File away, I say.
Rep. Sylvester Turner
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Wednesday that House Democrats will “very likely” sue if Texas Gov. Greg Abbott continues to hold off on calling a special election for the Houston-area seat of the late Congressman Sylvester Turner.
Texas law does not require Abbott to call a special election within a certain time period. He technically has the power to call an emergency special election at any time. Turner, the former Houston mayor and longtime state legislator, died in early March.
Abbott’s other options include calling a special election for the midterm election in November or declining to do anything and allowing the seat to remain vacant until 2026.
Jeffries made the comment during a weekly press conference Wednesday but did not elaborate on when a potential suit would be filed.
[…]
Acting Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, who is running for the Congressional seat, on Monday also threatened to sue if Abbott did not call the election. He said he was asking for Abbott to set the election to coincide with the regularly scheduled June 7 runoff election, as the governor already missed the deadline to set it for May 3.
See here for the previous update, in which Menefee made his lawsuit threat. I say get those suits filed, especially if the goal is to get the election in June, because the clock is ticking – the latest date on which a June 7 election could be called is probably around May 1. Courts can only move so quickly, so no time to lose. I get that this is not so easy in practice, and one wants to have the best argument one can going in, but like it or not you’re on the clock.
And on the subject of Greg Abbott’s “options”, let me remind everyone again that the law in question says that the election “SHALL BE ORDERED as soon as practicable after the vacancy occurs”. “Shall” is an important word in the law, it means something is required, not optional. What “as soon as practicable” means is either something we let Greg Abbott decide or we get a judge to decide. You know what I think.
Blah blah blah. If you’re going to file a lawsuit, just file it. No need to telegraph your intent if you’re not seeing what you want to happen.
The Dems have self-castrated themselves.
It is called advertising, your buddy the orange guy, did it with tariffs for months.