Twenty-two years after joining the Texas House as its youngest member, state Rep. Dennis Bonnen is poised to take over the chamber's reins on Jan. 8.

The Plano Republican told members of the Tea Party-aligned caucus that he was leaving the group because he thinks that his "time, talent and treasure is best devoted to fighting for those things within the Republican Caucus."

The Longhorns and the Aggies haven't played since 2011.

Ten of the 11 returning members of the Freedom Caucus in the Texas House have publicly backed the Angleton Republican as speaker.

The Republican from Angleton wasn't even a candidate a month ago. Now he says he has north of 100 votes — more than enough to win the gavel.

Bonnen made the announcement at a press conference at the Capitol.

The Angleton Republican called a press conference for Monday afternoon to discuss the race.

Democrats, who picked up 12 state House seats, are more confident they’ll have a stronger hand in electing the next leader — an outlook that even some Republicans privately agree with.

Led by female candidates, Texas Democrats picked up 12 Texas House seats from Republicans, mostly in North Texas. But Republicans still have the edge in the lower chamber.

Voting today? We know there’s a lot to keep up with this election season, so we asked young Texans what issues matter most and crafted a survey for candidates to respond to in their own words. See how candidates in statewide and competitive U.S. House races responded to your questions.

Bonnen said in a statement that “after thoughtful consideration with my family, I have decided to heed the call of many of my colleagues.”

His departure comes amid an effort among roughly 40 GOP House members to draft state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, into the race.

Should the state or federal government increase the minimum wage? We asked Texas candidates running for office how to improve affordability with questions crowdsourced from young Texans.

The immigration debate flared up again this summer after the Trump administration’s "zero tolerance” policy." We asked the candidates running for office about immigration reform.

Redistricting, voting by mail and same-day registration: We asked Texas candidates running for office about voting rights with questions crowdsourced from young Texans.