
Like so much in American conservative politics these days, everything begins and ends with Trump.
Dec 18, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Like so much in American conservative politics these days, everything begins and ends with Trump.
Dec 11, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Now that races for the March primary are (mostly) set, here are a few things worth keeping an eye on.
Dec 9, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
A.P. Merillat helped send at least 15 people to death row. On Wednesday, Travis Runnels will become the third this year to be executed, even though a former prison official calls Merillat’s testimony “bullshit.”
Dec 4, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Now that the Texas GOP is trying to present a more diverse face this year, it can't afford to alienate voters in places like Fort Bend County.
Nov 15, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
What Poncho Nevarez’s cocaine problem tells us about corruption and impunity at the Texas Capitol.
Nov 6, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
The eccentric megalawyer’s unpredictable and at times unintelligible speech claiming victory in Houston’s mayoral election has to be seen to be believed.
Nov 5, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
One constitutional amendment on the ballot poses a question that often vexes lawmakers—short-term need, or long-term benefit?
Nov 1, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
When Beto left Texas, he lost his way.
Oct 29, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
As part of his campaign against Austin’s homelessness rules, Greg Abbott tweeted an old video of a non-homeless man having a mental health episode. His attorney says the governor is “retraumatizing” the man and his family.
Oct 22, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
The embattled speaker of the Texas House, Dennis Bonnen, calls it quits.
Oct 18, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Dan Patrick, John Cornyn, and Ted Cruz stood by at the president’s Thursday night rally in Dallas as he ridiculed them and claimed Hurricane Harvey made the state ”a fortune.”
Oct 15, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
The secretly recorded meeting between Dennis Bonnen and Michael Quinn Sullivan shows how Texas political operators talk behind closed doors.
Oct 10, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Our ever-entertaining former governor has been awfully quiet for the past few years. But we knew that couldn’t last.
Oct 10, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Austin’s legalization of camping and sidewalk sleeping has stirred a backlash that obscures the progress some Texas cities have made in steering the homeless off the streets.
Oct 4, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Austin-bashing is as old as the hills, but things have gotten a little out of hand.
Oct 2, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
John Cornyn and other Republicans are doing their best to explain away the Ukraine scandal, but their best just looks silly.
Oct 1, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
The straightforward circumstances of Jean's slaying proved too difficult for the jury to ignore.
Sep 23, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
But the event was also unsettling in the way it brought together two leaders—Trump and Modi—in an authoritarian embrace.
Sep 18, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
While a new generation of scholars is rewriting our history, supporters of the traditional narratives are fighting to keep their grip on the public imagination.
Sep 13, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Beto vs. Julian, Castro tries to shank Biden, why the debate format sucks, and (bonus!) a snoozy Latinos for Trump rally.
Sep 12, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
At a meeting of Texas social conservatives, all anyone wanted to talk about (and eat) was Chick-fil-A
Sep 9, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
There’s something dishonest in the state’s bureaucratic approach to killing its own citizens.
Sep 3, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
What politicians like Matt Schaefer are really saying is that no number of victims is worth the discomfort of a fairly small number of gun owners.
Aug 30, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
The governor has apologized (sort of) for an ill-timed fund-raising letter calling on supporters to ”defend” Texas from immigrants.
Aug 9, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
House Speaker Dennis Bonnen offers a masterclass in how to lose friends and alienate your allies in just a few easy steps.
Jul 30, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
MQS isn't the most trustworthy person in Texas politics, but Bonnen has done a poor job offering an alternative narrative about what transpired.
Jul 29, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
In the event that millions lose their health insurance and protections for preexisting conditions disappear, the state has no real backup plan.
Jul 16, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
His fundraising is bad, his poll numbers are worse, and some Texans still think he should run for Senate.
Jul 12, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Congressman Roy and Senator Cruz urged Trump to print the census with a citizenship question despite a Supreme Court ruling. That would’ve been a dangerous precedent.
Jul 5, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
As the Trump administration ratchets up its dehumanization of migrants, we Americans stand to lose our moral center.
Jun 27, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
The debate had the feel, at times, of an episode of Survivor—the little guys teaming up to clear their ranks before the real fight begins.
Jun 18, 2019 — By Carlos Sanchez, R.G. Ratcliffe and Christopher Hooks
They called it the kumbaya session, but we still found plenty of scoundrels and statesmen.
May 29, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
In one of the worst legislative sessions for criminal justice reform in years, bipartisan legislation got caught between an ugly fight between the police lobby and prominent Democrats.
May 23, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
The governor, lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the House announced a deal on property taxes and school finance. It sounds good, but offered awfully little in the way of specifics.
May 22, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Let us count the ways legislators passed, killed, and then resurrected what was a popular, bipartisan way to limit arrests for minor infractions.
May 22, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Stickland and his band of merry pranksters could have pushed the Legislature into a special session by killing a popular bill to increase mental health services for kids.
May 15, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
In a fit of idiocy and confusion, Democrats in the Legislature not once, but twice derailed bipartisan legislation prohibiting police from making arrests for minor infractions.
May 13, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
But don’t think that means Representative Jonathan Stickland is all grown up. He’s still more or less the lib-baiting troll he’s always been.
May 8, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Here died Greg Abbott’s burden-shifting plan, orphaned and alone.
May 4, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Kennedy’s presentation to vaccine activists at the Capitol was a master class in how to turn fears toward a dangerous cause.
May 3, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
In a dispute between cities and the state, employees and employers, you can probably guess who has the upper hand.
Apr 30, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Once upon a time, the Texas Senate was Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick’s whole world. His turbulent 2014 campaign for the post was a radical change in Texas politics, the tea party revolution taking the throne. In his inauguration speech he proclaimed that his arrival marked “a new day…
Apr 23, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Big-city prosecutors are now driving the conversation around mass incarceration, and some lawmakers and law enforcement officials just can’t abide that.
Apr 20, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
If you’re going to traffick in conspiracy theories, at least be nice about it.
Apr 16, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Many Texans think their property taxes are too high. But the highly regressive sales tax would put even more of a burden on those who can least afford it.
Apr 12, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
In the pantheon of lawmaker-involved squabbles, what happened at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Austin on Wednesday night probably doesn’t rank higher (lower?) than the time Borris Miles whipped out a gun at a party, or the time Bob Bullock pulled a gun on…
Apr 10, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
The Texas Senate has tacitly endorsed President Trump’s threat to shut down the border if necessary—a dangerous move for the economy and the president’s political future.
Feb 26, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
“Two men, both alpha males, from vastly different cultures, are about to collide. . . HARD.”
Feb 6, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
Our state is accustomed to deference from Republican administrations—deference it has earned. Why are our Republican leaders letting him create our narrative?
Jan 25, 2019 — By Christopher Hooks
That viral video of a Colorado senator berating Ted Cruz makes one wonder if there’s a double standard at work.
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