In the bright new day of Governor Greg Abbott, Texas and her people are strong and getting stronger, but his State of the State address only polished the edges on some of the major challenges facing the state.
Good news for Texas politicians: despite the change of administration, the big money donors are still willing to give.
Concealed carry has been legal since 1996—but the number of Texans applying for CHLs has exploded since 2008.
State gun laws are more complex than open carry advocates often suggest.
R.G. Ratcliffe will rejoin BurkaBlog for the session
Not bad, despite the ongoing open carry drama.
Joe Straus’s picks for the 84th session include lots of new chairs and not much drama.
State incentives can work as both. Abbott would prefer the former.
What Greg Abbott’s nominee to the UT Board of Regents means for the state.
Texas Muslim Capitol Day is marred by some unwelcoming behavior.
Dan Patrick has some tough talk for the Tea Party about open carry.
Will 2018 bring another New Day?
Technically speaking, every day is A New Day.
The Texas Senate’s vote to abandon the 2/3rds rule is all about campaign promises.
On the first full day of the Dan Patrick era, he makes his mark on the Senate.
It’s the turnout, stupid.
Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, and the future of Texas.
Let’s all agree on one this much: Medicaid is supposed to be a health care program, not a jobs plan.
On the first day of the Eighty-fourth Legislature, the Texas House voted for order.
The dean of the Capitol press corps announces his upcoming retirement from Texas Monthly.
The Tea Party’s pursuit of purity is particularly damaging in Texas
John Boehner’s re-election shows that national conservatives should have been paying attention to the Tea Party’s travails in the Texas House.
I was surprised to read that Wendy Davis intends to make another run at public office, as yet unspecified. Among other things, she has retracted her support for open carry. But it is hard to see what kind of future Davis has, particularly when Battleground Texas proved to be as
The “clear frontrunner” will be hard to beat.
It appears that Governor-elect Abbott is considering some form of Medicaid expansion. If this is indeed the case, it is incredibly good news for Texas. Rick Perry’s rejection of Medicaid expansion was petulant and extremely damaging to the state. The cost of expansion to the state is miniscule (mainly covering
Texas is much less vulnerable to an oil bust than it once was, or than one might think.
The news that Speaker Joe Straus has become the Vice Chair of the Republican Legislative Campaign should be the final nail in the coffin of Michael Quinn Sullivan and Empower Texans. Of course I know it won’t. But it should end any speculation that Straus has any political worries whatsoever;
Jack Stick’s resignation shows that even in Texas, some things count as corruption
Step one: study Wendy Davis’s example.
If you’re surprised by this year’s pick, you may be eligible for a Bum Steer Award of your own
Greg Abbott is off to a fast start—and that is good for Texas.
Charles Schwertner makes the conservative case against tuition deregulation
Some questions about Barack Obama's explanation for his executive action on immigration, announced last week.
The border surge, extended. Immigration action, executed. Hispanic voters, considered. And more!
The Democratic Senate candidate has some tough words for his party.
Joe Straus is safe--and he always was.
After every major election, it seems I find myself writing an obituary for the Texas Democratic party. It’s not a true obituary, I suppose, since the Democrats are not exactly dead, just comatose. This year brought a rare combination of considerable early optimism by Democrats, followed by the worst pasting
A look at Texas's next lieutenant governor
Texas is a Republican state and nothing is likely to change that in the foreseeable future.
As the returns are started to roll in–find updated results here–here are a few quick thoughts:1. As the race in CD23 begins to take shape, the only competitive Congressional seat from Texas looks be breaking Republican. Challenger Will Hurd is leading Democratic incumbent Pete Gallego 53-44%.2. In the
UPDATED AT 7:25: The polls have closed, and the early vote totals are coming in. Here are some of the quick results, with a whooping 1% of the vote having been counted:ABBOTT: 57%DAVIS: 40%++PATRICK: 55%VAN DE PUTTE: 41%++PAXTON: 56%HOUSTON: 40%++HEGAR: 56%COLLIER: 39%++BUSH: 62%COOK: 33%++MILLER: 59%HOGAN: 36%++CORNYN: 60%ALAMEEL: 36%
Finally, we'll discover whether Texas is turning blue?
Battleground Texas, the organization chosen by the Obama White House to “turn Texas blue,” proved to have been nothing more than a mirage. In fact, Battleground did more to sabotage the Democratic effort — unintentionally — than to support it, thanks to Jeremy Bird, Battleground’s leader. Bird produced a memo
Does Jeb Bush have a chance at the White House? Or is the family name too damaged?
It provides such a meager amount of funding that it's hardly worth the effort of putting it on the ballot at all.
UPDATE: In my original post, I mistakenly referred to previous endorsements by some of the state’s major newspapers, and I have corrected the errors.This election has all the earmarks of being one of the strangest ever. First, as I have opined before, this is the weakest ticket the Republican party
To the surprise of no one, the Morning News has endorsed Greg Abbott for governor. It is a choice that I won’t criticize. But I will raise this red flag: that Wendy Davis has uncovered serious issues about Abbott’s character and lack of empathy for Texans who have
Also, Ebola
Wendy Davis's new ad attacks Abbott for attacking "other victims"
A federal judge in Corpus Christi called the state's voter ID law "an unconstitutional poll tax"
