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Ross Ramsey is executive editor and co-founder of The Texas Tribune, the only member-supported, digital-first, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. He writes regular columns on politics, government and public policy. Before joining the Tribune, he was editor and co-owner of Texas Weekly. He did a 28-month stint in government with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Before that, he reported for the Houston Chronicle, the Dallas Times Herald, as a Dallas-based freelancer for regional and national magazines and newspapers, and for radio stations in Denton and Dallas.
During a pandemic, an economic recession and public protests against racial injustice and police violence, it's hard to say what Texas voters will be thinking about in this year's election. Here's a candidate: Reopening schools. Full Story
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The Legislature starts its next regular session in January and can meet for up to 140 days. That gives lawmakers time to consider more than 6,000 bills. During a pandemic, they might want to do a lot less. Full Story
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Local governments in Texas finish their spending plans and set their tax rates in August, an annual exercise that includes some hot topics in this pandemic year, like police spending, public schools and property taxes. Full Story
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President Donald Trump tweeted about delaying the November election, and in the process, launched an attack on whether anyone should trust the results when the votes are tallied. Full Story
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Rural Texans have been clamoring for high-speed internet services for years, and the requirements of a pandemic — work, schools and medicine — have raised the stakes. But a state fund that helps provide those services is in financial trouble. Full Story
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The Trump administration wants to exclude undocumented immigrants from the population counts used to determine seats in Congress, an idea that would cut into the strength of the Texas delegation to Washington, D.C. Full Story
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The dire financial forecast from the Texas comptroller says a lot about the pandemic's harsh impact on the economy. It's based on uncertain assumptions about what will happen next — and could easily change again. Full Story
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Now that the first official estimate of the coronavirus' effect on the Texas economy is out, the hard work starts. Legislators have to figure out which parts of the state budget to cut and which parts to keep. Full Story
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With Tuesday's midsummer primary runoffs complete, the ballots are set for the November general election — the third major event in a year already reshaped by pandemic and recession. Full Story
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The governor is increasing restrictions as the coronavirus worsens in Texas, and is beset by trolls from inside his own party for doing so. But for the first time in this pandemic, he's ignoring them. Full Story
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Debates about in-person political conventions and in-person public school classes revolve around the same question: Are we ready for this? Full Story
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The governor would face real competition if he were on the ballot this year — even in a Republican Party primary. His response to the pandemic has opened him to political attacks from the left and the right alike. Full Story
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Long-held views on discrimination against Black people and on memorials to the Confederacy are changing in Texas, and voters are open to universal voting by mail, according to polling by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas. Full Story
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Texans remain focused on the coronavirus, are less optimistic about returning to normal quickly, and their assessments of government pandemic responses have soured, according to a University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll. Full Story
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While Gov. Greg Abbott has been responding to the twin crises on his plate, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s been stirring the pot — at the governor’s expense. Full Story
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President Donald Trump would beat former Vice President Joe Biden in Texas by 4 percentage points if the election were held today, according to a new poll from the University of Texas and the Texas Politics Project. Full Story
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As Texas leaders struggle to find a balanced response to the pandemic and the lagging state economy, the suggestions for what they ought to do — friendly and hostile — are pouring in. Full Story
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The pandemic has been with us since late winter, but state leaders seem to have forgotten something they already know from other disasters: You can get ready when a storm is coming, or wait until it blows your roof off. Full Story
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It's a déjà vu moment, with the Texas government making some of the same moves to curb the spread of the coronavirus that it adopted in March — and started to get rid of a month later. The virus is spreading, and the remedies are back. Full Story
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Texas government is going in two directions at once, with Gov. Greg Abbott blowing a whistle on rising COVID-19 numbers while top education officials detail plans to open public schools for in-person classes this fall. Full Story
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