Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has selected January 23 as the date of the special election to fill the seat of Rep. Drew Springer, who recently won a promotion to the Texas Senate.

Springer is headed to the upper chamber after winning the December 19 special election runoff to replace Sen. Pat Fallon, who is on his way to Congress next month.

At least two Republicans have already announced campaigns for the House seat. They are Jason Brinkley, who is resigning as Cooke County judge to run for the seat, and David Spiller, a Jacksboro attorney.

Voters in Laredo approved a proposition exempting certain public officials from the prohibition on participating in political activity.

Proposition D amends the city charter to explicitly exempt the mayor, in addition to individual city council members, from the prohibition against political activity by city employees.

Proposition D took effect when passed 70% to 30% on November 3.

Voters in Laredo, Texas approved a proposition to trigger an automatic recall for certain criminal convictions of mayor and city council members.

Proposition A amends the city charter to require city council members and mayors convicted of non-felony crimes to be automatically recalled.

Additionally, these non-felony crimes will be determined based on the district court’s assessment of whether the crime involves “moral turpitude.”

The proposition took effect when passed 77% to 23% on November 3.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott named December 19 as the special election runoff for Senate District 30 to fill Sen. Pat Fallon’s seat.

The special election for Texas State Senate District 30 was held on September 29 after Fallon announced his plans to run for election to the U.S. House to represent the 4th Congressional District of Texas.

State Rep. Drew Springer and Dallas Salon Owner Shelley Luther are on the ballot to fill Fallon’s seat. District 30 covers a big chunk of north Texas including parts of Grayson, Denton, Collin, and Parker Counties.

Gov. Greg Abbott ordered an emergency special election on September 29 for Texas State Senate District 30.

The emergency order will elect a state senator to serve out the unexpired term of Pat Fallon, who announced his plans to resign from the seat effective January 4, 2021.

Additionally, Fallon announced his plans to run for election to the U.S. House to represent the 4^th Congressional District of Texas.

This move allowed Gov. Abbott to call the special election ahead of the vacancy.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Steve Adler signed an additional emergency order on April 13.

The new order suspends all deadlines imposed by city code, ordinance, rule, or other regulation until May 30.

Under Section 7 of the order, the deadline for all lobbyist quarterly activity reports has been extended from May 1 to May 30.

No late fees will be accrued for failure to file prior to May 30. 

Due to the social distancing restrictions being implemented by the City of Austin, the Office of the City Clerk has closed to members of the public.

Correspondence and payments pertaining to lobbyist registrations/renewals may still be mailed in and will be processed based on their postage date.

Operations are continuing via telework, and employees may be reached via email.

Gov. Greg Abbot signed an order on March 20 to delay the May primary runoff elections until July in response to the growing outbreak of COVID-19.

Under the order, the May 26 primary runoff elections are now scheduled for July 14.

July 14 is also the same day as the special election for Texas Senate District 14.

Early voting will begin July 6.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a proclamation on March 18 allowing local governments the option to postpone the May 2 uniform election until November 3.

If a local election is postponed until November, it will postpone Texas Ethics Commission filing deadlines associated with that election.

However, if a political subdivision opts to hold local elections on May 2, the deadlines for campaign finance reports filed by candidates, officeholders, and PACs for races or measures on the May 2 ballots remain the same.

The Texas Ethics Commission does not have the statutory authority to extend these types of filing deadlines.

The 30-day pre-election report for the May 2 uniform election is due by April 2.

The eight-day pre-election report is due by April 24.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Austin Mayor Steve Adler signed an emergency order on March 17.

The order suspends all deadlines imposed by city code, ordinance, rule, or other regulation until May 1.

Under Section 7 of the order, the deadline for all lobbyist quarterly activity reports has been extended to May 1.

No late fees will be accrued for failure to file prior to May 1.

Gov. Greg Abbot has postponed the special election for the Austin area Texas Senate District 14 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The election will replace retiring state Sen. Kirk Watson, an Austin Democrat leaving office at the end of April.

The election has been moved from May 2 to July 14.

It is unclear whether additional action will be taken to delay municipal elections across the state, which are scheduled for May 2.

Voters in east El Paso and the Lower Valley will choose a new representative in a special runoff election for City Council District 6 on Saturday, January 25.

Claudia Rodriguez and Debbie Torres face off in the runoff after they had advanced from the December 14 election where four were competing for the seat.

Both are campaigning to keep taxes low and to increase structural repairs.

El Paso City Council voted to hold a special election on November 5 to replace a District 3 councilwoman after a Facebook post on her public page announced her candidacy for mayor.

The post by city Rep. Cassandra Hernandez, which was later deleted, triggered a resign-to-run law.

The law states that an elected official must resign from office upon announcing a run for another seat.

Rep. Hernandez said she did not upload the post but one of her supporters did.

Hernandez asked city leaders to use their discretion to vote no and asked to be able to vote.

However, her request to vote was denied and the special election for her position was approved with a 4-3 vote.

Hernandez cannot run for her seat in the special election because she is under a holdover clause, meaning she is keeping the seat until her successor fills it.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday, November 5 as the special election date to fill House Districts 28 and 100.

Rep. John Zerwas announced his early resignation from District 28, effective September 30, after being appointed the executive vice chancellor for health affairs for the University of Texas.

District 100 was vacated by former Rep. Eric Johnson, who resigned when he was elected mayor of Dallas.