AUSTIN, Texas – This Week in Texas Politics was dominated by the recent May runoff elections and the fallout, but there were several other big stories this week.

FOX 7 Austin’s chief political reporter Rudy Koski and our panel of political analysts break down the big headlines.

RUDY KOSKI: Let’s get the headlines from our panel, and we’ll start first with Patrick Svitek with The Washington Post. Patrick, what’s your headline for the week? 

PATRICK SVITEK: The Speaker survives, but more incumbents lose. 

RUDY KOSKI: Political analyst Mark Wiggins, your headline for the week. 

MARK WIGGINS: The return of the speaker. 

RUDY KOSKI: And Brian Smith from St Edward’s University. Brian, what’s your headline for the week? 

BRIAN SMITH: Ken Paxton’s revenge train derailed: Dade Phelan holds on to his seat. 

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RUDY KOSKI: The school choice/impeachment revenge tour really scored some victories on Tuesday night, but Speaker Phelan survived. The GOP civil war did not end. And Patrick, there are two House members right now saying they’re going to take on Dade Phelan. 

PATRICK SVITEK: You know, he is going to have to explain to members all these incumbent losses that he presided over. The knock on him is that he had to focus on his race and he wasn’t able to spread as much money and resources around to help all these other incumbents who were those caught in pretty heated primaries. 

MARK WIGGINS: You know, the folks are putting their name in the ring here. I think they see an opening. But if the speaker is able to retain his core of support, they’re going to be a real trouble. 

BRIAN SMITH: He only had three challengers in 2023, so this is nothing new for him. The big difference, of course, is the caucus has moved, Right. So, the coalition that elected him last time isn’t there. 

RUDY KOSKI: Governor Greg Abbott did do an actual real victory lap on Friday down in Eagle Pass. He welcomed the first 300 Texas National Guard soldiers to his newly built border base camp, Mark, that, of course, is a clear political win. 

MARK WIGGINS: Yeah, I’ve said it before, border security continues to poll as a top issue for Republicans and Democrats in the state of Texas. It’s one where Republicans feel like they can show a favorable contrast with the Biden administration, and the governor is going to want to make sure he keeps the spotlight on that. 

RUDY KOSKI: One of the things that was settled Tuesday night also involves Brant Hagenbuch. He was endorsed by Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Patrick. He won the Senate District 30 seat despite claims that he didn’t meet residency rules. Newly minted Texas GOP Chairman Abraham George on Thursday said he will not consider the complaint that was filed, indicating voters made the call in that race. So, Brian, certainly the first big test for the new GOP chairman. 

BRIAN SMITH: Yeah, this was the first big test. And he sidestepped it nicely by saying, let the voters make the call. He’s got bigger problems with the caucus, that’s fractured in many ways. And if he gets into the weeds right now, they’ll never get out of them. 

RUDY KOSKI: Now, there were some notable developments regarding two congressional seats. Congressman Tony Gonzalez surviving a runoff with a Republican YouTube personality. And we learned that Democrat Congressman Henry Cuellar will face a House ethics investigation regarding the bribery indictment against him. Patrick, on Capitol Hill what’s the feeling up there? Which one is the hot seat? 

PATRICK SVITEK: Honestly, I think the focus has been more in the political world on Tony Gonzales’ prospects. I mean, you know, this was a race that I think really was emblematic of some of the divides we’ve seen among House Republicans on Capitol Hill. Some of Gonzales’ own Republican colleagues endorsed or campaigned for his challenger, Brandon Herrera, and it ended up being a legitimate political scare and close call for Gonzalez, who had a lot going for him. He had a huge financial advantage. And when the dust settled on primary runoff election night, I think he only won by a point or two. You know, I think it has to be a humbling experience for Gonzales, who is someone I should note likes to publicly boast about how much of a political animal he is and how he likes to confront his political opponents.

RUDY KOSKI: Believe it or not, some legislating actually did happen this week. The Senate State Affairs Committee discussed concerns about voter ballot security and if Delta 8 and Delta 9 hemp products need more state regulations, both have potential for pushback. Mark, which one is the bigger political landmine? 

MARK WIGGINS: You know, I have to say, the one that has the most profound impact on all of us is going to be the election security issue. And I’d be interested to see if the legislature continues looking at some sort of tort reform to curtail some of these frivolous election laws. 

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RUDY KOSKI: No surprises in the Texas reaction to the conviction of President Trump. Outrage and joy split right down party lines. I think the January chaos in the House went to the back burner Thursday. And the maybe we just saw the first wave of a November tsunami starting, maybe. What do you think about that? 

BRIAN SMITH: Well, this definitely changes the entire complexion of the race. 

MARK WIGGINS: There’s been extensive polling done on the question of whether a conviction makes voters less likely to support him. And it does. 

RUDY KOSKI: He certainly is a bear that’s been poked. 

PATRICK SVITEK: Clearly, there is a short-term political gain for him to be had here, at least in terms of energizing his base supporters. 

RUDY KOSKI: Let’s end it there and wrap up the week with one word and we’ll start with Brian. Brian, what’s your word for the week? 

BRIAN SMITH: Guilty. 

PATRICK SVITEK: Verdict. 

MARK WIGGINS: I’m going to go with Survivor, back in the runoffs. 

RUDY KOSKI: And that is This Week in Texas Politics.

A longer discussion about the week can be found on the FOX 7 Austin YouTube channel.

Another woman, Ashley Brandt, testified that when she was 12 weeks pregnant with twins, one of the babies was diagnosed with acrania, a fatal condition in which the skull fails to fuse. When the baby’s heart stopped, doctors told her, it would likely trigger labor, causing the healthy twin to die, as well. She traveled out of state to abort the stricken baby and gave birth to the healthy one, the court decision states. 

Another woman, Samantha Casiano, lamented having to carry to term her baby girl who was diagnosed 20 weeks into the pregnancy with anencephaly, a condition in which the baby lacks a major portion of the brain and therefore is unable to live more than a short time after birth. The baby died four hours after delivery, the decision says. 

Piecemeal challenges 

Texas outlawed abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, sending abortion law back to legislatures and state referendums. Since then, abortion supporters have tried to chip away at the law. 

Last year, The Center for Reproductive Rights, which supports abortion, filed a lawsuit challenging the law on behalf of several women who experienced severe pregnancy complications, and three doctors. 

The state’s Human Life Protection Act allows an abortion if doctors using “reasonable medical judgment” determine that a pregnant woman “has a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy that places the female at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless the abortion is performed or induced.” 

In August 2023, a Travis County district court judge in Austin, the state capital, issued a short-lived injunction that sought to offer doctors a “good faith judgment” exception. This would allow abortions in cases where a pregnancy complication “poses a risk of infection or otherwise makes continuing a pregnancy unsafe for the pregnant person,” where “a condition exacerbated by pregnancy … cannot be effectively treated during pregnancy,” and where “a fetal condition where the fetus is unlikely to survive the pregnancy and sustain life after birth.” 

The state’s abortion statute does not contain such exceptions. 

During oral arguments in November 2023, a state supreme court justice asked a lawyer from the state attorney general’s office defending the state’s anti-abortion law if the statute’s requirement that doctors use “reasonable medical judgment” to determine if an abortion is necessary doesn’t put doctors in a tough situation. 

The lawyer said no. 

“They are allowed to use reasonable medical judgment, which is presumably the judgment they use when treating a patient in any given circumstance. And so the option, I guess, facing the legislature — you could either draw a line and allow them to use their reasonable medical judgment, or you can do what the trial court did and essentially eliminate the line so that there really will never be a circumstance in which a woman is unable to obtain an abortion,” said Assistant State Attorney General Beth Klusmann. 

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“And so, there are always going to be harder calls at the edge of that line, but the only other option is to eliminate the line entirely,” she said. 

The case, which was decided Friday, May 31, is known as State of Texas v. Zurawski. 

AUSTIN, Texas — Rep. Shelby Slawson, R-Stephenville, is the second member to challenge Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, to lead the chamber.

In a letter to House Republicans, she said she’s grown disappointed in the mismanagement of Phelan and his inner circle. Slawson joins state Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, who was the first to announce a challenge to Phelan.  

Phelan narrowly survived a runoff challenge from the GOP’s hard right this week. But more than a dozen incumbents lost to hard-right challengers.  

Last month 23 state representatives and GOP candidates signed what they called a “Contract With Texas.” The document includes a list of conservative reforms they’d like to see in the House, including no Democrats serving as committee chairs.  

Other House Republicans have signed the document since its inception, but seven of the original signees won their primary runoff Tuesday. Twenty will be on November’s ballot during the general election and less than half have Democratic opponents.

Some political experts expect the hardline conservative influence to be a strong force when the legislative session begins in January, estimating Republicans will only have 10 votes they can ignore and still have a majority. 

“It also means that a handful of Republicans can hold the body hostage because Democrats are not going to support far-right policies and there aren’t going to be enough Republicans if there’s enough very conservative Republicans saying no for the Republican Party to actually pass anything. They’ll have a majority on paper, but not in reality,” said Brian Smith, a professor of political sciences at St. Edward’s University.  

Many of these hardline conservatives also want to see Rep. Dade Phelan removed from his position as House speaker. If a majority of House Republicans can’t agree on leadership, experts don’t expect many bills to be successful.