Daily Dispatch 7/17/25: Will The Dems Ditch The Special? That Would Come With A Cost, and More

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

Desperate measures may be called for to opposed mid-decade GOP redistricting, but breaking quorum now comes with stiff financial penalties: https://woai.iheart.com/featured/san-antonios-first-news/content/2025-07-16-will-texas-democrats-attempt-to-break-quorum-during-the-special-session/

...Supreme Court Justice John Roberts is a central figure who has enabled the chaos that Trumps is now bringing to Texas: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/07/blame-john-roberts-for-enabling-trumps-massive-power-grab-in-texas/

...California Governor Gavin Newsom appears ready for extreme measures to counteract Texas redistricting: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/16/newsom-jolts-california-house-maps-texas-00458927

...All of this while everyday Texans are suffering under Trump's policies - we're now the #1 state in the country for financial distress: https://dallas.culturemap.com/news/innovation/texas-ranks-as-no-1-state-with-the-most-people-in-financial-distress/

...Rural Texas, full of Trump voters, is set to lose a long list of rural hospitals under Trump's budget cuts: https://www.amarillo.com/story/news/2025/07/09/15-texas-rural-hospitals-are-at-risk-of-closing-medicaid-cuts-big-beautiful-bill/84518400007/

...Mental health services in Texas schools are on the chopping block too, despite mental health being blamed by Republicans for our epidemic of school shootings: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/14/texas-schools-budget-cuts-mental-health/

...On the Uvalde shooting, an appeals court judge has sided with news organizations who have been trying to compel Uvalde County to release related records: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/16/uvalde-school-shootings-records-release/

Huge amounts of money are flowing into Republican races, and that's for the primary: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/16/texas-attorney-general-comptroller-campaign-finance-fundraising/

Former Galveston mayor and Houston-area lawyer and radio host Joe Jaworski has become the second Democrat to announce a run for Attorney General: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/17/joe-jaworski-texas-attorney-general-democrat/

...While Harlingen emergency physician Ada Cuellar has announced a run to challenge incumbent GOP Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz in the 15th Congressional District: .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}