Eye on Politics: Third North Texas member of Congress plans to retire
NORTH TEXAS (CBS News Texas) — A third congressional district seat in North Texas will open up next year. We go one-on-one with Sen. John Cornyn about federal government funding, the Israel-Hamas war and border security. And the Texas House is set to decide whether to pass a school choice, or school voucher, bill -- but will rural Republicans change their minds and approve it this time?
Jack covers these stories and more in this week's edition of Eye on Politics (original air date: Nov. 16).
Every week, CBS News Texas political reporter Jack Fink breaks down some of the biggest political stories grabbing headlines in North Texas and beyond. Watch the latest episode of Eye on Politics in the video player above and stream new episodes live every Thursday and Friday at 6 p.m. on CBS News Texas.
Who's in? Who's out?
There will be three congressional seats from North Texas up for grabs next year.
On Monday, Republican Rep. Michael Burgess announced he will retire when his term expires at the end of next year. Burgess has been in Congress since 2003, representing the 26th District, which covers parts of Denton, Cooke, Tarrant and Wise Counties.
Rep. Michael Burgess discusses his decision not to run for reelection with Jack in the interview below.
After serving in Congress for more than 25 years, Rep. Kay Granger of Fort Worth announced earlier this month that she won't seek reelection. The Republican congresswoman represents District 12, which includes the western half of Tarrant County and Parker County.
And Democratic Rep. Colin Allred of the 32nd Congressional District, which covers northeastern Dallas County, is leaving his seat to challenge Republican Sen. Ted Cruz next year.
For less than 24 hours this week, it appeared there would be a fourth congressional seat up for grabs. Republican Rep. Pat Fallon announced Monday that he wouldn't be running for reelection for his seat in the 4th Congressional District. He filed paperwork to run for his old State Senate seat.
On Monday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick even endorsed Fallon.
News of @fallonfortexas’s return to the Texas Senate is tremendous! The voters of District 30 couldn’t ask for a better candidate.
— Dan Patrick (@DanPatrick) November 14, 2023
PRESS RELEASE ⬇️ https://t.co/IYgk2gDQ81
But the very next day, Fallon changed his mind. He is now running for reelection to Congress.
As far as who will be replacing these members of Congress, we already have an idea of who could be running.
For Burgess' seat, which will likely remain Republican, at least one candidate has announced he's running: U.S. Navy veteran Burt Thakur. In District 12, another GOP seat, at least four Republicans are vying to replace Granger, including Texas Rep. Craig Goldman and Tarrant County businessman John O'Shea. And 12 candidates have announced they're running for Allred's seat in District 32, which will likely remain Democratic. The list includes Dallas surgeon Brian Williams and Texas Rep. Julie Johnson.
Candidates have until 6 p.m. December 11 to file their paperwork.
School voucher/choice debate
Texas House members began debating a controversial bill on the floor Friday.
The measure would provide taxpayer money for some students to attend private school. In addition, the legislation would boost funding for school districts and for teacher pay raises.
As we've reported, there's a lot of pressure on the House Republicans who oppose school choice or vouchers.
State Rep. Justin Holland, a Republican from Heath, said Thursday he doesn't believe the measure will pass the House.
"Personally, I have heartburn over the education savings accounts and vouchers," he said.
He said using taxpayer money to help pay for kids to go to private school isn't responsible:
"As constitutional conservatives, one of the main questions I ask myself, is it conservative to have a general revenue expansion of government to the tune of $500 million to a billion dollars over the next few years for just a few students in the State of Texas to take advantage of?"
Watch Jack's full interview with Holland below.
One-on-one with Sen. John Cornyn
Congress averted a partial federal government shutdown this week, after the Senate and House approved a bill that will keep the government open after 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
In an interview with Jack before this happened, Sen. John Cornyn predicted there wouldn't be a shutdown.
He also spoke about the Israel-Hamas war, anti-Semitism, Ukraine and illegal immigration at the southern border.
Watch that interview below.