Justin Miller
Texas Democratic and Republican Parties Spar Over How to Hold Elections During a Pandemic
With primary runoffs two months from now, Dems want universal mail-in voting; Republicans want delayed elections; and local elections officials just want some guidance.
The coronavirus outbreak in the United States presents a seemingly endless number of systemic challenges. One big one: How do you hold elections in a pandemic? That’s an urgent question in Texas, where statewide primary runoffs are scheduled for May … Read More
Coronavirus is Exposing the Faulty Foundations of the Texas Fracking Industry
The oil and gas sector was already having problems, but the fear and uncertainty around a global pandemic could end the Texas energy boom.
For the past few years, Texas has reaped the rewards of a huge oil boom centered on the shale formations in the Permian Basin. Companies gobbled up acreage across the region and expanded fracking operations at an unprecedented rate. West … Read More
Henry Cuellar Prevailed Against Progressive Insurgency, But He Didn’t Go Unscathed
The resilient Blue Dog Democrat held on to his South Texas seat, but it was a much closer call than expected.
This article was produced in partnership with The Nation. A few hours after Jessica Cisneros voted at her local polling station—a Pep Boys auto shop near Laredo’s Sal Si Puedes neighborhood, where she grew up—the 26-year-old attorney began to knock … Read More
These Primary Races Will Test Texas’ Progressive Movement
Up and down the ballot, progressives are running up against establishment Democrats. The outcome could shape the future of politics in the state.
2018 offered a spark of hope for Democrats in Texas: Beto O’Rourke ran a competitive Senate campaign, and Dems flipped several reliably Republican congressional and legislative seats. Hoping to build that momentum in 2020, national groups have swooped in and … Read More
The Party Pariah
How Henry Cuellar rose to power—and how he intends to stay there.
The Party Pariah How Henry Cuellar rose to power—and how he intends to stay there. * by Justin Miller February 28, 2020 Over the course of his nearly 35 years as a politician, Henry Cuellar has managed to piss off … Read More
John Cornyn Bets Big on Trump
During the impeachment proceedings, Cornyn proved that his calculation is the same as the entire GOP’s: Live with Trump, die with Trump.
It’s become abundantly clear that U.S. Senator John Cornyn has no intention of distancing himself from Donald Trump, the man who will forever be immortalized in American history books as the third president to be impeached. Cornyn has proved to … Read More
What the GOP’s Big Win in Fort Bend County Means for 2020
The special election runoff rout is a sobering reminder for Democrats that the GOP still dominates much of Texas. But it wasn’t the 2020 death knell that Republicans have made it out to be.
Democrats wanted to send a message in the Texas House District 28 special election runoff. A strong performance by Democrat Eliz Markowitz in Fort Bend County’s reddest legislative district would have demonstrated that the Republican hold on the Texas suburbs—and … Read More
He May Not Be a Candidate, but Beto O’Rourke is Rebuilding His Texas Organizing Machine for 2020
O’Rourke’s 2018 Senate campaign was fueled by an organizing network of 20,000 volunteers. Can he harness that energy again without being on the ticket?
Beto O’Rourke began 2019 as a political phenom, but ended it as an also-ran. The much-hyped former U.S. representative from El Paso initially rode a wave of optimism from his nationally watched Senate campaign, but struggled to gain support in … Read More
As Fossil Fuel Industry Invests Billions in New Texas Facilities, it Could Unleash a Huge Emissions Bomb
A new report finds that a pipeline of new and proposed oil and gas projects—many of them in Texas—could produce half a billion tons of additional greenhouse gas emissions a year.
A hulking new $10 billion ethane cracker near Corpus Christi set for completion by 2022. A trio of approved liquified natural gas export terminals near Brownsville that could be up and running by the end of 2023. A $5 billion … Read More