Our series of explainers and guides will help you get ready to vote in the upcoming runoffs. Early voting begins May 18.

There are 66 fewer active summer camps in Texas compared to December, according to the state.

After years of trying to stop offshore wind projects, the Trump administration is now pausing routine federal permits for 165 land-based projects, including dozens in Texas.

A debate over congressional redistricting is shifting to South Carolina.

Some of San Antonio’s Iranian community support the war, however, and staged a demonstration Saturday.

Early voting for the 2026 Texas primary runoff election begins Monday in Bexar County, giving voters another chance to weigh in on key races before the May 26 runoff election.

It was a hurdle too high for Bill Cassidy to clear.

Thousands of people have streamed onto the National Mall in Washington for a daylong prayer rally.

Indigenous leaders say that federal contractors are desecrating sacred Native American places and cultural sites at an unprecedented pace in the rush to build more walls on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Trump administration has run the names of at least 67 million voters through government databases as it looks for noncitizens and people who've died.

A proposal to fund $1 billion in security additions for the White House campus and the president’s new ballroom fails to meet procedural rules.

U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming have advanced to a runoff in Louisiana’s Republican Senate primary.

The contract comes just a week after Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said the agency would not build a wall in Big Bend National Park.

The Supreme Court has rejected Virginia’s bid to restore a congressional map that would have given Democrats a chance to pick up four seats in the closely divided House of Representatives.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is commuting the sentence of a former county clerk and election conspiracy theorist following pressure from President Donald Trump.

Texas voters will settle unfinished business from the March Primary on May 26, when they decide either who will be on the ballot for the November general election or who will take office next year. Here are the races on the runoff election ballot.

The Justice Department is preparing to seek an indictment against former Cuban President Raúl Castro, three people familiar with the matter tell The Associated Press.

Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee is ending his bid for reelection.

The Texas Supreme Court has refused to declare that Democratic state lawmakers who briefly left the state last year in a quorum break to stop a vote on new congressional voting maps pushed by President Donald Trump vacated their offices.

More than 50 Democrats, including Wu — the House Democratic leader — left the state last August to shut down the Legislature and stall passage of the GOP’s map.

Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Friday that Texas Children’s must also pay $10 million to the state because it illegally provided transgender care to kids.

The 2020 election continues to haunt Georgia's political landscape, especially in the Republican primary for secretary of state.

Louisiana voters will participate in a revamped and stripped-down state primary Saturday and decide the political fate of an embattled Republican U.S. senator targeted for defeat by President Donald Trump.

Workers on New York’s Long Island Rail Road are on strike, paralyzing the busiest commuter rail system in North America.

The incumbent senator has dominated financially, thanks to an array of megadonors and dark money groups. The Tribune assembled a guide to the money behind the most expensive Senate primary ever.

Some smoke shops say the flurry of court actions since March 31 has already forced them to scale back hours, cut staff and prepare to shut down.

The lawsuit argues that 14 acres on Mount Cristo Rey, which features a 29-foot-tall statue of Jesus, are needed for barriers and other technology to secure the border.

A new generation of civil rights leaders is rallying against efforts to dismantle the Voting Rights Act.

New U.S. House districts in Florida are facing their first test in court.

Edward Busby was executed by lethal injection Thursday, reinforcing Texas’ position as the nation's leader in capital punishment.

A U.S. judge on Thursday granted a preliminary injunction against critical sections of Senate Bill 4, but a provision allowing police to arrest people suspected of illegal entry did activate.

Voting rights groups are arguing that a federal judge should stop President Donald Trump's executive order restricting mail voting because he doesn’t have the authority to do so.

Some items on Abbott's agenda would require amending the Texas Constitution, meaning they would need supermajority support in the Legislature.

Busby’s execution, set for Thursday evening, had been halted by a federal appeals court less than a week ago.

Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the cities, most of them small, of violating a state law aimed at preventing cities from unduly raising property taxes.

The Justice Department is accusing Yale University of illegally considering race in its medical school admissions.

When Jerome Powell was sworn in as chair of the Federal Reserve eight years ago, economists worried that inflation and interest rates were too low and that too few Americans had jobs.

A top California Democratic political aide has pleaded guilty in a scheme to steal campaign funds from Xavier Becerra when he served as the federal health secretary.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has unveiled his final budget proposal.

Gary Grief, former executive director of the now-dissolved Texas Lottery Commission, is alleged to have used his position to defraud the state during a 2023 Lotto Texas drawing.

Lacy Lakeview’s hasty approach to the data center project has alienated the Waco officials who would control water service to the site. “Without the City of Waco agreeing to it, Lacy Lakeview can’t do anything out there and neither can Infrakey," State Rep. Pat Curry said. "Those guys don’t know what the hell they’re doing.”

PACs have accounted for 89% of ad spending in Texas’ congressional runoffs as crypto, AI and mystery groups flood the contests.

State senators in Louisiana have passed a new congressional map after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the previous one.

Vice President JD Vance is highlighting the Trump administration’s efforts to combat fraud in a visit to Maine ahead of the state’s primary elections for several high-profile races.

As the Austin Democrat campaigns against big money in politics, he is being supported by a super PAC bankrolled by several billionaires, as well as nonprofits that do not have to disclose their funders.

Six of Texas’ largest cities lost residents in 2025: Dallas, El Paso, Arlington, Plano, Irving and Garland.

The incumbent senator and his allies have massively outspent the pro-Paxton side, though polling points to a tight finish in the May 26 election.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries had warned Republicans they would come to regret the congressional redistricting fight.

A global oil bottleneck in the Strait of Hormuz has created a financial windfall on the other side of the world in New Mexico that is both enviable and politically sensitive in a Democratic-dominated state.

Strangulation is the latest topic for the Texas Governor’s Family Violence Criminal Homicide Prevention Task Force, which is investigating key homicide indicators to make suggestions to the Texas Legislature.

Denise Powell has won the Democratic primary in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District in a contest focused on the state’s “blue dot” status in presidential elections.

China’s Xi Jinping has warned President Donald Trump that their two countries could clash over Taiwan if the issue is not handled properly.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has returned to his show after being hospitalized for viral pneumonia.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has backed away from a previous claim that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein blackmailed people.

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed Kevin Warsh to lead the Federal Reserve.

The law, which gives state law enforcement and judges a role in immigration enforcement, is set to go into effect in two days.

Sheriff Marian Brown said her office, which already cooperates with federal immigration authorities, has until Dec. 1 to act.

Senate Republicans have again blocked Democratic legislation that would halt President Donald Trump’s war with Iran.

The effort, which combines federal, state and local law enforcement, will expand to the Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio metro areas.

President Donald Trump's trade war with Beijing has sent U.S.-China trade into a freefall and forced companies on both sides of the Pacific to regroup.

Republican senators in Louisiana have advanced a plan to eliminate one of two majority-Black U.S. House districts for this year's elections.

U.S. President Donald Trump has arrived in Beijing for his highly anticipated summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a restless moment for a world worried about war, trade and artificial intelligence.

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin is losing the confidence of some Democratic officials, who are concerned about the direction of the party's political machine barely a year into his term.

Texas voters have listed immigration and border security among their top issues for years, but recent polling found they are less of a priority than at any point in recent history.

Julie Johnson labels her opponent a “flip-flopper.” Colin Allred said previous votes reflected Rio Grande Valley frustration with Biden-era border policies.

José Contreras Díaz was one of hundreds of DACA recipients the Trump administration targeted for deportation. He’s one of a few the federal government has allowed to return.

Americans paid more for their groceries in April, but high gas prices were only one of the reasons why.

“The Hills” reality television show villain Spencer Pratt is running for mayor of Los Angeles, positioning himself as a savior and promising to tackle the city's disorder and dysfunction.

From U.S. Senate to Railroad Commission, the TribCast dives into the most contentious races we'll be watching on May 26

Hill County commissioners’ split vote to issue a moratorium appears to be a first in Texas.

Final approval of the curtailment plan is expected at a future City Council meeting. Experts predict that, without significant rainfall, a water emergency could arrive by September.

American presidents have navigated a verbal tightrope for nearly 50 years regarding official U.S. policy toward Taiwan and China.

The indictment accused Gary Grief of misusing his position to defraud the state in a highly scrutinized $95 million 2023 Lotto Texas drawing.

The former president greeted patrons while stopping for tacos near the University of Texas at Austin campus — a notable show of support for the Democrats atop the ticket this fall.

President Donald Trump won't have to pay an $83 million defamation award to a longtime advice columnist until the U.S. Supreme Court gets a chance to review the case or reject an appeal.

President Donald Trump has departed for Beijing to meet with China's President Xi Jinping.

The two contests are among the most closely watched U.S. House runoffs in Texas. Menefee, newly elected to Congress, faces longtime Democratic Rep. Al Green in a matchup spawned by GOP redistricting.

A Southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position.

A company’s legal home determines which state taxes and laws governing corporations it will be subject to. Some are fleeing Delaware in search of a friendlier environment in Texas.

A North Texas city has become the epicenter of a collision between the GOP’s efforts to win over Indian American voters and some conservatives’ nativist agenda.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has faced tough questions from Republican and Democratic lawmakers about the Trump administration’s end game for the Iran war, the rising cost of the conflict and its impact on diminishing U.S. weapons stockpiles.

The Democratic primary for a key U.S. House seat in Nebraska is too early to call.

President Donald Trump's efforts to reshape U.S. House districts have seen mixed outcomes.

Student Ammer Qaddumi is suing the university after he was suspended for his involvement in the 2024 demonstrations, calling it a violation of his free speech rights.

The Interior Department is canceling a rule that put public lands conservation on equal footing with development.

James Talarico, the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, has pushed to suspend the federal gas tax amid soaring fuel costs. Cornyn previously opposed the idea.

The U.S. Supreme Court has set the stage for Alabama to get rid of one of two largely Black congressional districts before this year’s midterm elections.

Officials said one victim found in a Union Pacific car was from Mexico and another was from Honduras. Five men and a woman are among the dead.

President Donald Trump has nominated Cameron Hamilton to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Democrats have filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to halt a redistricting rule by Virginia’s top court.

The Supreme Court is leaving women’s access to a widely used abortion pill untouched until at least Thursday, while the justices consider whether to allow restrictions on the drug, mifepristone, to take effect.

Thursday’s execution was blocked by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals “pending further order” from the court.

Latino children accounted for the vast majority of students who left public schools this year, according to a new analysis.

Iran and the United States have reached an impasse again over how to end their war while their ceasefire grew increasingly shaky.

Republican state officials are confusing voters and creating logistical headaches for local election officials across the South by redistricting U.S. House seats as primary season is underway.

Texas was among the first states to heed Trump administration directives to revoke commercial driver’s licenses from some immigrants as a safety measure.

The latest version of the El Paso Democrat’s Dignity Act includes a key change to make it more palatable to Republicans. Some have gotten on board, but others are firmly opposed.

The National Board Certification is widely considered the most demanding for teachers. Texas leaders are examining whether it fits the state’s merit-based system.

A new poll finds that younger Americans are more pessimistic than older ones about the state of the job market.

Cuellar has denied that he defrauded the sheriff’s office during the COVID-19 pandemic. His brother is Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar.