It’s time for the week that was in Texas politics with Alex Samuels, political reporter for The Texas Tribune.
Joe Biden didn’t fair as well as expected along the Texas border. He won the region by a much smaller margin than Hillary Clinton did in 2016.
“In the 28 counties in South Texas or near the border,” Samuels said “Biden won by a combined 17 percentage points, which is about half Clinton’s 33 point margin over Trump across these same counties four years ago.”
Samuels said some political observers along the border fault the Biden campaign for not focusing enough on the region.
The race for Texas House Speaker may be all but over, with state Rep. Dade Phelan releasing numbers this week that indicate he has enough support to with the position when the Legislature returns in January. Phelan is a Beaumont Republican, and he’s the only announced candidate, after several Republicans and Democrats withdrew from the race earlier in the week.
The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs backed off on a proposed rule that would have prevented people with convictions for non-violent felonies and Class A misdemeanors from living in new developments financed by low-income housing tax credits. The agency will continue to bar people convicted of some violent felonies or drug offenses, for three to seven years after conviction.
