The State Board of Education passed its revisions to controversial social studies textbook standards today by a vote of 11-4, demonstrating the power of conservatives have on the board. The standards go to a second and final reading in May.

Decisions made by the SBOE mirrored the the conservative sweep in January’s meeting. They included: ...

With the final reading of changes to the English and Language Arts textbook standards revisions approved today, a highly anticipated discussion over changes to Social Studies requirements began. Fifty-four persons were signed up to speak as of this morning, not including three Texas House members who popped in to share their two-cents worth on the changes. By 4:15 p.m., all but 12 persons on the sign-up list had spoken.

East Texas Legislators Reps. Dan Flynn (R-Van) and Wayne Christian (R-Center) spoke prior to public testimony, outlining the details of a letter (viewable here) from the 60-legislator Texas Conservative Coalition.

"We fear that State Board members have been pressured throughout the TEKS revision process to wash the TEKS clean of any references to Judeo-Christian faiths while promoting references to other religions," the letter read. ...

After winning the GOP Primary 60-40 percent, Sen. Kip Averitt (R-Waco) announced his resignation less than a week following the election.

"Your vote of confidence last Tuesday, election day, was most gratifying.  I am humbled by your support," Averitt said, in a press statement.  "Now, the time has come for me to step down."

Averitt indicated he would resign as of midday March 17, allowing Gov. Rick Perry to call a special election for May 8 to fill his seat.

A press release from the Van Taylor campaign informs us that Wayne Richard, a former candidate in the three-way race for HD 66 (Brian McCall's open seat), has endorsed Taylor in the runoff.

Taylor, a Marine Reservist and investment banker, took 33.5 percent of the vote on Tuesday to former Plano City Council member Mabrie Jackson's 41 percent. Richard was edged out of the runoff after taking 25.5 percent of the vote, placing third. The Taylor campaign's press release said that Richard's base of support should remain through April and put Taylor over the top.

A relatively low-key opponent beat incumbent Railroad Commissioner Victor Carrillo in the Republican Primary by 61-39 percent. Though primary winner David Porter told several sources that he believes Carrillo got caught up in a massive movement against incumbents, Carrillo had some other thoughts -- namely that his ethnicity had something to do with it.

We post Carrillo's letter to supporters below ...

It was everything opponents could have been saying about Gov. Rick Perry all along but didn't.

Boyd Richie, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, hosted a press conference this morning at party headquarters to review the winners of last night's Democratic primary and to promote their candidacies.

"Rick Perry doesn't do things the Texas way," Richie said, launching an immediate attack against the presumptive GOP nominee. "Because instead of meeting tough challenges and solving problems, Rick Perry's the one who brought divisive, Washington-style politics to our state -- it's partisanship and politics all the time, every day, 24/7. ...

The Texas Republican House Committee is keeping tabs on the likely runoffs in state rep races at their Web site.

The runoff is set for April 13. Undecided GOP House races and races going into runoff mode include ...
 

With 60 percent of the precincts reporting in the GOP Primary, Place 3 on the Texas Supreme Court looks destined for a runoff between Rebecca Simmons and Rick Green -- though it's still a bit too close to call, with only a couple hundred votes between the top-placing candidates.

Simmons holds the lead at 10:40 p.m. with 18.31 percent, followed by former radio show host and legislator Green at 18.7 percent. Longtime DFW-area Republican and judge Jim Moseley is in third right now with 18.1 percent, followed by Debra Lehrmann at 17.5 percent, Jeff Brown at 16.8 percent, and Rick Strange at 10.7 percent.

It may be a long night to see how the six-way race turns out, but it looks like in Place 9 Eva Guzman has edged out Rose Vela 64-36 percent.

Several news sources are reporting that U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has conceded the election to incumbent Gov. Rick Perry, who (by 9:53 p.m.) has 51 percent of the vote.

Hutchison is sitting at 31 percent, with Debra Medina at about 18. About 41 percent of precincts (a total of 13,023,358 votes statewide) have reported.

Congratulatory remarks are starting to come in. And, without even a few moments to bask in the (currently default) victory, Perry's allies are already going after the Democratic front-runner. ...

Republican incumbent Chuck Hopson should enjoy a run-off free ride to November, if early vote totals and the first wave of precinct totals hold steady. The Jacksonville Republican captured about 71 percent in Houston and Rusk counties, 41 percent in Panola County and 54 percent of the vote in Cherokee County.  In total, Hopson has picked up 5,616 of a total of 9,515 votes between the four counties.

He is opposed by Michael Banks and Allan Cain. Cain is pulling between 10 and 15 percent, with the exception of Panola County -- his home -- where he trumped Hopson with 54 percent. Banks is getting between 5 percent (Panola County) and 16 percent (Houston County), making him the likely third-place candidate.