Rookie Dem Rep. Jasmine Crockett chokes back tears in fight against gun bill that makes permits optional. Capitol Inside photo

House Republican in Dallas District Gone Blue
Cast Only Dissenting Vote for GOP on Gun Bill

Capitol Inside
April 15, 2021

The Texas House Republican who'll be the Democrats number one target in 2022 appeared to be going with the flow of his district as the lone GOP vote against the so-called constitutional carry measure that won preliminary approval in the lower chamber on Thursday night.

The House voted 84-56 for the gun rights plan that GOP State Rep. Matt Schaefer of Tyler spent the entire afternoon defending as the author on the legislation that would make state gun permits optional for people who aren't legally barred for some other reason from holding them.

Eight Democrats - State Reps. Terry Canales of Edinburg, Harold Dutton of Houston, Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City, Tracy King of Uvalde, Eddie Morales of Eagle Pass, Leo Pacheco of San Antonio, Richard Pena Raymond of Laredo and Ramon Romero of Fort Worth - sided with all but one of their GOP colleagues in the vote on the gun plan in House Bill 1927.

But State Rep. Morgan Meyer of Dallas broke ranks in the opposite direction as the only Republican to vote against the legislation that gained an initial nod with a final vote set for Friday.

While Meyer has a chance for repentance with an aye on third reading, the vote against HB 1927 will be widely viewed as a sign of fright on the prospects for a Democratic takeover next year in the House district that he represents in a swath of Big D near downtown.

Meyer dodged lightning in the last two election cycles when he staved off challenges from Democrat Joanna Cattanach with victories that he claimed by an average margin of 0.9 percentage points.

But Democratic President Joe Biden crushed Donald Trump by nearly 14 points in House District 108 in November when Meyer edged Cattanach by less than two points with almost 49.6 percent of the vote. Democrat Beto O'Rourke trounced Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz by 15 points in Meyer's district in 2018 when the state lawmaker defeated the Democrat in their first matchup by 0.28 percent.

Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick had won by 14 points and 9 points respectively in HD 108 when they both secured second terms in their current posts in 2014. Meyer was elected to the House for the first time that year with a win of more than 20 points against a Democrat in an open race. Republican Mitt Romney carried HD 108 when he beat Barack Obama there in the Democratic incumbent's bid for a second term in the White House in 2012.

While the 2022 election will be the most unpredictable in modern times, the Republicans will like their odds of holding their majority in the Texas House with a boost from redistricting this fall and an added bump with a voter restriction plan that GOP leaders and lawmakers appear poised to approve at the Capitol this spring.

Meyer's vote against the constitutional carry measure could be a cry for help nonetheless in a district that might be difficult to realign back to red. HD 108 covers a stretch of north central Texas that includes the affluent enclaves of Highland Park and University Park. Meyer's current district also contains older suburban neighborhoods that have been trending Democratic in recent years with an influx of minority voters and white Democrats from other states.

The vote on HB 1927 also represents a conversion on the fourth-term legislator's position on the liberalization of guns laws in the Lone Star State. Meyer had been a solid vote for the National Rifle Association on Second Amendment rights like all of his Republican colleagues in Austin until tonight. Meyer had voted twice for the open carry bill in his freshman session in 2015.