Texas Senate debate, hearing on marijuana-based products: This Week in Texas Politics

AUSTIN, Texas - This Week in Texas Politics, several different issues came up. 

They ranged from the big Senate debate between Ted Cruz and Collin Allred. Also, from a cluster of legislative hearings that included a new debate over regulating marijuana-based products.

FOX 7 Austin's chief political reporter Rudy Koski, and our panel of political analysts, took a look at some of the hot topics.

RUDY KOSKI: Confrontation is a good word for this week in Texas politics. We're going to get the word a little later from our panel. But first, let's get our headlines from our panel. And we'll start first with political analyst Mark Wiggins. Mark. What's your headline? 

MARK WIGGINS: Cruz and Allred debate. But who's the audience? 

RUDY KOSKI: Annie Spilman with Main Street Relations. Andy, what's your headline? 

ANNIE SPILMAN: Ted Cruz is winning, but Colin Allred pressed him harder than Beto did. So what's next? 

RUDY KOSKI: Patrick Switek with The Washington Post. Patrick, give me a headline. 

PATRICK SVITEK: I have to go with the debate to one and done. Cruz and Allred meet in their first and likely only debate. 

RUDY KOSKI: And Brad Johnson with The Texan News. Brad, what's your headline? 

BRAD JOHNSON: I'll take a different route. Roberson fight Spotlights a Big Separation of Powers question. 

RUDY KOSKI: The big story this week certainly was the big debate between Senator Ted Cruz and his Democratic challenger, Colin Allred. Mark, what was the big take for you out of this? 

MARK WIGGINS: I think the biggest thing that you get out of them are these tick tock moments that you hope go viral and reach a larger audience than the people who are watching live. And you can see that strategy here in this race. Tick Tock and YouTube, if you go there right now, they are flooded, absolutely flooded with videos of Allred hitting Cruz over abortion, immigration and January 6th. 

ANNIE SPILMAN: The one thing I was disappointed about is, of course, they brought up inflation and the economy, but it was a less focused conversation and I think it needed to be. 

PATRICK SVITEK: Yeah, well, I have to agree with what Mark said earlier. These debates are increasingly not really about what happens actually during the debate run time, but how it is covered and consumed in traditional and nontraditional media afterward. And I do think Allred, you know, the positioned himself well to have a few of those kind of sound bites that could resonate. 

BRAD JOHNSON: I don't think there was any real moment of, Oops, that Ted Cruz or Allred said. So overall, this really isn't going to affect much. 

RUDY KOSKI: Drama and Demands were made under the Capitol Dome this week. A Senate committee is looking into ways to outlaw the use of masks and face coverings by protesters. Members of a House committee promising any crackdown on the ownership of Texas land by unfriendly foreign governments or their proxies will not discriminate against minority groups. And another committee got involved in a death penalty case of Robert Roberson by trying to block his execution. The House criminal jurisprudence Committee is upset that a new law involving this case against junk science was not considered in his request for clemency. And Ken Paxton sued a North Texas doctor for providing  gender transition treatments to nearly two dozen minors in violation of SB 14. Patrick, which issue caught your attention in all this? 

PATRICK SVITEK: It's one of those issues that jumped out to me was the issue of foreign ownership of Texas land. Because I think for conservatives in the Texas legislature, that is really one of the big pieces of unfinished business from the last legislative session. 

BRAD JOHNSON: But the Roberson case, you know, obviously someone's life is on the line here. So that's the highest stake. 

MARK WIGGINS: Yeah, I'm going to join with Brad. And, you know, it's the Roberson case has just been so unprecedented the way you've seen legislators take an activist role in this case. But, you know, from their perspective, the courts are blatantly ignoring a law that they passed in 2013 against junk science. 

RUDY KOSKI: And there was another one that I didn't mention in regards to THC and beverages, a hearing on that. Is that what caught your attention? 

ANNIE SPILMAN: It went a lot deeper than that? And it looks now that lieutenant governor and others have expressed interest in banning all sales of hemp. And I think we know that the Delta eight issue was held up in court. So this is going to be an ongoing and very contentious issue. 

RUDY KOSKI: Elon Musk kicked off the week by sticking the landing with this giant Starship in South Texas. A really big history making deal. But also notable is how he is stepping up his involvement in politics on the national stage and even right here in Texas. Musk now joins Mark Cuban on the political stage as celebrity billionaires in politics. Brad, this is like an Old West showdown between, with moneybags instead of six shooters, right? 

BRAD JOHNSON: The stakes of Texas politics are just getting so large that these billionaires are pumping more and more money in. And I don't think we're going to see an end to this. 

MARK WIGGINS: There's a risk any time you're a business person and you make a political stance the way they have done and make it part of your public persona, there's a risk you're going to alienate half your clientele. But in both of their cases, I'm sure that the calculation they're making is, they've already made more money than most people on the planet, so I guess who cares? 

PATRICK SVITEK: Yeah. You're seeing these business community figures step up in a big way for both campaigns. On the Republican side, I'd argue it's they're more of a factor in terms of actually, you know, fueling the money that we're seeing poured into this race. 

RUDY KOSKI: All right. Let's wrap it up there. And as promised, we're going to give you a word for the week and we'll start first with Mark Wiggins. Mark, What's your word for the week? 

MARK WIGGINS: Debatable. 

PATRICK SVITEK: Elon. 

ANNIE SPILMAN: Shenanigans. 

BRAD JOHNSON: Punchy. 

RUDY KOSKI: And that is This Week in Texas Politics.