Newly-elected state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt (D-Austin) was ceremonially sworn into her new office at the Texas State Capitol this week after being formally sworn in a couple of weeks ago. Eckhardt, a former Travis County judge, will fill the Senate District (SD) 14 seat previously held by former Sen. Kirk Watson until its term expires in 2022. Eckhardt posted a photo of the ceremony in a tweet:

Today I was ceremonially sworn in to the Texas Senate. I am the first woman to represent SD 14, and the 10th to serve in this Senate. I am deeply honored for your faith in me. #txlege 1/ pic.twitter.com/GVG3KOpxt9

— Sarah Eckhardt (@sarah_eckhardt) August 12, 2020

A shakeup involving a North Texas congressional seat is sending reverberations down through legislative seats in the district. State Sen. Pat Fallon (R-Prosper) was chosen by a GOP committee to replace U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX 4) on the ballot this November. Rep. Ratcliffe vacated his seat in Congress to serve as the appointed Director of National Intelligence (DNI) for the Trump administration. This particular congressional district is considered solidly Republican, which means Fallon will likely be elected the next congressman for the district.

What that means for the Texas Legislature is that Fallon's Senate seat in SD 30 will likely become vacant, triggering a special election to fill the unexpired term that ends in 2022. State Reps. Drew Springer (R-Muenster), Lynn Stucky (R-Denton), and Jonathan Stickland (R-Bedford) have all been mentioned as potential candidates, as well as Shelley Luther, a Dallas beauty salon owner whose arrest for violating public health orders made her a cause celebre for those who oppose business restrictions tied to COVID-19. Denton Mayor Chris Watts has also been mentioned as a potential candidate.

The vacancy sets up a potential dilemma for GOP House members considering a run in reliably Republican SD 30. Once Fallon vacates his Senate seat, Gov. Greg Abbott is required to set a special election within a set time period. Depending on the timing, that special election could be held on the same day as the Nov. 3 general election. Texas law prohibits a candidate from running for two seats at once, so House members could be required to resign their House seats in order to run for the Senate under that scenario. There are also scenarios in which an election could be held right before or during the 2021 legislative session. Any of those scenarios could leave Republicans down one or more members at the beginning of the legislative session in January when members elect a speaker.

The national story this week was the announcement on Tuesday that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden selected U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) as his running mate. Harris is the first African-American woman and first person of Asian-American descent to appear on a major political party's presidential ticket. Earlier in the primary, presidential candidate Kamala Harris proposed raising teacher salaries on average by 23%, or roughly $13,500, in order to help close the pay gap between teachers and other professionals. Other Democratic candidates, including Biden, would later include teacher raises in their policy platforms.

This week we're also highlighting the importance of the U.S. Census and its impact on how Texans are represented. Texas is currently represented in Congress by 36 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, along with our two U.S. senators. That ranks Texas just behind California (52 members) with the second-largest delegation in Congress overall and the largest Republican delegation. This is important because members representing Texas make up 8% of the total votes in the 435-person U.S. House, giving Texas more legislative power than any other state with the exception of California.

Congressional seats are apportioned to each state based on population, and population is officially recorded every 10 years through the census. The 2020 Census currently underway will determine whether the number of Congressional seats in Texas -- and thereby our state's power in Congress -- grows or shrinks. The Trump administration has proposed changes to the way the 2020 Census counts population that would dilute Texas's power, which makes responding to the census all the more important. You can respond to the 2020 Census right away by clicking here. To find out more about the census and what you can do in order to ensure Texas gets the voting power it deserves, check out this recent article by ATPE Lobbyist Andrea Chevalier.