The lieutenant governor’s office is often described as the most powerful in Texas government. Here’s a look at who’s running in the 2026 Democratic and Republican primaries and where they stand.
Teachers and educators can cash in on the Education Savings Account program passed by the state Legislature, also known informally as school vouchers.
Illinois has a new law shielding immigrants from federal enforcement near courthouses, hospitals, university campuses, and day cares.
Houston Democrats are barreling toward a primary while North Texas Democrats await Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Senate decision.
A Missouri appeals court panel has ordered new wording for a ballot measure seeking to roll back abortion rights in the state.
Judge Jeffrey Brown pointed to comments from the governor and GOP legislators as the basis for his ruling that the new map can’t be used in 2026.
The funds will help the workforce training institution fix campus infrastructure and expand its footprint at a time when the state has seen a decline in skilled workers in some fields.
A Republican-led panel in Ohio has adopted new U.S. House districts, potentially boosting the GOP's chances of gaining two seats in next year's elections.
Ohio's Republican-led redistricting commission has unveiled a new U.S. House map that could give Republicans a chance to win two more seats in next year's elections.
The proposed constitutional amendment would affirm that voters must be citizens, a requirement that’s already in state law.
New Mexico legislators moved quickly to prop up funding for food assistance and rural health care services in response to President Donald Trump’s cuts in federal spending on Medicaid and nutrition programs.
The families of some of the children who died at Texas' Camp Mystic during catastrophic flooding two months joined Gov. Greg Abbott for a ceremonial bill signing.
Missouri has become the third state to embrace a mid-decade redesign of its U.S. House districts in a quest for partisan advantage.
Both legislative chambers adjourned without agreeing on changes to Senate Bill 2, which aimed to create new training and licensing requirements for local officials.
House members who freeze future legislation by fleeing Texas will face steeper fines, loss of seniority and committee posts, and limits on political fundraising.
With Democrats’ walkout over redistricting bringing the House to a standstill, both parties are accusing each other of abandoning Central Texas flood victims.
California Democrats are rushing to schedule an election to remake U.S. House districts to counter plans to boost Republican seats in Texas.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has cleared the way for the state to permanently enact a ban on conversion therapy.
A budget deal brokered by Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republicans who control the state Legislature has cleared a key hurdle just hours after it was made public.
As federal pandemic aid ends and sales tax revenues cool, analysts say it could constrain the Texas Legislature in coming years. But they don’t see an immediate budget crisis on the horizon.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has handed a victory to the Republican-controlled Legislature in a power struggle with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
The clash marks a rare break between two of the most powerful Republicans in Texas after a legislative session that ushered in a series of conservative victories.
Two groups tried to intervene in a case that blocked Texas’ decade-old law allowing certain undocumented students to pay the lower tuition rates at public universities. They’re appealing that decision.
In a bipartisan move, Nevada's Democratic-controlled Legislature has passed a last-minute bill supported by the Republican governor that will require photo ID to vote in person.
The Legislature wrapped up without the same drama that defined the end of the last two sessions, with state GOP leaders checking off nearly everything on their to-do lists.
A boost in public school spending, school vouchers, and money for water systems are other highlights of the state budget, which was bolstered by a $24 billion surplus.
A bill that would require all Texas counties to keep track of veteran suicides passed through the state Legislature on Monday.
The governor has not addressed whether he supports the ban, as hemp industry leaders have urged him to veto Senate Bill 3.
The House approved the ban after previously considering proposals to preserve the industry by tightening regulations.
Missouri’s governor says he will call the Legislature into a special session to consider incentives aimed at keeping the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals from moving to Kansas.
An unlikely group of Republican allies joined Democrats to approve repealing the ban, which has been unenforced since 2003. It is the first time the bill has made it to the House floor since it was first proposed decades ago.
The Democratic controlled cities of Salt Lake City and Boise, Idaho, adopted new city flags this week that show support for LGBTQ+ people in defiance of new laws passed by their states’ Republican-controlled Legislatures.
After years of claiming that companies selling lottery tickets online could not be regulated, the Texas Lottery Commission voted to ban the practice.
Texas lawmakers on Thursday passed a $1 billion education bill that allows families to use public money to pay for private school tuition, a major victory for school voucher proponents nationwide that was cheered on by President Donald Trump.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that the Democratic governor legally used the state’s uniquely powerful veto to lock in a school funding increase for 400 years.
As the Texas House prepares to vote on the budget, officials and other experts monitor national policy and state tax revenue.
Only Gov. Greg Abbott can call for a special session. But in his role presiding over the Texas Senate, Patrick can block any bill from passing, giving him leverage to compel overtime sessions by killing must-pass legislation.
A federal judge has found the extreme heat in Texas prisons that don’t have air conditioning is “plainly unconstitutional.”.
A bill that would relax restrictions on working hours for Florida teenagers is moving through the state Legislature amid an ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration.
When Fargo voters approved a unique local election system in 2018, their goal was to choose candidates with broader support to lead North Dakota’s largest city.
Among the proposals is a bill that would force more inspections of power lines, which a committee concluded ignited a blaze that burned more than 1 million acres last year.
Utah’s Republican governor has signed a collective bargaining ban that experts are calling one of the most restrictive labor laws in the country, despite overwhelming opposition from union members.
Texas’ border spending exploded after Joe Biden’s election, then state leaders signaled a new willingness to reduce it when Trump won. That didn’t last long.
Restrict THC, help with deportations, infuse religion in schools and provide property tax relief – these are among the Patrick priorities.
Paxton’s latest tour is the continuation of his efforts in the past year to get political revenge on House Republicans who supported his impeachment.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ plan to let voters repeal and create state laws without legislative involvement met opposition from the Republican leaders of the Legislature, who signaled that the idea is likely to be rejected for a second time.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says she will introduce legislation to expand the state’s involuntary commitment laws to allow hospitals to compel more mentally ill people into treatment.
Lawmakers have clashed in Taiwan’s legislature after members of a leading political party broke into the building overnight to occupy the speaker’s chair.
The Public Utility Commission found that the performance credit mechanism, a financial tool the Legislature capped at $1 billion, would only marginally improve reliability of the state power grid.
Voters in some parts of the country are discovering that having their say at the ballot box is not necessarily the final word, even though this year's election was over a month ago.
Committee members said it was necessary to skip the two years after Texas passed its restrictive abortion laws to offer more timely recommendations.
Patrick contends retailers have exploited a law passed in 2019 to sell unregulated and potentially harmful consumable tetrahydrocannabinol products.
A judge’s overturning of Wisconsin’s 13-year-old law that effectively ended collective bargaining for teachers and most state government employees has rekindled a battle over labor rights in a state where the first public sector unions were formed 65 years ago.
School voucher supporters say they have the votes to get a bill across both the Texas Senate, led by Patrick, and the House, which has repeatedly blocked such proposals.
Arizona voters have approved letting local police arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering the state from Mexico.
The same Michigan voters Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris needs in the critical swing state will also determine whether her party maintains its foothold on state government two years after pulling off a historic sweep.
Voters in nine states are deciding next month whether to add the right to abortion to their constitutions.
The examination of Deloitte’s existing contracts comes after it failed to catch red flags in a company’s application for a loan to build or upgrade power plants in the state.
The new list includes many right-wing priorities, and would escalate Republicans’ wars against diversity, equity and inclusion programs and review laws to keep noncitizens off voter rolls.
With ballot deadlines approaching, Nebraska and Missouri courts are weighing whether amendments on abortion will go before voters.
Texas Republicans have been trying to reduce the state’s high property taxes for years, but some acknowledge eliminating them would be too expensive.
The Minnesota Supreme Court has upheld a 2023 state law that restores voting rights for felons once they have completed their prison sentences.
Wisconsin Republicans are asking voters to take away the governor’s power to unilaterally spend federal money, a reaction to the billions of dollars that flowed into the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Democrats in the state legislative majority have rebuffed calls by New Mexico’s governor to address the “dangerous intersection” of crime and homelessness.
Utah’s Supreme Court has ruled in favor of opponents of redistricting that carved up Democratic-leaning Salt Lake County among four congressional districts that have since elected Republicans by wide margins.
All over Florida, arts groups are scrambling to plug large budget gaps after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unexpectedly vetoed $32 million in arts funding.
Parents and medical providers of transgender adolescents sued Texas, challenging the constitutionality of a restriction on puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
The California Supreme Court has removed a measure from the state’s November ballot that would have made it harder to raise taxes.
The committee’s chair also raised concerns about the state’s possible departure from a federal system to share data about maternal deaths.
An anti-abortion group in South Dakota has filed a lawsuit to block an abortion rights measure from the November ballot.
Other cities have passed similar measures, but Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued to block them from going into effect.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has signed legislation overhauling access to the state’s public records, likely making it harder for the public and media to access some documents, according to critics.
Vermont has become the first state to enact a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a share of the damage caused by climate change after the state suffered catastrophic summer flooding and damage from other extreme weather.
Youth services and civil rights groups are suing to block a new Washington state parental rights law that is set to take effect next month.
Some Kansas lawmakers see a chance to lure Kansas City’s two biggest professional sports teams across the Missouri border.
Florida is on the verge of repealing what’s left of a 16-year-old law that puts climate change as a priority when making energy policy decisions.
Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell says “our heart aches for the loss of life” in tornadoes that left four dead and about 100 injured in Oklahoma.
Abbott made the remarks as he recounted the story of a male teacher in North Texas who wore a pink dress for his school’s spirit day earlier this year.
Supporters of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota are welcoming federal legislation that would help cover the construction costs of the library and to showcase artifacts of the 26th president.
Unlike recent years when there was an LGBTQ+ ally in the Louisiana governor's office, nothing stands in the way this year of legislation hostile to transgender people.
A new voting rights law in New York is already having a dramatic effect, with lawsuits in several local communities seeking to reverse decades of minority voter disenfranchisement.
Examining charitable bail organizations and banning Delta 9 were also among Patrick’s priorities in the next legislative session.
Nebraska’s Republican governor is calling on state lawmakers to move forward with a “winner-take-all” system of awarding Electoral College votes.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature that would have banned high school transgender athletes from competing on teams that align with their gender identity.
As Kansas prepares to ban gender-affirming care for minors, students at the state's largest university taking action.