DALLAS — Texas Democrats spent the week in Washington, D.C., taking a victory lap of sorts, even welcomed as heroes for walking out of the legislature and killing Republican attempts to change the voting laws in the state.
But besides those photo opportunities and press conferences, what, if anything will come from those visits?
Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-Dist. 116, made the trip to the U.S. Capitol.
He said the contingent has spent the week meeting with and thanking senators, who have tough decisions to make.
U.S. lawmakers are currently considering two pieces of voting legislation, the For The People Act and the John Lewis Act, which has yet to be introduced this session.
The For The People Act expands voter registration and access, among other things.
Watch this week's entire episode of Inside Texas Politics below:
How the pandemic contributed to building permit delays in Dallas
Dallas dropped the ball during the pandemic, at least as far as building permits are concerned.
The city was not ready, got way behind, and left builders and residents waiting for months just to get city hall to sign off on simple forms.
Dallas is said to have figured it out though, and is working to eliminate that backlog. Councilman Casey Thomas II, District 3 said the city hired private contractors to help clear the backlog.
He said part of the delays were due to COVID restrictions slowing things down.
Thomas believes Dallas should be caught up in the next 30 days.
Abbott wasn't the first to pitch building a Texas border wall
The state of Texas building its own border wall has become front and center of Gov. Greg Abbott's re-election campaign, but that idea was first floated by another Republican.
Don Huffines is a former Republican state senator from Dallas who recently announced he is running against Abbott in the Republican primary.
“My idea to secure the border is resonating so well with Republican voters,” Huffines said. He said Abbott stole the idea from him.
Huffines added securing the border is critical for the state, and he promised to try to close more than 20 border crossings, including to commercial traffic, even though ports of entry are regulated by the federal government, not the state.