Politics

State Rep. Mike Villarreal. D-San Antonio, has announced he will resign his Texas House position to run for mayor of San Antonio.

Villarreal, of House District 123, is the only person so far to formally announce intent to run for San Antonio mayor in 2015.

“That election takes place during regular legislative session," Villarreal said. "I cannot be in two places at once, so I have decided not to participate to allow somebody to replace me.”

He said decisions on hot topics, like the state’s education system, need to be in the hands of the right person.

Despite the derailment of San Antonio’s streetcar, the petition that called for a vote on the issue may still put a charter change on the November ballot.

TPR obtained the results of the petition drive, which is seeking a charter amendment change so that voters could have a say on the streetcar project. The city's election code says 20,000 signatures are needed.

The clerk's office found that more than 12,000 are valid and another 8,800 are also valid if the circulator affidavit isn't required. The circulator affidavit is to verify that those signing are real people.

Recent Supreme Court rulings have helped the influx of mega money and their donors into political campaigns.

Kenneth Vogel has been tracking it for Politico and describes the post-Citizen's United universe in his new book, "Big Money, 2.5 Billion Dollars, One Suspicious Vehicle, and a Pimp--on the Trail of the Ultra-Rich Hijacking American Politics."

Guest: 

Texas continues to grapple in federal court over its election maps as a result of partisan cartography that rewards one party over the other. The central question is: Does it illegally impact the voter representation of minority voters simultaneously?

But is there a fairer way of setting up the maps from the start, which would better represent communities in elections and avoid time in the court?