The Retiring Head of the Texas GOP Inflamed a Party Civil War That Will Outlive His Tenure
Matt Rinaldi has led the state Republican Party far to the right. His successor is likely to keep driving in that direction.
Matt Rinaldi has led the state Republican Party far to the right. His successor is likely to keep driving in that direction.
Tim Dunn may not be a household name, but staff writer Russell Gold explains why he is someone Texans should know.
One group that’s surprisingly bullish on Democrats’ chances to win a statewide race in the near future: Republican operatives.
After right-wing activist Jonathan Stickland hosted Nick Fuentes in his office, many in the GOP have attacked Stickland’s critics.
Threats from the AG’s supporters loom over the Republican state senators who will serve as the jurors in the impeachment trial.
The former U.S. congressman from Texas on his bid to beat Trump, artificial intelligence, his zodiac sign, and more.
The Florida governor is still popular with many grassroots Republicans here, but most of the likely primary voters seem unready to abandon the former president.
In the three months since city council elections, at least twenty staffers have resigned, retired, or been fired, including the city manager, city attorney, and fire chief.
The lame-duck congressman looks to leave a mark, while his colleagues float a big border plan and do some culture warring.
(Fake!) excerpts from the campaign diary of a displaced Texan, summer–fall 2022.
After an election marred by malfunctioning machines, long lines, and a shortage of paper ballots, Republicans are contemplating big changes in the next Legislature.
Amid a crowded field of conservative youth organizers, Run GenZ is supporting young candidates for local office across the state.
Low primary-election turnout and an anemic Democratic party means statewide officials and legislators are far to the right of most Texans.
Calls for independence are growing louder on the right. Maybe that would change if more Texans understood the costs of such a move.
Texans have stood by their attorney general through two criminal indictments and a host of other scandals. Is there any misdeed that might stick to his Teflon coating before the November election?
Mayra Flores won a special election to serve as the first Republican in the U.S. House from the Rio Grande Valley since 1871.
Greg Abbott says yes. New polling tells a different story.
The first edition of our GOP primary scorecard.
The party assumes people of color will turn the state blue. But most Tejanos consider themselves white. And more are voting Republican.
The outlandish conspiracy theory has made legions of believers into political activists. And the Texas GOP benefits from that.
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.
A large majority of Texas Republicans believe the unsupported claims of leaders that the 2020 election was stolen. But some in the party think “election integrity” legislation could backfire.
As a lifelong Republican—and, more recently, dedicated Never Trumper—it’s clear to me that the state GOP desperately needs to enter the twenty-first century.
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.
The outspoken congressman left a promising career in the CIA and became a rising Republican star. But his political balancing act is dicier than ever.
Elephants never forget, but Texas Reaganites wish they could.
By the looks of it, McNair is more concerned with political influence than a winning team.
What Greg Abbott and the Republican party should have learned from their state convention.
Who’s the toughest opponent for Republicans who want to crack down on illegal immigration? Other Republicans.
The Democrats will most certainly fight the Republicans over immigration reform legislation this session, but the Republican’s biggest opponents are powerful interests within their own party. Nate Blakeslee talks about grassroot efforts, tea party champions, and why immigration has become one of the most important issues facing our state.
In the campaign for governor, the Republican nominee is out to prove to voters—and himself—that he’s his own George Bush.
Cracking the whip.
Jim Baker’s boyhood home, take in Robert Mosbacher’s old stomping grounds, and see the Houstonian suite where George Bush slept!
The Gallup organization released a nationwide poll last week showing the partisan preference in every state. The daily tracking poll, conducted during the election campaign, sampled 19,415 adult Texans concerning their self-identification by political party and found that 43.4% identified themselves as Democrats compared to 41.0% who identified
If you want to understand the shift in political power that has taken place in Texas over the past thirty years—from rural areas to the new suburbs, from Democratic control to Republican dominance—you'll hardly find a better case study than Tom DeLay's Sugar Land.
Is Kay Bailey Hutchison plotting a run for Governor? And other questions about Texas politics in the new millennium.
Handicapping the Republican primary: Will far-right might carry the day?
AT LEAST DAN MORALES knew that the mere proclamation he was going to have a press conference was not likely to stop the world in its tracks. The night before and all that morning, some supporters, as well as the attorney general himself, were busy calling around to say that
By trying to have it both ways in the coup against Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey hurt the Republican party—and himself.
Taxes are his target.
Democratic lieutenant governor Bob Bullock’s immense power over the Texas Senate has vanished almost overnight. The Republican majority, which everyone said wouldn’t make any difference in how the Senate functions, made a difference after all. When Florence Shapiro of Plano successfully challenged Buster Brown of Lake Jackson, a Bullock ally,
In the last legislative session, George W. Bush’s moderate program won over Bob Bullock, Pete Laney, and other top Democrats. But this time, Bush’s agenda is more partisan, and Republicans are measuring his presidential potential—so Texas politics is going to get ugly.
THE LEGACY OF THE TUMULTUOUS Republican state convention in San Antonio is that the state GOP is headed for open warfare between its mainstream and ultraconservative factions. The defining incident of the convention was not the unsuccessful attempt by pro-life dissidents to prevent U.S. senator Kay Bailey Hutchison from becoming
If Bill Clinton wants to get elected president, he’ll have to do it without Texas—just like in 1992.
Steve Stockman was supposed to have been a lethal weapon in the Republicans’ fight to unmake the Great Society. Instead the freshman legislator has been a loose cannon—an outsider in his own party.
The man of the House.
Phil Gramm is a world-class fundraiser, but it will take more than money to carry him to the White House in 1996.
The new Ways and Means chairman, Bill Archer, takes aim at the federal budget.