Texas Politics
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Historic Runoff Turnout Sets Stage for Texas Democrats in 2020’s ‘Biggest Battleground’
MJ Hegar won a contested Senate runoff and Democrats broke their record for runoff turnout as nearly 1 million voters cast ballots.
The Texas primaries in March feel like a lifetime ago. Soon after Super Tuesday, the coronavirus pandemic spread across the country and ground political campaig...Read More
Amid a National Reckoning Over Racial Injustice, Royce West Seeks to Upset MJ Hegar—and the DSCC
Texas’ Democratic Senate runoff to face John Cornyn has taken on new political significance as a Black state senator vies to defeat the national party’s favored candidate.
Texas Democratic Senate candidate Royce West was fed up. In the final days of early voting for the runoff election, frontrunner MJ Hegar put out a new ad in whi...Read More
Doctors Reverse Course, Say Texas GOP Should Cancel In-Person Convention
One day after The Texas Tribune reported that the Texas Medical Association was a sponsor for the indoor convention that is expected to draw 6,000 people, the doctors' group announced it was calling on organizers to cancel.
This article was originally published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans—and engages with them—about publ...Read More
The Next Census Could Determine the Future of Port Arthur
If a city’s population drops below 50,000, it’s no longer considered an urban area. This different designation means it could lose some of the federal dollars directed toward larger metropolitan areas.
The 2020 census will almost certainly reshape the face of politics and power in Texas. State legislative districts, as well as their congressional counterparts,...Read More
Texas Had a State Office That Could Have Investigated Racial Disparities in COVID-19 Cases. Lawmakers Defunded it Three Years Ago.
While early reports elsewhere show African Americans disproportionately infected and dying from COVID-19, Texas’ data is incomplete.
In 2005, faced with data showing that black and Native American families were overrepresented in Texas’ child welfare system, lawmakers ordered Child Protecti...Read More
The COVID-19 Disaster Has Made a Mess of Texas’ Open Government Rules
Some government officials in Texas appear to be exploiting the pandemic as a way to hide public business from the public.
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and opportunistic public servants, government agencies now have carte blanche to operate in secret for as long as this crisis pe...Read More
‘I’m in Limbo Here’: Texans Are Met with an Overwhelmed and Antiquated State Unemployment System
The safety net meant to support the second largest workforce in the country is using decades-old technology. The workforce agency was trying to replace it when the pandemic hit.
Four months ago, Alan Chastain moved from Louisiana to the Houston area for a promising new job as a sales representative at a sign company. By late March, Chas...Read More
A ‘Stay-at-Home’ Order by Any Other Name
At a time when clear and decisive action is paramount, Governor Greg Abbott has delayed, deferred, and equivocated, likely costing lives.
Twenty-six days after an elderly Fort Bend man became the first presumptive positive case of COVID-19 in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott convened a press conference...Read More
The New U.S. Food Safety Czar is a Texas Researcher with Close Ties to the Meat Industry
Mindy Brashears’ confirmation comes at a time when Americans are scouring supermarket aisles for safe food to eat.
On Monday, amid the rapidly intensifying COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Senate quietly approved a controversial scientist from Texas to oversee the safety of the n...Read More