Sugar Land Mayor Pro Tem Jacquie Chaumette says she will challenge state Rep. Charlie Howard, R-Sugar Land, in next year's Republican primary.

Congress is set to vote on a deal that would raise the federal debt ceiling to avoid an unprecedented default. They may not be in Washington now, but we asked several U.S. Senate candidates to weigh in on how they'd vote on the plan if they were.

In this week's TribCast, Evan, Ross, Reeve and Ben discuss David Dewhurst's campaign rollout, political fallout from the legislative session and who might be calling Rick Perry to run for president.

Republican Ted Cruz parried David "unapologetically conservative" Dewhurst's video announcement this morning, calling himself the "proven conservative" in the U.S. Senate race. 

Promising an "unapologetically conservative" campaign, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst today jumped into the Republican primary race to succeed Kay Bailey Hutchison in the U.S. Senate. Among other promises he made in a video sent to supporters, he pledged to support the controversial "Cut, Cap and Balance" budget plan under discussion in Congress.

The three declared Republican candidates for Kay Bailey Hutchison's U.S. Senate seat released mid-year campaign finance totals today. Tom Leppert got to the end of June with more money in the bank than either Ted Cruz or Elizabeth Ames Jones.

David Dewhurst might be the safest bet for the U.S. Senate since former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. But nothing is guaranteed in politics. Just ask Crist.

Aguilar on a change in law that affects applications for state-issued IDs, Galbraith on how the drought is taking its toll on wildlife, Hamilton on an outsider's attempt to lower the cost of higher ed, Murphy visualizes the partisanship of House members, Ramsey on who becomes Lite Guv if David Dewhurst takes another job, Ramshaw on life in the colonias and three stories about Rick Perry — Grissom on how his death penalty stance might play in a 2012 presidential race, Root on how he cemented his reputation as one of the state's most powerful governors and Tan on the growing demand for him to speak elsewhere: The best of our best content from July 4 to July 8, 2011.

If Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst moves into another job — and he’s got two ways to do that — the 31 senators will elect one of their own to serve the rest of his four-year term.

Tan on how it all came out in the special session, Tan and Dehn on what the Tea Party folks thought of the results, Aguilar on Rick Perry's uneasy relationship with Latinos, Root on Perry's past positions on various controversies and how those would figure into a presidential race, Ramshaw on a $90 million health care mistake, yours truly on the candidates falling out of the race for the U.S. Senate, Hamilton's exit interview with former University of Texas advisor Rick O'Donnell, Grissom on Anthony Graves' payday, and Galbraith on the Texas drought's effect on hallowed athletic grounds: The best of our best content from June 27 to July 1, 2011.

Democrats may have a shot at the seat being vacated by Republican U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, according to a new poll from Public Policy Polling, a left-leaning polling firm. 

At this morning's TribLive conversation, the authors of Texas Monthly's biennial Best and Worst Legislators story explained why they put Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on the Ten Worst list.

On Wednesday night, I sat down with four leading intended GOP candidates for the U.S. Senate: Ted Cruz, Elizabeth Ames Jones, Tom Leppert and Roger Williams. We talked about Paul Ryan's Medicare plan, the war in Afghanistan, the Tea Party and more.

On Wednesday night, I sat down with four leading intended GOP candidates for the U.S. Senate: Ted Cruz, Elizabeth Ames Jones, Tom Leppert and Roger Williams. We talked about Paul Ryan's Medicare plan, immigration, the Tea Party and more.

"We're convinced he'll be a leader," the bellwether conservative group's president tells the Tribune. "He's committed to pro-growth issues. When we find someone like him, we move quickly."

Former Railroad Commissioner Michael Wiliams, who announced his intention back in January to seek the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison, is likely to drop out of that race and instead run for a newly created congressional seat, multiple sources tell the Tribune.

It's a good thing Rick Perry says he's not running for president — only 4 percent of Texas Republicans say they'd vote for the governor, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll.

Root and Galbraith on a Dallas billionaire's radioactive waste dump victory, Grissom on the passage of eyewitness ID reform, Hamilton on the old grudges bedeviling the debate over higher ed, Philpott on the status of congressional redistricting, Ramsey on Rick Perry's un-campaign for president, Ramshaw on why medical schools are the scorned children of the state's education budget, my session-wrap interview with three veteran Democrats, M. Smith on why Rob Eissler can't pass mandate relief for school districts and Stiles on who's giving what to which Texas candidates in 2011-12 congressional races: The best of our best content from May 16 to 20, 2011.