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Political Points: Did non-citizens vote in Texas, and which presidential candidate stopped in Dallas?

Here are the top headlines from Austin, Washington, Dallas and the campaign trail.

Good morning!

Here are the top headlines from Austin, Washington, Dallas and the campaign trail.

Points from Austin

1. Conservatives on Monday seized on a state report about non-U.S. citizens possibly voting, saying Texas should tighten procedures to ensure voters are citizens. But voting rights advocates accused the state GOP of gliding over facts to stoke fears and engage in "voter suppression."

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County officials in North Texas and elsewhere, meanwhile, said that they're trying to figure out how best to comply with Secretary of State David Whitley's request that they scrub a newly updated list of about 98,000 residents. According to state officials, they weren't citizens when they obtained a driver's license but eventually wound up on voter rolls.

Political Points

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Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, congratulates Sen. Kevin P. Eltife, R-Tyler, right, on his...
Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, congratulates Sen. Kevin P. Eltife, R-Tyler, right, on his nomination as president pro tempore during the final day of the 84th Texas legislature regular session on Monday, June 1, 2015 at the Texas state capitol in Austin, Texas. (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)
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2. Kel Seliger was once one of the Texas Senate's top Republicans, promoted and applauded for his ability to work across the aisle.

Now, he's suddenly the only GOP member without any kind of leadership role.

This week, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick stripped Seliger of his job as a committee chairman. Seliger has said the demotion was political payback; Patrick blames it on Seliger's attitude and a "lewd comment" he recently made about a Patrick female staffer.

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Neither man shows signs of backing down. The impasse will test the strength of the lieutenant governor's hold over the Senate as Seliger — the maverick Republican who has increasingly defied him — could cause serious problems for Patrick and his priorities.

Texas State Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, in his Twitter profile photo
Texas State Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, in his Twitter profile photo

3. Chris Turner is riding high. The Grand Prairie Democrat rolled into Austin this month knowing he'd have 12 more seats to bolster his party's ranks in the Texas House.

Two weeks ago, he was re-elected to a second consecutive term as leader of the House Democratic Caucus. And last week, Republican House Speaker Dennis Bonnen unexpectedly named Turner chairman of the influential higher education committee.

It all may be too much for a caucus chairman who has mostly focused on damage control the past few sessions in the Republican-dominated Legislature. But Turner expects House Democrats, who have pulled within nine seats of holding the majority, to play a big role.

4. Other than Turner, which other lawmakers were given powerful committee assignments? Here's a look at who won big and who lost out.

5. Two North Texans were sworn in Monday as members of the Texas State Board of Education, where they will spend the next four years determining what the state's children learn in public schools.

6. We're trying to make it easier, and more fun, to stay informed on what your state representatives and senators are up to. In the spirit of Schoolhouse Rock, we've started a video series about politics. The first installment is about how the state Legislature works.

7. At our new site, Texas Tracker: Your Guide to the State Legislature, you'll find stories, analysis and more from the Capitol. If you're a Dallas Morning News subscriber, you can customize your feed. Sign in, click the issues you want to follow, and you'll see only posts matching those topics.

Bob's breakdown

It's Week Four of the legislative session, and the budget-writing panels soon will both be in high gear. Senate Finance, which spent last week getting warmed up, turned Monday to prisons, state police and criminal justice. It's already had four lengthy hearings.

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House Appropriations holds its first huddle today on contracts and the state's big pension funds. It turns Wednesday to the "big stuff" -- school finance, school safety, Medicaid, border security, Child Protective Services and highways. House Public Education jumps out in front of its Senate counterpart, holding its first meeting Wednesday. It will hear from Education Commissioner Mike Morath of Dallas.

Points from the campaign trail

1. John Cornyn and other politicians say an incumbent should run one of two ways: scared or unopposed. Given that philosophy, Texas's senior senator is having nightmares about his 2020 re-election bid, Gromer Jeffers Jr. writes in his latest column.

But for Cornyn, running scared means being prepared. He's already started his re-election bid, anticipating a big threat from Democrats, who will certainly mount a challenge after former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke came within 2.6 percentage points of beating Sen. Ted Cruz last year.

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2. Speaking of O'Rourke, he isn't close to making up his mind on whether to run for president in 2020, telling a Politico reporter last week that a decision might take months.

3. But former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro has thrown his hat in the ring. He was in Dallas on Monday night for a fundraiser at Mercado 369, a Latino cultural center, art gallery and shop in north Oak Cliff.

4. The Democrats' House campaign arm is taking out digital ads against five Texas Republicans, including Coppell Rep. Kenny Marchant, as it begins to make moves in what's expected to be a hotly contested 2020 election.

Points from Washington

1. Although President Donald Trump has pushed a tariff truce of late to help calm global markets —imposing no new levies since September — Texas companies are feeling the pain.

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Texas remains on the front lines of any trade tiff, thanks to its standing as one of America's top trading states.

"This is a ticking time bomb," said Ralph Bradley of Jammy Inc., a Fort Worth auto-parts importer swamped by tariffs. "I don't know why everybody is like, 'Things are OK right now.' They're not. They're bad as they've ever been, and they're about to get worse."

2. Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price arrived at the White House early Friday afternoon with a bipartisan group of mayors, all of them eager to spend time with President Donald Trump discussing economic development and other local priorities.

Then came a change of plans. The mayors were whisked off to the Rose Garden, where Trump announced a deal to end the record-setting partial government shutdown.

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"Just get the mayors in town, and they settle all of this," Price joked.

3. With Congress facing a Feb. 15 deadline to resolve the border wall debate, the House set a hearing for this morning to examine ongoing military deployment at the southern border. How many troops are currently stationed there?

Points from Dallas

1. Dallas came this close to getting its first city-sanctioned poker room last week, writes city columnist Robert Wilonsky. But in the end, the City Council folded. And he's not talking about the illegal underground poker rooms that pop up in rundown warehouse districts or empty storefronts. He's talking about the brightly lit, secured, members-only poker rooms or social clubs or card houses all across Texas.