Case Counts/Testing in Texas Monday, November 29th  (2:10 PM data)

Confirmed Cases – 3,580,339 (2,036 new cases)

Hospitalizations – 2,796 (10,828 available beds, 755 available adult ICU beds)

Fatalities – 75,529 (5 new deaths)

 

Vaccine Data –   Monday, November 29th (12:20 PM data)

Total doses administered – 35,923,494

People vaccinated – 18,551,428

People fully vaccinated – 15,896,252

Doses Shipped by state – 27,523,650

 

Inside the Numbers

Positivity rate as of Monday, November 29th was 8.17%.  One month ago, there were 2,800 new cases reported, one week ago there were 2,800 new cases reported, compared to the 2,036 reported yesterday.  The 2,796 COVID patients in hospitals now is 39 less patients compared to one week ago, and COVID patients make up 4.3% of total hospital beds in the state.

Over the last week, an average of 41,497 doses have been administered each day in the state. As of Monday, November 29th 54.3% of Texans have been fully vaccinated.

 

New Laws Take Effect

Seven new laws that were passed during special sessions this summer and fall are due to take effect on Thursday.  The new laws include new voting procedures and restrictions, one that has been challenged by six different lawsuits.  Others are limits on how race can be taught in public schools, and limits on how social media companies control content, which is also under a court challenge.  Other laws that take effect Thursday, which marks the 90th day from the end of the second special session (only redistricting was passed in third session) include limits on the availability of abortion inducing drugs.  This law creates a felony offense for any physician prescribing abortion inducing medication without an in person exam, and limits the use of the drugs to a patient only within the first seven weeks of pregnancy.  Another law going into effect will ban judges from allowing no-cash bonds for anyone accused on violent crimes as well as anyone arrested for a felony offense while out on bail.  And another bill requires classroom instruction in our public schools on how to prevent child abuse and family violence.  The seventh bill passed related to the timetable for passing redistricting bills, which is now meaningless.

 

McConaughey Will Not Run for Governor

Sunday afternoon, the Austin based actor released a video on Twitter announcing that he would not be running for Governor in 2022.  For the past several months, McConaughey had given indications that he was considering a run for Governor, although he never specified whether or not he would run as a Republican, Democrat, or independent.  The prospect of his candidacy had received a great deal of attention, and McConaughey’s name was included in numerous polls that were recently released regarding a potential race.  A poll released by the Dallas Morning News just last week showed McConaughey leading incumbent Gov. Abbott in a straight head to head race.  Now, Abbott will face three major primary challengers and then will face a head to head battle with Beto O’Rourke in the fall.  This announcement is welcome news for O’Rourke, as most of the polls showed that McConaughey was likely to take support away from O’Rourke, as opposed to Abbott.

 

Congresswoman Johnson Makes Endorsement

During her announcement last week, retiring Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson said she would defintley have a recommendation for the voters of her district regaring her successor.  Over the weekend, she gave the nod to current state Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas.  Crockett is a freshman House member, and she was one of the more vocal Democratic members in support of the quorum bust over the elections bill that was considered this summer.  Crockett currently represents House District 100 in the state House, a solidly Democratic district stetching from central Dallas to the southern parts of the county.  Her main rivals in the race to succeed Johnson, as for now, are former Biden campaign official Jane Hope Hamilton and Jessica Mason, a progressive activist and Navy veteran.

 

Gohmert Makes it Official

As expected, Congressman Louie Gohmert announced last week that he will seek the Republican nomination for Texas Attorney General.  Gohmert joins Land Commissioner George P. Bush and former Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman in challenging incumbent Ken Paxton.  Gohmert has aggressively criticized Paxton for his ongoing legal troubles, that include an ongoing indictment for securities fraud, as well as claims by former agency staffers that Paxton abused the powers of his office to help a wealthy donor. The latter has led to an investigation by the FBI.  Gohmert, in his announcement, said that it is imperative to defeat the troubled Paxton in the primary, saying that if Paxton is the nominee, then that opens the door for a Democrat to further exploit Paxton’s issues and ultimately lead to his defeat.

 

What’s Next??

We will be watching the filing period closely, which lasts until December 13th.  Many more annoncements regarding retirements and challenges are expected.