Full video of my April 18 TribLive conversation with former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza.

Sentiment for the Tea Party remains strong within the GOP, but what started as an insurgent group is becoming just another — albeit important — part of the Republican Party in Texas.

A couple of Democrats won election in 2012 talking about education, but that doesn't mean the issue was a silver bullet for the minority party. Lots of others talked about it and lost, and the two who won were victorious in districts favorable to them.

With the death this weekend of Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, Texas Republicans lost one of their stalwarts, and one of their biggest and most reliable donors. So did a few Democrats.

In their quest to woo minority voters, Republican leaders are missing something important: Most of those voters won't buy the party's anti-government message. 

Many Republican officials are moderating their views on immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for immigrants already in the U.S. Their voters, however, remain opposed to the idea. And Tea Party voters are strongly opposed.

The newest Texas Weekly Index measures each of the state's legislative and congressional districts, based on how statewide Republicans and Democrats fared in races in each district over the 2010 and 2012 election cycles.

Some are arguing Sen. John Cornyn is now vulnerable in his race to become the second in command in the US Senate, given the number of key Republican seats lost Tuesday night. Others cite outside factors for the unexpected outcomes. 

An endorsement by the most famous political independent in the country highlights a political fault line: the partisan division over the usefulness of science in policy making.

In the last installment of a three-part series on Texas Republicans' lock on state government over the past decade, Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune looks at the evolution of the GOP in Texas — and what the party might look like 10 years from now.

For this week's nonscientific survey of insiders in state government and politics, we asked about the November race for U.S. Senate, whether Democrats will recover faster if Romney or Obama wins, about the GOP's weak spots and about whether the voters are as conservative as the people they've elected.

The conventions start next week, with Republicans going first, in Tampa, and Democrats following, in Charlotte. Both parties are going South, but they're interested in swing states. Texas isn't one.

In this edition of the Weekend Insider: We check in with Jay Root on the road at the Republican National Convention, and Morgan Smith looks at the changing demographics in Texas public schools.

Many Texas party activists at the Republican National Convention say they have supported the same state leaders time and time again. But now, they are ready for a change in management.

The Texas delegates are uniform in their quest to stay independent – in spite of the Republican National Committee's proposed rule change on national delegates.

Texas hasn't been a swing state in a national election for a long, long time, and unless they have big bank accounts, Texans aren't at the top of candidates' lists of people to see right now.

This GOP primary runoff isn’t about the Tea Party’s principles, Ross Ramsey writes, but it definitely borrows from that movement’s rebellious nature. To steal someone else’s line: It's the disestablishment, stupid.

With 37 runoff races on the ballot Tuesday, a political primary season that was originally supposed to wrap up in May is finally coming to an end.