
How to Survive the Texas Legislature
The ways of the Texas Legislature are confoundingly weird. Here’s a guide to the madness.
The ways of the Texas Legislature are confoundingly weird. Here’s a guide to the madness.
By not doing so, the state is jeopardizing the health of its most vulnerable populations and leaving billions of savings on the table a year.
Like Bill Hobby, Dan Patrick has made the most of an inherently powerful position.
State leaders used to invite coverage of their activity. Now the Texas Legislature is making reporting more difficult than ever.
The former president’s rally in Robstown was just like all his others in Texas, but he still commands state leaders’ attention.
The lieutenant governor’s rural bus tour looks more like an extended vacation than a reelection bid.
The lieutenant governor said the company was “discriminating against the oil and gas industry." He didn’t mention his own holdings in the firm.
On a state advisory committee, only one member has experience developing wind or solar power. And he’s voiced some eyebrow-raising ideas.
After the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, state Republicans near-unanimously lined up behind the former president—before details of the investigation left them silent.
“The globalists can all go to hell,” the authoritarian populist said at CPAC. “I have come to Texas.”
Observers cite the party’s convention as evidence that state Republicans have gone “full MAGA.” But if anything, MAGA folks are following Texas.
John Cornyn helped wrangle other senators from both parties to advance a spate of provisions. But will the Texas Legislature follow his lead?
After ten Texans were murdered at Santa Fe High School in 2018, the Legislature passed seventeen school safety bills. They didn’t work.
Defenders of limitless guns are out of ideas but full of excuses.
The state GOP long opposed new regulations on corporations. Then Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick launched a crusade against “woke” businesses.
The Houston accountant has lost two statewide elections and knows the challenge of being a Texas Democrat. Why is he running a third time?
There’s a long tradition in Texas of moral panics over what schools are teaching kids. The newest iteration is particularly quaint.
Answers to your questions about the state's new rules targeting transgender kids.
The old-school conservative spoke with us about partisan gerrymandering, Patrick’s hold on the state Senate, and Donald Trump.
The certified public accountant is running for lieutenant governor again and hopes Beto O’Rourke will top the ticket.
The former Bush adviser pledges to help Texas Democrats win in 2022—including, possibly, by putting his hat in the ring.
A wild year begat an even wilder legislative session. Lawmakers faced blackouts, a pandemic, and their own worst impulses. Amid the chaos, we plucked out the leaders—and the losers.
The lieutenant governor is no stranger to forcing votes on controversial issues, but a new gun bill the House passed has concerned some members of his Senate caucus.
Provisions of Senate Bill 7 would require some naturalized citizens to prove their right to vote.
The lieutenant governor has long responded to crises with more talk than legislation. But is something different this time as he deals with the aftermath of the blackout?
The lieutenant governor wants to require state pension and education funds to divest from financial giants that are trimming their investments in oil and gas—but he hasn’t thought through the potential consequences.
With state government more firmly in Republican hands, the next year will feature a return of the Republican civil war. Here are the skirmishes to watch for.
As new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations reach their highest levels yet, the state is relying less on restrictions and more on individual decisions.
After GOP leaders in 12 counties posted racist responses to the George Floyd protests, top Republicans declared war on bigotry in their party. It’s not going to be easy.
Despite the loud protests, very few Americans are ready to go back to work.
Plus, Ted Cruz says skateboarding is not a crime, and Dan Crenshaw becomes the cool face of the GOP’s coronavirus response.
In the best of times, our politicians can be a frustrating bunch. How are they doing in an unprecedented crisis?
The Texas lieutenant governor is among a growing number of politicians who are willing to trade lives to save the economy. It’s a false choice.
Plus, Beto’s bandmate blasts his Biden endorsement, Mike Bloomberg comprende Tejas, Dan Crenshaw vs. Pete Davidson, and Dan Patrick vs. shirts.
The departure of the longtime Austin senator—for the greener pastures of higher education—will set off a fierce race for his seat.
Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick were quick to find a self-serving narrative in the shooting at a church last week.
We stumble down memory lane, gawking at the madness and the mayhem of 2010–2019—and looking for an off-ramp.
Like so much in American conservative politics these days, everything begins and ends with Trump.
Their beautiful dark twisted fantasy.
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.”
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.
They called it the kumbaya session, but we still found plenty of scoundrels and statesmen.
Texas's top lawmakers managed to put together an $11.5 billion package, but they did it in a way that all but guarantees a tax hike in 2021.
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.
The last few days have brought tearful, angry debate over abortion, religious discrimination, and LGBTQ rights.
The Big Three are desperate to save their property tax proposal. Among the ideas to buy down property taxes is an increase in the oil and gas severance tax.
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
The senators who will help finalize the state budget—which affects 28 million Texans—are all white and Republican, and four of the five are from the Houston area.
In a powerful floor speech Monday, Senator Kel Seliger offers a demonstration of decency that diminishes the lieutenant governor’s raw power play.
Unless a compromise can be reached next week, Patrick's decision to move forward will upend decades of Senate tradition.