He isn’t as strong a candidate in 2021 as he was in 2018, but Beto O’Rourke is still the Democrats’ least bad option to challenge Greg Abbott.
Texas was once a model of how to safely and economically move away from mass incarceration. Now the old politics of “law and order” are back.
The former Bush adviser pledges to help Texas Democrats win in 2022—including, possibly, by putting his hat in the ring.
Our diverse big cities and suburbs are driving the state forward. Our leaders need to let Houston be Houston and Beaumont be Beaumont.
Local officials in South Texas are scrambling to figure out what the governor is building in their communities.
Primary challengers say Texas’s governor is weak. The failure to pass new restrictions on voting, a GOP priority, will add fuel to their criticism.
GOP challengers have announced bids against Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton, and Sid Miller, while a forlorn Democratic party casts its eyes on Matthew McConaughey.
The Dallas businessman has a talent for alienating powerful Republicans, but he’s running on a platform that embraces their scorn.
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.
The state’s top elected official used to have limited sway. But Abbott has steadily seized authority from the Legislature and governing boards—a process accelerated by the pandemic.
Roma and D'Amico's, Italian eateries in the Rice Village, have taken opposite approaches after Greg Abbott lifted pandemic-era restrictions on businesses. Both establishments' owners say they're looking out for staff.
They fear that the end of the mask mandate and the influx of spring break crowds is a recipe for danger.
“It’s like wrapping a brisket at 130 degrees and saying it’s good enough because the bark is set."
The vast majority of Texans have yet to receive a single dose of vaccine, but the state is done imposing public health measures.
Our governor and lawmakers want to blame everyone but themselves for the February blackouts, the latest crisis of their own making.
Those in charge of Texas’s deregulated power sector were warned again and again that the electric grid was vulnerable.
Galveston’s Terry Fisher on where to find your water meter, what to do when pipes thaw, and when to call a professional.
Lone Star State leaders have worried about transplants importing West Coast values and politics here. But they’ve largely ignored the more pressing challenges newcomers are bringing with them.
Anti-abortion advocates are getting their hopes up that the U.S. Supreme Court could undo Roe v. Wade, but some are tired of waiting.
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.
After his denying local authorities tools to combat community spread, it’s no wonder Texans are desperate for vaccinations to save us from COVID-19’s renewed surge.
The rebel salon queen beat Governor Greg Abbott once, but on Saturday, he had the last laugh.
Rural Texans have long accepted that strips of their land might be acquired to build oil pipelines and highways. But the prospect of a high-speed rail line has sparked a whole different level of outrage.
Texas GOP chairman Allen West is at war with the governor and in love with the camera.
The Texas attorney general has called his 2015 indictment for securities fraud a “witch hunt.” Now, seven of his aides accuse him of corruption.
The governor’s most recent order on ballot drop-off locations follows a long history of efforts by him and his party to lower voter turnout, and could have an outsized effect on the battle for control of the state House.
As Mexico lags on sending what it owes to U.S. reservoirs and farmers on both sides of the border protest, experts say the 1944 agreement is not suited for today’s agricultural landscape.
The Dallas salon owner who rose to fame for defying shutdown orders is still campaigning to “reopen” Texas.
Facing down a potential Democrat-controlled Texas House, the governor has made a hard push to reframe the November election on his terms.
New polling indicates that the governor’s office is lagging behind mainstream opinion of the coronavirus pandemic.
The COVID-19 crisis is the predictable result of the governor muddling through things.
After initially deferring to city and county leaders on COVID-19 response, Governor Abbott has renewed his battle with local government.
The majority of apprehensions during the first week of demonstrations over police violence were for curfew violations, obstructing roadways, and other low-level offenses.
A month and a half after telling local officials they couldn't mandate masks, the Texas governor congratulated a local official on realizing that, actually, they could.
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.
All of the trend lines in Texas are going the wrong way.
A high school competition in Levelland brought fans from across the Panhandle and South Plains in March. Seven would come down with COVID-19.
Over Memorial Day weekend, locals and tourists flocked to the Poop Deck in Galveston as Governor Greg Abbott allowed Texas bars to open at limited capacity.
Governor Abbott’s phase two reopenings signal a hope from leaders that maybe this all will just work out, somehow.
As far as PR stunts go, this one has been lucrative.
The Shelley Luther saga gave Texas politicians an excuse to change the conversation, and deflect blame.
Research suggests Governor Abbott’s statewide stay-at-home order was slowing down the coronavirus’s spread. What will happen now that he’s lifted it?
One of Governor Greg Abbott's top aides says more testing and contact tracing should have been in place before restrictions were lifted.
Because there’s nothing to watch.
The plan deviates considerably from what many public health officials say is needed for Texans to reopen businesses.
Despite the loud protests, very few Americans are ready to go back to work.
After Greg Abbott's executive order deemed the industry essential, workers have been struggling to abide by health protocols.
The governor tries to address coronavirus concerns in the face of lobbying from his most conservative supporters.
And they've been dangerously slow to respond to the coronavirus.
