Rep. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, started Election Day off with a bang, announcing he had filed papers to challenge House Speaker Joe Straus in next year's election for speaker. In a letter to members after the elections, Hughes said Straus "has proved incapable of protecting key members of his leadership team." He accused the speaker of "abusing the redistricting process" and "fetting involved in races - all in an effort to defeat his conservative colleagues who opposed him."

David Dewhurst picked up the first endorsement from a competitor in the U.S. Senate race. Craig James, who finished fourth, endorsed Dewhurst, who finished first but short of the win.

State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, endorsed Marc Veasey of Fort Worth in his runoff against Domingo Garcia of Dallas in CD-33.

Jeff Leach, running for an open House seat in Collin County, picked up an endorsement from state Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, who is well on his way to being that area's next state senator. So did state Rep. Jerry Madden, whose spot in the House Leach is trying to win in a runoff with Jon Cole. 

Chris Connealy is the new State Fire Marshal, an office at the Texas Department of Insurance. He's been the fire chief in Cedar Park since 2004 and before that, served as fire chief for the Houston Fire Department.

Cherie Townsend, the executive director of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, is leaving at the end of June after four years at the agency. She's overseen a restructuring of the agency and a dramatic drop in the population of the state's youth prisons, but the agency has recently come under fire for increases in violence and gang activity in the prisons.