🟪 George Morales wins Travis County Precinct 4 runoff (KUT)

🟪 Michelle Gutierrez Cohen defeats incumbent Ruben Becerra in Hays County judge Democratic runoff (KUT)

🟪 Montserrat Garibay beats Kathie Tovo to represent Austin's House District 49 (KUT)

🟪 Austin eyes new charter amendment election after canceled 2024 vote (Community Impact)

🟪 Ken Paxton defeats John Cornyn for U.S. Senate GOP nomination (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Allred defeats Johnson in runoff for redrawn U.S. House seat in North (Dallas Morning)

🟪 UFC fighting cage rises on White House lawn for bout celebrating America’s 250th anniversary (Associated Press)

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✅ George Morales wins Travis County Precinct 4 runoff (KUT)

George Morales, a longtime law enforcement officer and former county constable, has won the Democratic primary runoff election for Travis County Precinct 4 Commissioner.

The win all but assures Morales will be the first new commissioner to oversee the precinct in over 30 years. The position is currently held by Margaret Gomez, who announced she would retire at the end of her term after decades in public service.

No Republican candidates ran, so barring a third-party candidate, Morales will be unopposed in November and be sworn into office early next year.

“I’m excited for our community. I'm excited for our families,” Morales said after all the precincts had reported early Wednesday morning. “But more than anything, I’m excited to get to work.”

The commissioners court is made up of four members who each oversee a precinct and one at-large judge. The court sets the county’s tax rate and manages spending of a $2.2 billion budget, which goes toward the jail, roads, parks, healthcare and housing for low-income residents, emergency services, affordable childcare and more… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Michelle Gutierrez Cohen defeats incumbent Ruben Becerra in Hays County judge Democratic runoff (KUT)

Michelle Gutierrez Cohen has defeated incumbent Ruben Becerra to be the Democratic candidate for Hays County judge in November.

Unofficial results from Tuesday's runoff show Gutierrez Cohen, the Precinct 2 county commissioner, received 58.31% of the vote. Becerra received 41.69%.

"Hays County has spoken. And the voters are ready for a change," Gutierrez Cohen said on her campaign's Facebook page. "You made a little girl who grew up in Section 8 housing and whose family came to Hays County with the dream of owning land have the honor of becoming a County Commissioner. And now, you are giving me the chance to lead as your County Judge. I will not let you down."

Becerra, who has served as Hays County judge since 2019, conceded the race in a text message to KUT News.

"I ran a campaign entirely on my record, and I'm proud of that record. I'm proud of how I ran my race, and I'm grateful I gave it everything I had and left it all on the field," he said. "And now, I'm at peace seeing the baton passed to someone else."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Montserrat Garibay beats Kathie Tovo to represent Austin's House District 49 (KUT)

Montserrat Garibay will represent Texas House District 49 at the Capitol, a seat long held by Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa.

Garibay, a former teacher and education advocate, beat Kathie Tovo, a former Austin City Council member. Republicans did not field a candidate, so Garibay will take over the seat.

Garibay declared victory Tuesday night after receiving a commanding lead in early voting totals. As Election Day results came in, Tovo couldn't close the gap.

“Tonight is proof that Austin is ready to fearlessly stand up to the hateful agenda of Trump and Abbott," Garibay said. “Austin voters know we need to organize inside and outside of the Capitol to defend our constitutional rights and hold Republicans accountable."

Tovo congratulated Garibay on her win in what she called a "hard fought campaign."

"I wish her the best. I’d like to thank my supporters for their dedication and efforts," Tovo said.

Hinojosa gave up the House seat to run for governor, kicking off a Democratic primary that drew eight candidates in March. Republicans didn't field a candidate, so whoever wins will take the seat… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin eyes new charter amendment election after canceled 2024 vote (Community Impact)

Austinites could vote on several updates to the city's foundational rulebook this fall, two years after an election for some of those changes was canceled.

Similar to a local constitution, Austin's city charter establishes basic rules and procedures from elections and administration to planning and taxing. The charter can only be amended every two years through an election, which can be proposed either by City Council or via resident petitions.

Council requested a review of Austin's requirements for petition elections in 2023, resulting in proposed charter edits in 2024. City staff also forwarded recommended charter changes to appear on local ballots.

More than a dozen amendment were eventually placed on the November 2024 ballot. However, Austin was forced to cancel that vote under a court order stemming from a resident lawsuit over errors made by city staff as the election was being ordered… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Elon Musk's SpaceX could soon top 2,000 employees east of Austin (Austin Business Journal)

Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp. plans to move all production of its Starlink satellite internet equipment to Bastrop County as part of its massive expansion about 30 miles east of Austin. The company could top 2,000 employees there in the process.

Representatives for SpaceX, which just last week filed plans to go public as potentially the largest public offering in history, said during a May 26 Bastrop County Commissioners Court meeting that its expansion represents an $855 million investment.

SpaceX's initial factory already sits at 550,000 square feet. County officials told the Austin Business Journal earlier this year the company was approved for permits to build a 1.1-million-square-foot structure adjacent to it. It also includes a communications tower at the north side and a 50,000-square-foot parking garage… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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✅ Ken Paxton defeats John Cornyn for U.S. Senate GOP nomination (Texas Tribune)

After receiving a coveted Senate endorsement from President Trump last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton took an early victory lap. Paxton released an ad touting the endorsement before quickly pivoting to one targeting Democratic nominee James Talarico. He asked his rival in the Republican primary, longtime Sen. John Cornyn, to stop the negative attack ads for the final days of the ugly race. Cornyn responded with a definitive no. “Judgment day is coming for Ken Paxton,” Cornyn told reporters in Houston last week.

Conventional political wisdom considers Trump’s 11th-hour endorsement of Paxton to likely be a final blow in what was already a difficult battle for Cornyn. If true, the longtime senator is going down swinging, in a battle he has said from the beginning was largely motivated by his disgust for Paxton. At his own rally in San Antonio, Paxton said: “We’ll have Tuesday and then we’re going to have a little race with James Talarico,” before testing out derogatory nicknames for the Democrat. He challenged the crowd, as he does at every rally, to name one of Cornyn’s accomplishments in office. Paxton and Cornyn are in a runoff for the party nomination, after neither won 50% of the vote in an initial March primary. Tuesday’s runoff election will be the latest test of the president’s power, as he has used the political muscle of his MAGA base to push out dissenting voices in the Republican Party.

While Paxton’s campaign celebrated the endorsement, Cornyn’s campaign put out a press release listing all the headlines that called Paxton a gift to Democrats in the general election. James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, said he thinks the endorsement will give a final boost to Paxton. Old-school party stalwarts loyal to Cornyn may not like to admit it, Henson said, but polling and other data shows Paxton more in line with the party’s electorate. “Paxton’s alignment with Trump and the Trump era is a better fit for where the base is right now,” he said. “If Cornyn winds up pulling this out, it’ll be because he dug it out with superior resources and campaigning.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Allred defeats Johnson in runoff for redrawn U.S. House seat in North (Dallas Morning)

Former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred beat incumbent U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson in Tuesday’s runoff for a newly drawn North Texas district in a race that turned the onetime Democratic allies against each other. Vote returns showed Allred besting Johnson by more than 9 percentage points, a victory the Dallas Democrat called a "clear message." "They redrew the maps to make us disappear, but this community showed up anyway and made its voice heard," Allred said in a statement late Tuesday.

"That is who we are." The intraparty fight — one of the most closely watched this cycle — for the Dallas-based District 33 stems from a Republican-led redrawing of Texas’ congressional map aimed at maintaining the party’s narrow majority in Washington. Allred, the former NFL linebacker and three-term congressman, previously vacated his seat to run unsuccessfully for the Senate in 2024.

The district strongly favors Democrats, with the winner all but assured of capturing the congressional seat. Allred will face customs broker Patrick Gillespie, who won the Republican runoff against entrepreneur John Sims. Speaking Tuesday evening at their election watch parties, neither Allred nor Johnson treated their race as settled. The Associated Press didn't call the race for Allred until after 10 p.m. Allred addressed reporters and supporters at a local union hall in Old East Dallas about two hours after polls closed. He said his party, going forward, must go about "unrigging” the system, stand with working people and defend the “idea that diversity is a good thing.”

He also warned Republicans he accused of breaking the law: “If you violate my people’s civil rights, I will be there to fight you every step of the way.” Also in Old East Dallas, addressing reporters at Times Ten Cellars, Johnson said her team was waiting for the remaining ballots to be counted. Whatever the outcome, the Farmers Branch Democrat said, she would work to elect other Democrats on the ballot. She also had curt words for the Republican-led redistricting effort that made her current district more favorable to the GOP. "Redistricting is a bitch," Johnson said... 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Christian Menefee beats Al Green in Democratic primary runoff in new TX-18 (Houston Public Media)

U.S. Rep. Christian Menefee beat U.S. Rep. Al Green in Tuesday’s Democratic primary runoff in Texas’ 18th Congressional District, according to a race call by the Associated Press. According to early voting results released by Harris County, where the bulk of the newly redrawn 18th District is located, Menefee received 70.4% of nearly 24,000 votes cast.

The district also includes parts of Brazoria and Fort Bend counties. A countywide technical problem in Fort Bend caused voting delays Tuesday. Nonetheless, Menefee’s early voting lead in Harris County was enough for him to declare victory. “Tonight belongs to the people of this district,” Menefee said in a Tuesday night statement. “You have shown up over and over, and every single time, you have chosen to fight for a better future for our communities.

I do not take that for granted for one second. This is your victory, and I will spend every day in Washington making sure it means something.” Green and Menefee were pitted against each other in a rare race between two sitting congressmen. The matchup was a result of the redrawn congressional maps approved by the Texas legislature last year at the behest of President Donald Trump. The left-leaning District 18 was redrawn to include portions of Green's prior district, the 9th Congressional District, pitting Democrat against Democrat.

The 18th also is a district that has been through a tumultuous few years. Tuesday’s primary runoff was the district's fourth election in seven months. The sudden death in March 2025 of U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner, who succeeded the late U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, led to nearly a full year without congressional representation for the 18th District. Menefee won a January special election to fill the seat and was sworn in on Feb. 3… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ UFC fighting cage rises on White House lawn for bout celebrating America’s 250th anniversary (Associated Press)

Yet another White House construction project is underway, though this one is meant to be only temporary.

Crews are erecting an octagon-shaped cage on the South Lawn that will host next month’s UFC bout, helping mark the nation’s 250th anniversary — and President Donald Trump ‘s 80th birthday.

Online renderings depict what the completed, wire-mesh-fence-ringed fight space is expected to look like ahead of the June 14 event. It will be ringed by a red, white and blue stage under a towering arch featuring stars and stripes patterns and two large screens carrying the action live.

The cage and stage will themselves be surrounded by thousands of temporary seats, including ringside space for a full marching band that can set the entire scene to blaring music.

The project is part of a series of events celebrating the semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independence’s signing on July 4, 1776. Other planned functions include an IndyCar race that will pass by the White House and the Great American State Fair taking place on the National Mall… 🟪 (READ MORE)