Capital Highlights

By Editor | October 15, 2025

Redistricting attracts a spate of GOP candidates

Redrawing the state’s congressional maps, though being challenged in court, has drawn 114 Republican candidates in the state’s 38 districts with nearly two months left until the filing deadline, the Houston Chronicle reported.
The Texas Legislature redrew the maps at the request of President Donald Trump in hopes of gaining five additional GOP seats. As a result, there are winnable seats for Republicans in Houston, San Antonio and Dallas that have drawn 19 GOP candidates to date.
Two Republican members of Congress are seeking statewide office instead of trying to hold on to their current seats. Chip Roy, who represents a Central Texas district, is running for Texas attorney general, while Houston Republican Wesley Hunt recently jumped into the U.S. Senate race.
In addition, Michael McCaul, R-Austin, and Morgan Luttrell, R-Houston, are not seeking reelection. Those four open seats have drawn 25 GOP candidates.
Roberson’s execution date paused by Texas court
Just a week before his scheduled execution date, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed the execution of Robert Roberson in the death of his two-year-old daughter in 2002. Roberson was convicted of capital murder the following year for shaken baby syndrome, a diagnosis since discredited by most scientists. His case has drawn widespread attention and calls for his exoneration.
The Austin American-Statesman reported that the state’s highest criminal court decided to send the case back to trial in Anderson County, where he was convicted. The court cited the case of Andrew Wayne Roark, a North Texas man who was exonerated in a similar “shaken baby syndrome” case.
One of the judges wrote a concurring opinion: “As identified in Roark, our scientific understanding of what has become known as Shaken Baby Syndrome has significantly advanced. Because of this deeper understanding, certain assumptions and conclusions that were once thought to be true may not be.”
Roberson, now 58, claims his daughter fell out of the bed in the middle of the night in 2002. He soothed her to sleep, and upon checking on her later that night, found that she was not breathing. She was pronounced dead at an emergency room the next day, and Roberson was eventually charged and convicted of capital murder.
Agency raising awareness of screwworm threat
The Texas Department of State Health Services is calling for increased awareness among health professionals and the public about the New World screwworm. This parasitic fly can threaten the health of both animals and humans.
The screwworm was previously eradicated in the United States in the 1960s but remained endemic in most of Central and South America. Cases were detected in Mexico in November 2024, raising concerns that it would make its way back across the border.
Cattle have been barred from coming into the United States from Mexico since then, meaning more than a million head of cattle that normally would have headed to Texas feed lots remained south of the border. The number of cattle arriving at Texas feed lots is down 18% from a year ago.
An infected cow was reported less than 100 miles from the Texas border in September, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
The supply squeeze is raising the price of beef to record levels. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller has called for the use of pesticide bait to deal with the problem.’
“This isn’t just a livestock issue, it’s about protecting Texas jobs, rural communities, and our agricultural lifeblood,” Miller said.