AUSTIN — Former President Donald Trump is upping the pressure on Gov. Greg Abbott to add a “strong and real” 2020 election audit to the special legislative session agenda.
“Texas will always be red, but we must stop the cheating,” Trump said in a statement Friday, while offering no evidence of such.
Last week, Trump began pushing for an audit of 2020 election results in Texas — a state he carried. The Republican continues to say the election was rigged, even after audits, dozens of judges and his own justice department dismissed the allegation as baseless. The Texas Secretary of State’s office has called the election here “smooth and secure.”
Still, hours after Trump’s lobbying began, the Secretary of State’s office announced a 2020 election audit of Collin, Dallas, Harris and Tarrant counties. The work will begin next spring and review whether the counties properly followed election procedures.
Officials in the targeted counties have defended their elections as accurate and secure, while casting doubt on the audit, which they labeled a partisan sham meant to placate Trump.
On Friday, Trump disparaged the effort, calling it “a weak, risk-limiting audit that is being slow-walked through the Secretary of State’s office.” He threw his weight behind a bill filed by state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, which would allow party officials to request audits of their county’s 2020 election results and also set up a process for future reviews.
Senate Republicans passed the legislation in the final days of the last special session, but the House did not take it up.
While Bettencourt said the measure is meant to ensure any “irregularities” are addressed, Democrats warned the result could be a partisan audit like Arizona’s.
Abbott controls the agenda for the 30-day special session that ends in mid-October. The main focus is redrawing the state’s congressional and legislative maps. But Abbott has shown a willingness to ask for more. On Thursday, the Republican governor called on lawmakers to increase the penalty for illegal voting back to what it was before he signed the GOP priority elections bill into law.
Abbott has yet to address Trump’s latest demand to put the election audit bill on the agenda.
In his statement, Trump thanked Bettencourt and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, “for listening to Texans who are demanding answers about Nov. 3.”
“Everyone feels certain Governor Abbott will follow suit,” he wrote.
