INSIDER
Since the 2020 election, Texas Republicans have dramatically rewritten the state’s voting laws, which have made some long-standing practices illegal.
Texas’ turnover rate has held steady at 40% since 2014. That’s slightly above the new national average.
Tax cuts were a major legislative priority for Republican leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott. The governor cannot certify the election results until the challenges are resolved.
Currently, more than 80% of Texas voters can vote anywhere in their home county, a model that originated in Lubbock County. If lawmakers approve new legislation, that would change.
Voters in nearly 100 counties — mostly rural — can vote at any polling site in their county. The sponsor, without offering evidence, said the practice was not secure despite years of successful elections in Texas with the system.
Democratic County Judge Lina Hidalgo beat Republican Alexandra del Moral Mealer by more than 18,000 votes. An assessment of Election Day problems at polling sites “has not yet revealed” whether any voters were turned away.
Republican Adam Hinojosa conceded Friday after a recount that included three counties in Senate District 27, the most competitive senate district in the state.
Ronna McDaniel has kept the RNC aligned with former President Donald Trump, who some Republicans have blamed for the party’s underwhelming performance in the midterm elections.
Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Scott as secretary of state in October 2021, and he served in an interim capacity pending Senate confirmation. He is stepping down right before the legislative session in which his appointment would have come up for debate.
Adam Hinojosa finished 659 votes behind Democrat Morgan LaMantia in a race that garnered 175,415 total votes.
Scattered paper ballot shortages and late openings of polling places were among the glitches that prompted calls for scrutiny from statewide Republican officials.
In Texas, 45.7% of the 17.7 million registered voters cast ballots in the 2022 midterm election. That’s 7.3 percentage points lower than the state’s total turnout in 2018 but higher than in every other midterm election in the last 20 years.
The land commissioner manages public land, enforces mineral rights leases, controls the Texas Permanent School Fund, distributes natural disaster relief funding and is responsible for the Alamo.
After several Harris County polling places opened late, a state district judge ordered voting locations there to stay open until 8 p.m. But the state’s highest civil court blocked that ruling.
Texas voters cast their ballots Tuesday with a wide variety of issues on their minds, including the state’s grid and the Uvalde shooting.
Federal monitors will be on the ground in Harris, Dallas and Waller counties on Election Day as part of the department’s regular deployment for major elections.
Lujan has twice won special elections to the Texas House — but he has never served while the Legislature met.
Republicans may be waiting to vote on Election Day after former President Donald Trump pushed voting in person on Nov. 8 at a rally in South Texas.
The high turnout seen in 2018 may have been an anomaly rather than the start of a long-term trend.
In some battleground state legislative races, Republicans have been making overtures to those who believe the ban as too extreme. They have said they are open to revising the ban to include the exceptions — and even voiced confidence that the Legislature will do so when it reconvenes in January.
Texans will be choosing more than a governor and members of Congress in the midterm elections. Here’s a look at what the officials elected to several local offices oversee.
One of the state’s fastest-growing demographics, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders often lack information in their languages that would make the political process more accessible.
Asian American and Pacific Islander voters said that candidates don’t often reach out — and that their elected officials don’t adequately represent their interests.
The land commissioner manages the Texas General Land Office, which manages the Alamo, administers natural disaster relief funding and helps fund public education. The seat is open after incumbent George P. Bush lost his primary bid for attorney general.
His campaign said the massive amount came at a faster clip than his previous, record-breaking haul. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has not released his latest fundraising figures yet but had a large cash-on-hand advantage over O’Rourke at the end of June.
The Texas Tribune spoke to Texans across the political spectrum and asked them to make their case for why voting matters this year. The deadline to register to vote was Oct. 11. Early voting runs from Oct. 24 to Nov. 4.
How do I find out if I’m registered to vote? How do I register to vote in the first place? Who is eligible to register to vote?
The Brazos County commissioner who represents the precinct where the university is located cited low turnout as a partial reason for relocating the polling location.
Running elections in Texas has never been easy. But since 2020, the scrutiny elections administrators face has grown — even in small Republican-controlled counties that former President Donald Trump carried.
County commissioners decided Tuesday that A&M still won’t have an on-campus early-voting location for the 2022 elections, despite admitting it was a mistake to eliminate it for the first time in years.
Stogner, who lost in a Republican primary runoff to incumbent Wayne Christian, said she’s endorsing Luke Warford.
The Democratic nominee for governor said during The Texas Tribune Festival that he’s counting on a big turnout of voters energized by the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Flores’ district director, Aron Peña, was accused of touching and kissing an intern without her consent. He denies any wrongdoing.
The latest survey also gave Republican incumbents single-digit leads in two other statewide races. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick led Democrat Mike Collier by 7 points, and Attorney General Ken Paxton registered a 5-point advantage over Democrat Rochelle Garza.
The sudden TV spending by Coulda Been Worse LLC comes as Abbott battles for a third term against Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke.
In his second attempt to oust the incumbent, Collier is actively courting Republican voters who are turned off by the Legislature’s hard-right turn in recent years.
The endorsement comes after Patrick’s Democratic opponent, Mike Collier, received endorsements from two Republicans, Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley and state Sen. Kel Seliger of Amarillo.
Both Gov. Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke hope to define the election on issues viewed as favorable to their own parties.
The governor has made a vocal enemy in the families of Robb Elementary shooting victims. They are demanding a special legislative session to reach a compromise on the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic rifles.
The list of the Texas Future Project’s beneficiaries includes groups like Annie’s List and Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, which work to elect more Democratic women who support abortion rights.
O’Rourke confronted a heckler at a campaign event Wednesday who laughed while he was talking about the Uvalde school shooting, telling the person, “It may be funny to you, motherfucker, but it is not funny to me.”
A Mexican immigrant who worked in cotton fields to pay for school supplies, Flores is a source of hope for Republicans looking to gain ground in the Rio Grande Valley. But her staying power will be put to the test this November.
The bar, which licenses lawyers and offers training sessions, is suing Paxton in an attempt to sanction him for trying block the certification of Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump.
Republicans are starting to pay more attention to Texas Senate District 27 — the only competitive Senate seat in November — but whether they will go all in remains an open question.
Incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott entered this year with a much larger war chest and still has the financial upper hand in the race. He raised $24.9 over the same time period.
She made the comment during a speech Monday in San Antonio to a Latino civil rights group.
The Republican U.S. senator shepherded landmark gun legislation through the Senate last month. Between April and June, his disapproval rating went from 39% to 50%, according to a Texas Politics Project poll.
The Republican incumbent’s lead over his Democratic challenger shrank last month, according to a Texas Politics Project poll. The 6-point gap is smaller than when Republican George W. Bush ousted Democrat Ann Richards in 1994.
The Republican governor is stressing one of his biggest advantages — money — as he faces a competitive challenge for reelection.
Frederick Frazier’s runoff opponent accused him of posing as a city code compliance officer to get campaign signs taken down. Frazier said his opponent is to blame in the case.
Attorney General Ken Paxton declared on Twitter that he would be closing his office and “making it an annual holiday” in honor of the Supreme Court decision.
A separate recount found that Michelle Vallejo won the party’s nomination for another congressional seat.
The state Democratic Party confirmed Monday that Ramirez’s opponent, Michelle Vallejo, won by a slim margin.
The GOP is spending big to capture an open congressional seat in South Texas — if only for a few months — as they try to create momentum toward a November election where they are newly targeting the region.
Republican Dawn Buckingham and Democrat Jay Kleberg won their primary runoffs. The winner of November’s general election will replace George P. Bush as head of the Texas General Land Office.
The state representative beat Jane Hope Hamilton in the primary runoff for the congressional seat based in southern Dallas.
Christian beat Sarah Stogner in the Republican primary runoff for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission after she accused him of corruption during the campaign.
Bush, who has served for seven years as the state’s land commissioner, campaigned on restoring integrity to the attorney general’s office and hit Paxton for his legal and ethical troubles.
Tuesday’s elections will solidify the major parties’ statewide tickets and have national political implications.
Crockett is running on her experience as a legislator, a civil rights attorney and as the incumbent’s hand-picked successor. Hamilton is running on her more than 20 years as a behind-the-scenes congressional staffer and campaign adviser.
Rochelle Garza sued the Trump administration in 2017, seeking access to an abortion for an undocumented teenager. Joe Jaworski, a former Galveston mayor and a trial attorney for over three decades, presents himself as the more experienced candidate.
Democratic primary runoffs for two congressional districts and two legislative seats in South Texas highlight the candidates’ divergent visions for the party in a region the GOP is heavily targeting.
The former president criticized Democrats, who control Congress and the White House, on a number of issues. He also praised Texas Republicans he’s endorsed in this month’s primary runoff.
The winner will face a tough challenge against Republican incumbent Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
The propositions on the May 7 ballot would lower property taxes by shifting more public school costs to the state. But the measures’ language can be hard to understand.
Texas political leaders usually settle for caution. The big stuff is risky, but it’s also possible — and even inspiring — to see leaders ignoring the small stuff and aiming higher.
Michelle Vallejo faces Ruben Ramirez in a runoff for the Democratic nomination in the 15th Congressional District. A nonprofit that supports Vallejo is accused of breaking campaign finance rules.
Politicians are always listening to voters — but the ones who actually select the state’s elected officials have a lot more clout than those who stay home. You can see it in the way lawmakers govern.
Texans who don’t vote in primaries and primary runoffs are missing a chance to choose who goes to Congress and the Texas Legislature. Thanks to the political maps drawn by lawmakers last year, only a handful of those contests will be competitive in November.
The winner of the special election will replace former U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, who resigned last month to work for Akin Gump.
Public education in Texas — like everywhere in the country — is hurting after more than two years of pandemic. But many in the political class are preoccupied with reforms that have more to do with social issues than with education.
Josh Malone funded a super PAC that spent over $400,000 working to defeat the Plano congressman, who got forced into a primary runoff and then admitted to an affair and ended his campaign.
Candidates hardly ever talk about improving the safety net for kids — unless the holes in the safety net have become big enough to get the attention of voters.
Hidalgo, the Harris County judge, says a criminal probe into a contract her office awarded is a political hit. But as a potential future statewide candidate, does the episode expose a flaw in her approach to politics?
Figures released by the Texas secretary of state show that more than 24,000 Texas voters had their ballots rejected in the March primary. The rejection rate is a significant increase over previous elections.
Powell, a Democrat, had won Senate District 10 by winning over a coalition of diverse voters in Tarrant County. The GOP redrew the district to branch out to counties to the south and west that made it more rural and more white.
A special election will determine who finishes Vela’s term, and while the winner will only serve for a short period, Republicans are already eyeing the contest to show momentum in South Texas.
Abbott’s campaign has argued O’Rourke would “destroy the Texas miracle.” O’Rourke argues he’s the one who has run a business.
Nearly 23,000 Texans voted in this month’s party primaries and saw their mail ballots rejected by election officials, evidently an aftershock from new state laws that were supposed to make voting easier and more secure.
