Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed Mike S. Sullivan of Kingwood, Shannalea Taylor of Del Rio, Kevin Pottinger of Keller and reappointed Dennis Lewis of Texarkana to the Texas Military Preparedness Commission for terms to expire Feb. 1, 2021.

Abbott last Friday made a trio of appointments to the Texas Board of Physical Therapy Examiners. He appointed Glenda Clausell of Houston and Liesl Olson of Lubbock and reappointed Harvey Aikman of Mission for terms to expire Jan. 31, 2021.

The political arm of Texans for Lawsuit Reform, the Texas Conservative View PAC, the Denton County Conservative Coalition, the Kaufman County Tea Party, New Revolution Now and the Texas Home School Coalition are backing Wayne Christian over Gary Gates in the GOP runoff for Texas railroad commissioner.

Christian’s opponent in the runoff, Gary Gates, announced an endorsement on Thursday from the Texas Alliance for Life PAC.

Republican Party of Texas Chairman Tom Mechler announced endorsements this week of his re-election campaign from U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-San Antonio, and state Rep. Jodie Laubenberg, R-Parker.

Tyler-based conservative group Grassroots America – We the People PAC and its executive director, JoAnn Fleming, on Monday endorsed Dawn Buckingham in the Republican primary runoff election to fill the open SD-24 seat. She later collected endorsements from the Central Texas Republican Assembly (CTRA) and from Ryan Downton, a former contender for the seat.

The political arm of Texans for Lawsuit Reform on Thursday endorsed Lynn Stucky in the GOP runoff election in the open HD-64 seat.

Public education advocacy group Texas Parent PAC announced on Monday that it is endorsing Kimberly Willis in the May 24 Democratic party primary runoff election to represent the Houston-based HD-139 represented by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.

The Pete Gallego for Congress campaign said Tuesday that it has hired a new communications director, Lyndsey Rodriguez. She performed the same job previously for the Mexican American Legislative Caucus.

Cynthia Meyer, leaving the Office of Attorney General Ken Paxton where she is agency spokeswoman for the government affairs team at the Railroad Commission. Her last day in Paxton’s shop is May 6. Handling future press inquiries at OAG is Teresa Farfan.

The two Solomon Ortizes of Texas — former U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz Sr. and former state Rep. Solomon Ortiz Jr. — announced this week they are joining Houston-based Strategic Public Affairs firm.

The Texas Agricultural Land Trust has named James Oliver as the group’s new chief operating officer. He is a former banker and agriculture lender, according to an announcement from TALT.

The Texas Association of Business has added Kirby Hiscox as the organization’s new vice president of corporate development.

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