Justin Miller
By Justin Miller:
Joe Barton Resurfaces with a Blueprint for How to Bail Out the Oil Industry and Worsen Climate Change
Michael Quinn Sullivan’s Recorded Conversation with Speaker Bonnen Exposes the Texas GOP for What It’s Always Been
The secret recording confirms the cynicism, vindictiveness, and ugliness at the heart of the Republican politics.
In June, Empower Texans leader Michael Quinn Sullivan revealed that he had secretly recorded a meeting with House Speaker Dennis Bonnen during which, the right-wing hardliner alleged, the speaker presented him with a quid pro quo proposition: the Speaker would … Read More
How Pete Sessions Became ‘Congressman-1’
The powerful former Dallas congressman and GOP leader was trying to swim back to the swamp. Instead, he got sucked into it.
Former Dallas Congressman Pete Sessions’ attempt at a political comeback in a new congressional district was already embattled. When Sessions announced his campaign for the 17th Congressional District in Waco in early October, some local Republicans said he was a … Read More
As Pete Sessions Tries to Revive his Political Career, He May Get Sucked into Ukraine
The once-powerful Republican congressman is trying to claw his way back to Washington at a time when his allies in Trumpworld are under fire.
Former Congressman Pete Sessions stood behind a lectern at the McLennan County Republican Party headquarters in Waco, flanked by a man holding a campaign sign and a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump, and made it official: He was re-running for … Read More
Mac Thornberry’s Retirement Leaves the Defense Industry With One Less Close Friend
The Panhandle congressman has been an unwavering hawk and a champion for bigger war budgets.
Mac Thornberry, a Panhandle Republican representing Texas’ 13th Congressional District, announced on Monday that he will not run for reelection. That makes him the sixth House Republican from the state to announce their retirement, a collective scramble for the exits … Read More
Who Is John Cornyn Serving?
The senior senator from Texas has mastered the art of political subservience, making him very powerful—and perhaps vulnerable.
After 20 years in Washington, the senior senator from Texas has mastered the art of political subservience—first to the Republican establishment and now to Trump. It’s made him very powerful. But does it also make him vulnerable in 2020? * … Read More
What the UAW Strike Looks Like, From Deep in the Heart of Anti-Union Texas
GM autoworkers from the Arlington plant, one of the company’s most profitable, are part of the largest strike against a U.S. business since 2007.
The sprawling General Motors Assembly Plant in Arlington, Texas, is a long way from Detroit and the Rust Belt, where both the modern American auto industry and labor movement took root. So when the national United Auto Workers (UAW) called … Read More
Why a Texas Gun Control Activist is Optimistic About the Chances for Reform
Texas Gun Sense’s Ed Scruggs on how Abbott and Patrick talk about guns behind closed doors—and what that says about the prospects for change.
Ed Scruggs has been on the frontlines of the battle to reform Texas’ gun laws ever since the Sandy Hook massacre. That 2012 tragedy galvanized a movement that has continued to grow in size and strength with each mass shooting … Read More
As Texodus Continues, Tom DeLay’s Tall Political Shadow Fades
Some of the biggest beneficiaries of the Hammer’s infamous gerrymandering in 2003 are bowing out of office—or facing huge reelection fights in 2020.
The so-called Texodus continues. On Wednesday morning, GOP Congressman Bill Flores announced he will not run for reelection in the 17th Congressional District in 2020. He is now the fifth member of the withering Texas GOP congressional delegation to call … Read More
After the Midland-Odessa Shooting, Texas Republicans Double Down on God and Guns Doctrine
After the second Texas mass shooting in a month, Democrats call for action while Republicans promise to protect the “God given rights” of gun ownership.
On Saturday afternoon, two state troopers pulled over a man in Midland, Texas, for apparently failing to use his turn signal. The driver grabbed his rifle and began shooting at the patrolmen, officials said, wounding one of them. From there, … Read More
