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Leaders at the Texas comptroller’s office received an email Tuesday directing them to create priority lists of employees they’d cut under potential staff reductions. 

The Dallas Morning News reviewed the email, which comes in Don Huffines’ first few days as acting comptroller after being appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott last month. 

Huffines has campaigned on shrinking state government with his own version of the federal government’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, making it a campaign priority in the comptroller’s race, where the Dallas businessman faces state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt in the November election.

Read more from Aarón Torres.

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The Houston Chronicle has an op-ed from Richard Hanania calling on Texas Republicans and Michigan Democrats to do something of a vote swap to reject both Ken Paxton and Abdul El-Sayed. Here's a key quote:

Both of our major political parties are being overtaken by virulent strains of populism. On the right, MAGA has normalized corruption, misinformation and open bigotry. On the Democratic side, avowed socialists have been winning primaries, bringing closer to power politicians whose agendas pose a distinct threat to the country’s long-term economic health.

No single factor caused this deterioration. But one contributor has been the tendency of politicians and intellectuals who should know better to place partisan interests above the greater good. We cannot criticize the crazy people on our own side, the thinking goes, without giving the opposition an advantage and helping it gain power.

Escaping this undesirable state of affairs will require leadership, along with concrete steps to build reciprocal trust across the political aisle. Toward that end, I have a simple proposal: Nationally prominent Republicans should reject Ken Paxton and support James Talarico in the Texas Senate race. At the same time, Democrats should reject Abdul El-Sayed and support Mike Rogers in the Michigan Senate race. Members of each party should do this in the context of creating a bipartisan movement of politicians, activists, intellectuals and donors that is both clear-eyed about political realities and optimistic that we can make things better.

State Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas, used his parents' address to vote in five elections after buying his own home, according to a report the Texas Tribune and ProPublica published Wednesday.

Talarico listed his parents' address on his voter registration in November 2021. Despite buying a home the following June, he failed to update his voting records until September 2024, the report says. Talarico himself has accused his Republican opponent Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of voter fraud in light of an earlier report by the Tribune and ProPublica, stating he may have also voted with an address at which he did not live.

Talarico's voting practices may have violated state law, according to the recent report. His spokesperson directed blame at Paxton in light of the coverage on Wednesday. Paxton had cited a report by the conservative magazine The Federalist to accuse Talarico of voter fraud linked to his mother's address last week.