Deb Haaland, Joan Huffman and Jake Tapper join this year’s TribFest lineup

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

---

Building on a 15-year tradition of bringing together the most impactful voices in politics, policy and media, we’re thrilled to announce three more big names for this year’s Texas Tribune Festival, Nov. 13-15 in downtown Austin.

Joining the 2025 TribFest lineup are former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, and Jake Tapper, anchor for CNN’s “The Lead” and “State of the Union.”

Haaland served as one of the first Native American women in Congress and then made history as secretary of interior during the Biden administration. Now, she's running to be the next governor of New Mexico. If she wins, she’d make history once again, becoming the first Native woman elected governor in U.S. history.

Huffman, a Houston Republican who is one of the longest tenured members of the Texas Senate, announced in June her candidacy for Texas attorney general. Formerly a major crimes prosecutor and state district judge, she’s the only three-time recipient of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association’s Law and Order Award.

The lead Washington, D.C., anchor and chief correspondent for CNN, Tapper has written two New York Times bestselling novels, “The Hellfire Club” and “The Devil May Dance,” as well as the bestselling nonfiction book “The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor and Race Against Terror.” He also co-authored the bestselling book “Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.”

Haaland, Huffman and Tapper are part of a growing lineup that rivals any in TribFest’s history. In the days ahead, we’ll share more voices joining the conversation. We hope you’ll join us, too.

Buy your TribFest tickets today. We’ll see you this November.

---

Shape the future of Texas at the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin! We bring together Texas’ most inspiring thinkers, leaders and innovators to discuss the issues that matter to you. Get tickets now and join us this November.

TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.