Reporting and commentary on the Legislature, campaigns, and elected officials
After 76 days on hunger strike and almost a year in detention, Ajay Kumar has been released from ICE custody in El Paso.
For many years, taking on the senior Texas senator seemed like a fool's errand. But in 2020, Cornyn looks less than invincible.
But the event was also unsettling in the way it brought together two leaders—Trump and Modi—in an authoritarian embrace.
Like many in Houston, I've fallen into a predictable pattern as I’ve adapted to the increasingly extreme weather here.
Situated on the frontlines of the immigration crisis, the Angry Tias y Abuelas group acts as the eyes and ears of the border.
Veronica Escobar, the first Latina to represent El Paso in Congress, isn’t afraid of playing the Washington game—as long as it means the Texas borderlands get the respect they deserve.
Some Texas Democrats are quietly urging the former San Antonio mayor to drop his White House bid, but many Hispanics wish him to fight on.
Beto vs. Julian, Castro tries to shank Biden, why the debate format sucks, and (bonus!) a snoozy Latinos for Trump rally.
A decidedly unscientific appraisal of why the hell they bother.
In his plainspoken, hilariously vivid vernacular, the Texas oilman constantly spun tales about good times and bad.
At a meeting of Texas social conservatives, all anyone wanted to talk about (and eat) was Chick-fil-A…
In just a few years, the reputed genius behind Trump’s election has completely reinvented himself. But is his story too good to be true?…
The lieutenant governor's pledge to "take an arrow" from the NRA is a surprise, but the move is not as politically risky as it looks.
There’s something dishonest in the state’s bureaucratic approach to killing its own citizens.
This week on the National Podcast of Texas, a freewheeling conversation with Texas’s junior senator.
Tony Buzbee knows how to win big in court. In the era of Trump, he might just win the Houston mayoral race.
The Texas congressman doesn’t believe in background checks between friends.
Of the four major mass shooting suspects in Texas in recent years, the only one it would impact is the man who wants to die as soon as possible.
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.
The governor has apologized (sort of) for an ill-timed fund-raising letter calling on supporters to ”defend” Texas from immigrants.
Activists are concerned that the Trump administration will circumvent congressional prohibitions against building a barrier through the South Texas preserve.
In the aftermath of the El Paso shooting, party leaders expect the presidential candidates to address racism and immigration.
If Texas biologists can prevent an outbreak of white-nose syndrome, caused by a fast-spreading fungus, they may provide a new national model for bat conservation.
Plenty of people did, but not all of them are in charge of the nuclear arsenal.
At a hearing on Friday, the El Paso doctor said force-feeding was considered medically unethical, but that ICE's rules required her to do it.
Chick-fil-A won’t be hosting its 2022 convention in San Antonio and Joaquin Castro supporters won’t be eating at Bill Miller.
The lifelong Texan discusses the need to reintroduce America’s better angels into the immigration debate.
The community organizer is expected to make a play for millennials and young people of color.
The growing controversy around Bonnen's quid pro quo is about much more than palace intrigue. Fundamentally, it concerns unethical, possibly criminal, behavior on the part of the speaker.
House Speaker Dennis Bonnen offers a masterclass in how to lose friends and alienate your allies in just a few easy steps.
What the rest of the country will see in the days to come is a city of resilience, compassion, and honesty.
At a jam-packed blood bank, El Pasoans said they were proud of their hometown and expressed dismay that an outsider could wreak such havoc on their city—one of the safest in the country. …
Bowing to criticism, the North Texas congressman spent less than a week in line as the next director of national intelligence.
The Texas Republican stunned the political world Thursday by announcing that he’s not running for reelection. But he says he still has big plans to help his party.
He's unlikely to win the presidential nomination, but after years of false starts he is becoming a leader in the Democratic party.
MQS isn't the most trustworthy person in Texas politics, but Bonnen has done a poor job offering an alternative narrative about what transpired.
We reached out to prosecutors for all 254 Texas counties to ask whether they will still prosecute marijuana cases.
In the event that millions lose their health insurance and protections for preexisting conditions disappear, the state has no real backup plan.
Days after he was supposed to be in a children’s shelter, Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez died of the flu near the toilet in his Border Patrol holding cell.
No matter how incendiary his latest tweet or policy might seem, Donald Trump can count on evangelical preacher and Fox News fixture Robert Jeffress to defend him. What’s behind the Dallas pastor’s unconditional embrace?…
O'Rourke and Castro's polling in Texas is virtually unchanged from a month ago. That’s good news for only one of them.
Two Texas Democrats are calling on Republican attorney general Ken Paxton to sue the feds for reimbursement of border security costs. But legal experts think it’s a bad idea.
Four Indian men have refused to eat since July 8 in hopes of being released on bonds while awaiting deportation hearings.
His fundraising is bad, his poll numbers are worse, and some Texans still think he should run for Senate.
The vote was 332-95, with eight Texas Democrats voting to move forward on articles of impeachment against Trump.
A secret Facebook group full of racist memes includes the head of Border Patrol, Elizabeth Warren promises sweeping reform, and the acting head of Homeland Security contradicts the agency's own watchdog.
Long before Texans had heard of “no pass, no play,” and before free trade was a major political issue, H. Ross Perot entered my life as a super-patriot who believed perseverance was the key to success.
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.
The eccentric Texan billionaire and former two-time independent presidential candidate leaves an outsized legacy.
In a discussion with Texas Monthly last week, Johnson spoke about the crime woes, his intention to make data-driven decisions, plans for ethics reforms, and why Dallas needs to be more selfish in its regional partnerships.
