Democratic enthusiasm in the Valley’s four counties could foreshadow a November reversal of Trump’s historic 2024 sweep there — and signal that Latino voters have become swing voters.
Oil and gas companies have said the region needs more power. Environmentalists and a conservative think tank worry the state is moving too fast — and ratepayers will see the costs in their bills.
Confusion over the program’s special education requirements is making it difficult for families to meet a looming deadline — and creating more work for Texas school districts.
The family, including the mother and her five children, detail in letters what they describe as neglectful medical care, inedible food and a disregard for their religious accommodations. They’ve been imprisoned at the nation’s only family detention center for more than nine months and are believed to be the longest held there.
The Texas state representative is part of a band of conservatives known for antagonizing Republican leadership and working to push the state further right.
This Tuesday, Tribune reporters are watching two blockbuster senate primaries, an open attorney general seat, and more high-stakes, competitive races up and down the Texas ballot.
Some advocates for the region worry freshmen lawmakers will start deal-making at a deficit, while other voters see a chance for new blood.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt are competing to be the Republican nominee come November, with stakes that will be felt across Texas and in Washington.
President Donald Trump recently endorsed Air Force veteran Carlos De La Cruz for the seat Texas Republicans drew at his request. Democrats also see a chance to win in November.
The moderate Republican’s votes on gun control and marriage equality upset the region’s most conservative voters, but local officials said they’re grateful for the work he did on public safety and health.
Before she was a firebrand congresswoman, Jasmine Crockett was a public defender — and local Democratic party chair — in Texarkana.
Mayra Flores argues her “battle scars” make her the best bet to beat Democrat Vicente Gonzalez. Eric Flores says his opponent is a proven “loser” after back-to-back defeats.
Turnout during the first week of early voting for the Texas midterm election exceeded the same period for the previous two presidential elections, years that typically see higher voter engagement.
The involvement of federal immigration agents in the fatal shooting of Ruben Ray Martinez on South Padre Island in March had not been disclosed in initial reports.
All four candidates are vying to prove they are the heir apparent to Paxton, who has solidified the office as a juggernaut in the conservative legal movement.
Texans from Waco to Harlingen are raising concerns over how much energy and water data centers are poised to use. Local officials, some enticed by a tax boon, say they have little power to stop the rush.
Ten Republicans, including Trump-endorsed attorney Chris Gober, are competing for the red-leaning 10th Congressional District in Central Texas.
Both John Cornyn and Ken Paxton argue they’re best equipped to carry the torch for Republicans and fight off Democratic headwinds in local races.
The 3-2 vote from Hood County commissioners Tuesday came after they received a letter from a state senator saying they did not have the power to issue a moratorium.
The former Texas Rangers first baseman has poured $2.5 million of his own money into the race and recently scooped up the key endorsement of President Donald Trump.
Lack of a state floodplain policy enabled oil companies to build in parts of Texas hit by an epic inundation less than 30 years ago.
The three-term incumbent is effectively the underdog in the primary race for his own seat, lagging in fundraising and under attack by members of his own party.
In Pineland, a fresh batch of local elected officials and an expansion of the town’s biggest employer have created the conditions for an economic renaissance. A dearth of housing could slow growth.
Cain, a state lawmaker, and Mealer, a former Harris County judge candidate, have consolidated much of the fundraising and endorsements in the 9th Congressional District’s Republican primary.
ICE bypassed the county medical examiner in favor of a military facility for the autopsy of a Nicaraguan man and won’t release a ruling to the public.
As a part of a yearlong study, Texas county jails are collecting data about pregnant inmates’ prenatal care, mental health indicators, pregnancy outcomes and more.
Republicans dismissed the result as a one-off explained by the unpredictability of special elections. Others cited Rehmet’s working-class appeal and Latino and suburban backlash to GOP policies.
Lawmakers and industry leaders gathered in Austin this week to discuss the future of the market. “We almost have to take it on,” a Republican state House member said.
Immigration experts weigh in on who is affected by Gov. Greg Abbott’s order, what the impact will be on employers and how certain sectors might be affected.
Some students walked out of schools Friday afternoon to join demonstrations throughout the country condemning the actions of immigration enforcement officials.
After coming under fire for some earlier comments about Latinos, Crockett is working to narrow Democratic rival James Talarico’s lead among the key voting bloc.
Five years after Winter Storm Uri caused catastrophic blackouts that killed hundreds, the electric grid has changed significantly, but increasing demand means it will have to adapt even more.
Suzanne Bellsnyder used to work for Republicans in Austin. Now she’s challenging them to do better for rural Texas, where she lives and operates two newspapers and a growing Substack newsletter.
Elon Musk’s company got a boost in its application by the Starbase city commissioners. Two commissioners are SpaceX employees.
State troopers deployed pepper spray at protesters at the family detention center near Dilley where a 5-year-old Ecuadorian’s detention has drawn nationwide attention.
Texas’ population grew at a slower pace in 2025 than in previous years, according to new federal data. Nearly 32 million people now live in the state.
The demographic makeup of the trigger schools raises questions about whether Texas' accountability system fairly considers historic inequities tied to race and poverty.
As the GOP and its factions debate what constitutes American identity, opposition to Islam has become a key campaign pillar for some Texas Republicans in statewide races and beyond.
ERCOT officials expected to see power demand close in on power supply by Monday 8 a.m., but the grid held “flawlessly,” Abbott said.
With Texas’ hardline conservative megadonors largely staying on the sidelines, a handful of House primaries have become battlegrounds for the state’s civil justice debate.
State and local officials say they’re better prepared than they were five years ago when Winter Storm Uri blanketed the state, killing hundreds and leaving scores without power and water.
Immigration officials initially said the 55-year-old Cuban detainee died of “medical distress” but later changed the cause to suicide. The medical examiner ruled he was suffocated while being restrained.
Texas is preparing for the coldest temperatures of the season, and forecasters are warning of possible power outages and icy roads in much of the state.
The U.S. Postal Service warns it may not postmark mail the same day it takes possession of it. The deadline to register for the March 3 primary is Feb. 2.
As artificial intelligence pushes demand for more data centers, companies are drawn to the state’s relatively inexpensive land and natural gas that can run on-site power plants.
The Trump administration is going all in on accelerating mass deportation efforts. Here’s how ICE operations look in Texas, home to an estimated 2 million undocumented immigrants.
Talarico’s two years as a public school teacher is central to his Democratic Senate campaign after shaping his policy goals and driving his political rise through the Texas House.
Even as Trump's approval ratings fall with Latinos, a constellation of grassroots Republicans are working to secure wins in the midterms.
Haynes staked out several progressive policy positions at his recent campaign launch event, including support for Medicare for All and dismantling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Hundreds of newly released messages add more detail to the devastating timeline of the deadly floods.
The Justice Department has asked states for their voter rolls with an eye toward purging ineligible voters. Democrats say sharing the data could violate federal election law.
Salem Abraham claims Minnesota-based Xcel Energy has not lived up to its promise of protecting the region from wildfires. The company vehemently disagrees.
Texas-based oil companies have largely been silent on Trump’s assertion that they would help to rebuild Venezuela’s oil infrastructure.
Texas cities and counties largely control when and where liquor can be sold. Just three counties are totally dry.
South Texas builders said a growing number of ICE arrests at construction sites have made it difficult for work to continue.
The push by four Dallas-area suburbs to exit the multi-city partnership comes as state transportation officials have said the state needs more public transit, not less.
The Democratic Senate hopeful’s campaign said virtually all the donations, 98%, were for $100 or less. Candidates must file updates by the end of the month.
The Texas Tribune’s politics team has compiled five of the top stories we're watching this year, when voters will have their first chance to make their opinions known on the events of 2025.
Patrick previously requested a Texas Rangers investigation into any criminal wrongdoing at TSU, one of the nation’s largest historically Black colleges.
In the Rio Grande Valley, 98% of ACA enrollees received an advanced premium tax credit that lowered their monthly payments. Those subsidies will decrease Jan. 1.
One candidate received about $1 million within an eight-day span from the head of a Dallas tax firm — and 72 of his employees — that helps corporations secure tax breaks under comptroller-run programs.
At least 10 Texas incumbents will not be returning to Congress next term, a high-water mark for turnover in the delegation.
District attorneys in Harris, El Paso and other counties say some cases, including murders, have been hobbled or lost because witnesses were detained, deported or too scared to come to court.
Texas’ entire House GOP delegation voted this week for a health care package that lets the tax credits lapse. They will be forced to vote on a three-year extension of the subsidies in January.
Health providers and faculty members fear students will no longer understand the nuances of caring for transgender people, who tend to have higher rates of certain mental and physical health conditions.
Months after public health officials say they caused the nation’s largest measles surge in 30 years, some West Texas Mennonites have grown more skeptical of the mainstream medical system.
Last month the Trump administration made people from 19 nations ineligible to obtain legal status. “Fear won,” said one woman who came from Venezuela nearly a decade ago.
Records obtained by The Texas Tribune show how universities are using the technology to reshape curriculum under political pressure, raising concerns about academic freedom.
The top-ranked Celina High School football team is barrelling toward another state championship this month. Its coach is barred from the field.
Christmas tree sales are up in the Lone Star State, even as many tree farmers are aging out of the business with no successors.
The A&M Board of Regents came to want a more explicitly conservative leader who would shut down controversy before it reared its head, as members grew weary from the steady drumbeat of online posts accusing the university of embracing liberal ideology.
The governor must first win over lawmakers who have rejected similar proposals. The state may have to backfill more than $17 billion for school funding alone.
The wave of legal challenges is in response to the Trump administration’s intensified immigration enforcement and its new policy expanding mandatory detention for undocumented immigrants.
Texas earmarked $1.4 billion to help fund flood prevention projects. But after learning that so many communities turned down the money, two lawmakers who approved the program acknowledged it was flawed.
At 13.3%, Houston has the worst rate of young adults who are neither working nor in in school of the largest metro areas in the country.
Some trans Texans worry that the lack of specificity on how the law will be enforced will harm their safety and lives.
Laws include restricting transgender people’s access to public bathrooms, allowing lawsuits against abortion pill providers, and replacement of the STAAR test.
Mental health experts expect the July 4 floods have resulted in post-traumatic stress disorder, unhealthy hypervigilance and recurring thoughts on disasters among campers.
Defending Texas sovereignty has been central to Abbott’s political identity. Yet he has helped Trump erode states’ authority over elections, policing and deploying the National Guard.
The administrative ruling is a first step before the court decides whether to pause the use of the 2025 map, drawn to increase GOP seats in the U.S. House, for the rest of the legal battle.
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.
With Texas’ new map blocked by a federal court, California Democrats are emerging victorious — though the Supreme Court has yet to weigh in.
The law requires school employees to use names and pronouns that conform to students’ sex at birth.
Rogers resigned from her position after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick criticized a 2023 dissertation in which she asserted the importance of Indigenous people’s history at the Alamo.
Some advisers have criticized diversity efforts, questioned the historical contributions of people of color, and promoted debunked beliefs.