The Primary Is Here And So Is The Drama
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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AIPAC
15 min read
AIPAC is central to the article's discussion of campaign finance controversy and the distinction between AIPAC money versus casino lobby money from Adelson. Understanding AIPAC's structure, influence, and lobbying methods provides crucial context for the political dynamics described.
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Miriam Adelson
13 min read
The article hinges on the controversy over Miriam Adelson's donations to Texas Democrats for casino legalization versus her known pro-Israel political activism. Her biography explains why her name carries different connotations in different political contexts.
There are 19 days left until the primary ballot filing deadline in Texas, December 8th. Which really means absolutely nothing. We want people to file right now! We have no patience. We want to know that every seat has a candidate running. But candidates file whenever they do, because of fees or the days they schedule it, or because of whatever strategic reasons they think necessary.
But as both the Democratic and Republican primary tickets start to fill up, there are plenty of races I want to talk about, and I want to start with how Colin Allred is using dirty campaign tactics *once again.*
Last week, at TribFest, Allred called out Talarico for taking money from Miriam Adelson in the Texas House for casinos. And because there’s basically no nuance in politics, this gets twisted a million different ways, but at the end of the day, Allred is playing dirty politics, and I’ll explain why. Further, for my readers who weren’t following me during the 2024 primary, I’ll give you a recap of my history with Allred and how I know this was intentional.
Rewind to 2023.
Right around the time Allred was set to announce he was running for the Senate, I met him at a private event and asked him very specific policy questions about issues that were important to me. During his 2024 run, he took very Conservative positions, and I was ideologically the same as I am now regarding universal healthcare and expanding the Supreme Court.
Personally, I thought Allred was nice enough. He didn’t seem like an evil person or anything like that, but we weren’t ideologically aligned, so I endorsed his primary challenger, Roland Gutierrez, who I thought was more progressive.
I even made this picture (circa October 2024):
Allred won the primary, and I heard the rumblings of the leftward flanks sitting out of the election to “punish Democrats” on Gaza, on student loans, on the presidential primary process, and on other things. So, I encouraged those to vote for Allred in the general election. Because the choices were Colin Allred or Ted Cruz, and while ideologically, Allred might not be perfect, he was going against Ted Cruz, for crying out loud.
Allred called me and thanked me for telling people to vote for him over Ted Cruz. It was an awkward conversation. But I’d do it again, because the thing that
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