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Emily Ramshaw

Emily Ramshaw’s staff photo

Emily Ramshaw was the editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune from 2016 to 2020. During her tenure, the Tribune — billed “one of the nonprofit news sector’s runaway success stories” — won a Peabody Award, several national Murrow Awards and top honors from the Online News Association. Before joining the Tribune in 2010 as one of its founding reporters, Ramshaw spent six years at The Dallas Morning News, where she broke national stories about sexual abuse inside Texas’ youth lock-ups, reported from inside a West Texas polygamist compound and uncovered “fight clubs” inside state institutions for the disabled. The Texas APME named Ramshaw its 2008 star reporter of the year. In 2016, she was named to the board of the Pulitzer Prizes. A native of Washington, D.C., and the product of two journalist parents, Ramshaw graduated from Northwestern University in 2003 with dual degrees in journalism and American history.

Past Contributions

  • Disease Mismanagement?

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Texas has spent tens of millions of dollars on “disease management” — phone calls and check-ins with Medicaid patients designed to control costly chronic illnesses and save money. The jury's still out on whether it worked, but the state's preparing to rebid the contract anyway. Full Story 

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  • DNA Destruction

    By Emily Ramshaw

    In the weeks before state health officials incinerated more than 5 million baby blood samples that they stored without consent, privacy advocates, parents and legislators reached a last-ditch accord to save them but couldn’t convince the Department of State Health Services to sign on. A Texas Tribune investigation found that the agency had turned hundreds of such samples over to a federal Armed Forces lab to build a DNA database — and hadn’t been upfront about it with lawmakers or the public. Full Story 

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  • TribBlog: Insurance Department Could Ban Discretionary Clauses

    By Emily Ramshaw

    The Texas Department of Insurance has drafted rules that would ban health insurance policies from including so-called “discretionary clauses.” Those are the rules that many patients hate, which allow their health insurers to decide exactly what they cover and what they don’t — and give the insurers a degree of protection from litigation. Full Story 

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  • Surprise!

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Not every race turned out the way political insiders — or the candidates themselves — anticipated. Here are a dozen primary races that defied conventional wisdom, stunned the incumbents and shocked the longshots. Full Story 

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  • Who Won, Who Lost

    By Brandi Grissom and Emily Ramshaw

    For the last two months, we've brought you news and analysis on 20 hotly contested primaries. Here's a look at who won, who lost, and who's headed for a runoff in the top legislative and congressional races. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • HD-102: With Most Precincts In, Carter Way Ahead

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Former Collin County prosecutor Stefani Carter appears to have handily defeated Geoffrey Bailey, a consultant to T. Boone Pickens, in the District 102 Republican primary. With 92 percent of precincts in, she has 75 percent of the vote. It looks like she'll be running against incumbent Democratic Rep. Carol Kent in the general election. Full Story 

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    Credit: courtesy Stefani Carter campaign

  • HD-101: Burkett Wins, Narrowly Avoids Runoff

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Mesquite businesswoman Cindy Burkett narrowly avoided a runoff in the District 101 Republican primary, winning just over 50 percent of the vote to defeat former Mesquite Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Greg Noschese and former state Rep. Thomas Latham. She will face freshman Democratic Rep. Robert Miklos in November. Full Story 

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