in a statement. "After prayerful consideration with
my wife Terry and my family, should this map be adopted, I will make a
formal announcement that I will be running for this seat."</font></p><p class="sc-bdVaJa distTextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-2 hLMqRF"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SD-10 is currently held by Democratic Sen. <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/directory/beverly-powell/">Beverly Powell</a> of Burleson, who flipped the seat in 2018. Powell has <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09/18/texas-senate-redistricting-map/">denounced her proposed new district</a> as an "act of intentional discrimination."</font></span></p><p class="sc-bdVaJa distTextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-2 hLMqRF"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under
the proposed new map, SD-10 would reach beyond Tarrant County into more
conservative Parker and Johnson counties. The district would go from
one that elected President Joe Biden by 8 points to one he would have
lost by 15.</font></p><p class="sc-bdVaJa distTextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-2 hLMqRF"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">King, a former police officer, has served in the House since 1999.</font></p><p class="sc-bdVaJa distTextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-2 hLMqRF"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I
have known and worked with Chairman Phil King of the Texas House for 14
years," Patrick, a former senator, said in a statement. "His lengthy
legislative experience, his background in law enforcement, and his
strong leadership skills are what we need in the Texas Senate."</font></p><p class="sc-bdVaJa dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-2 hLMqRF"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Warren
Norred, an Arlington lawyer who serves on the State Republican
Executive Committee, was already running for SD-10 before the new lines
were proposed. He is touting the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ElectNorred/posts/188241900030829">"supportive words and encouragement"</a> from of Matt Rinaldi, the chairman of the state Republican Party. Rinaldi spoke at Norred's campaign kickoff in late August.</font></p><p class="sc-bdVaJa distTextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-2 hLMqRF"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Norred confirmed Tuesday morning he is "of course" still running.</font></p><p class="sc-bdVaJa distTextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-2 hLMqRF"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I always expected to see a competitor or two along the way from the status quo side of the GOP," Norred wrote in an email.</font></p><p class="sc-bdVaJa distTextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-2 hLMqRF"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Earlier Tuesday, state Rep. <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/directory/craig-goldman/">Craig Goldman</a>, R-Fort Worth, said he had been encouraged to run for the newly redrawn SD-10 but would instead seek reelection his House seat.</font></p><p class="sc-bdVaJa distTextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-2 hLMqRF"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">King
is the second new Republican candidate that Patrick has thrown his
weight behind since the first draft of the new Senate map was released
earlier this month. Patrick has <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09/21/texas-legislature-redistricting-pete-flores-senate/">also backed former state Sen. Pete Flores</a> of Pleasanton for the newly reconfigured Senate District 24.</font></p></section></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx BS?
Analysis: Maps bolster Republicans in the Texas Senate, especially the top one
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[State
Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick speak at a press
conference held regarding Democrats breaking quorum and voting
legislature at the Texas Capitol on July 21, 2021.
Editor's note: If you'd like an email notice whenever we publish Ross Ramsey's column, click here.
(Audio unavailable. Click here to listen on texastribune.org.)
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
Redistricting
is when politicians choose their own voters. It’s political as all get
out. Officeholders draw districts that contain the highest possible
number of supporters and the lowest possible number of opponents, try
not to cross any legal lines when they’re doing it and extend their
incumbencies by rigging the game from the outset.
It’s a well-known, despised and yet persistent way to hold on to legislative power.
But
there’s another game going on after those districts are drawn, best
illustrated by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, at the moment the most adept
politician in Texas government.
He’s choosing his own senators.
Patrick
is backing a current senator, Dawn Buckingham of Lakeway, in her bid
for land commissioner, a statewide office. That departure gave Senate
mapmakers some room on their redistricting maps, and the redrawn
district now includes the home of former Sen. Pete Flores of Pleasanton.
Flores lost to Democrat Roland Gutierrez in 2020, and now the
Republican is Patrick’s hand-picked candidate for the reconfigured
Buckingham district. Patrick wants Flores back in the Senate, where he
was a reliable vote for the boss’ priorities.</span>
<b>Republican
Ellen Troxclair, a former Austin City Council member, was in that
contest for a hot minute, but the big donors and influential trade and
interest groups — spurred by endorsements from Buckingham, Patrick and
Donald Trump — lined up with the lieutenant governor’s pick.</b>
Troxclair is now running for the Texas House.
Last
month, Patrick went to Midland to tell a group of oil and gas people
that they weren’t well represented in the Senate. That would have been a
surprise to Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo — who represents Midland — if
he and Patrick hadn’t tussled before.
<b>The redistricting maps
included changes that cut into Seliger’s chances, weakening the strength
of the Panhandle, where he lives, while bolstering the political clout
of the Permian Basin. Midland produced a Republican challenger, a former
board member of the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation named
Kevin Sparks, who quickly won a Trump endorsement.</b>
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Seliger decided not to seek another term.</span>
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Consider
the case of Fort Worth Democrat Beverly Powell, whose Tarrant County
district was stretched to the west to include the home of Weatherford
Republican Phil King, a House member who wants to move up to the Senate.
Patrick likes the idea; he quickly endorsed the new entrant, who would
be the difference between a Democratic vote and a conservative
Republican vote.</span>
You might hear an echo here. After the
2019 legislative session, freshman Speaker of the House Dennis Bonnen
and state Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, met with a political activist
to talk about the House and the coming election year. Among other
things, they listed the members of the House, including fellow
Republicans, whose tenure they wouldn’t mind ending.
Patrick is
doing what Bonnen threatened, pointing out a difference between the
political powers of lieutenant governors and speakers of the House in
Texas. Both answer to their constituents, but Bonnen made the mistake of
plotting against his.
When Bonnen suggested to an outsider — who
recorded the conversation and later made it public — which members
should stay and which ones should go, the backlash within the House
forced him to give up the speakership. Had he hung on, he’d have been
much less powerful in a room of 150 people who choose leaders from their
own ranks. Politics is rough and tumble, and the participants have
sharp elbows, but electing a speaker is an exercise of trust. Plotting
against the people who elected him turned out to be a fatal mistake.
But
lieutenant governors aren’t chosen by senators; they’re chosen by the
state’s voters. Speakers answer to their members in a way that
lieutenant governors don’t. And turning against senators — so long as
you don’t turn against too many of them at once — can even enhance a
lite guv’s powers. It’s a punishment to whoever is in the dog house, and
it’s an object lesson for the rest of the senators: See what happens
when you’re in my way?
Redistricting offers a bigger opportunity
for ambitious legislative leaders — to do with political maps what might
not be possible in elections. Patrick’s political team went after
Seliger in his last election and got beat. The duty to draw new maps
gave his foes another chance, and now Seliger’s on his way out. Powell
got into the Senate by defeating a Republican ally of the lite guv.
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">
The
new maps favor Republicans, as you should expect when they’re drawn by a
Republican majority. But the hidden feature is that those Republicans
are indebted to Patrick as they enter the Senate.
It’s good to be king. Or lieutenant governor.</span>
<b>Disclosure: Texas Public Policy Foundation has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, </b>a
nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by
donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial
supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete
list of them here.
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