TribCast: Texas Democrats blow up the special legislative session
On this week's episode, Matthew speaks with Alexa, Cassi and James about Democrats fleeing the state to fight new voting restrictions. Full Story
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![Texas House Democrats hold a press conference at Dulles airport in Virginia after breaking quorum and leaving Texas on July …]()
Credit: Shuran Huang for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate approves limits on transgender athletes, but bills are still in limbo
Transgender students would be prevented from joining public school and university sports teams that correspond to their gender. Full Story
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![Transgender rights activists gather outside the entrance to the House floor on May 23, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Land Commissioner George P. Bush sues Biden administration over halt to Texas-Mexico border wall construction
The lawsuit says the president had no legal right to put a stop to wall construction on the Texas-Mexico border because Congress had already appropriated the funds. Full Story
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![Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush announced his candidacy for Texas Attorney General at an event inside Buford's Bar in…]()
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Behind the partisan drama lies a profoundly serious struggle over who gets shut out under Texas voting laws
Whose voices will be heard in Texas halls of power? That question beats at the heart of the Democratic quorum break that has brought the Legislature to a halt and focused national attention on GOP efforts to make voting in Texas harder. Full Story
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![Tevin English holds signs in front of the Texas Capitol at a Voting Rights Advocacy Day rally held by various voting rights …]()
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Texans, where’s your Democratic lawmaker?
Here’s a list of the Texas Democrats who left the state in an effort to block GOP voting legislation. Full Story
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![An empty House floor the day after Texas Democrats left the state to break quorum over a Republican-led voting restrictions …]()
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What it means to break quorum and what you need to know about the Texas House Democrats’ dramatic departure
Democrats are preventing the Texas House from having enough members to pass legislation. We explain what that means, what options Republicans have and what’s in the voting bills Democrats oppose. Full Story
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![House Speaker Dade Phelan speaks with legislators on the opening day of the special session at the Texas Capitol on July 8, …]()
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
Senate presses forward passing GOP voting and bail bills, as Texas House in chaos over Democrats’ decampment
If the House Democrats who skipped town to block voting legislation don’t return before the special session ends, the Senate bills will languish without becoming law. Full Story
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![A poll worker feeds a voting machine and power cord through a voter’s car window in the drive-through line at NRG Stadium in…]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Texas legislators are fighting ferociously — and for voters' attention
Texas lawmakers are battling over voting laws — pushing people into late hearings and walking out on the proceedings in Austin — and hoping their voters will appreciate the ferocity. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, joined other Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives, who are boycotting …]()
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Officials in charge of Texas' power grid try to reassure lawmakers and the public that they're fixing lingering problems
Lawmakers cannot pass laws to improve Texas’ power grid during the special legislative session. They’re discussing it anyway. Full Story
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![Reliability Coordinators monitored the state power grid during a tour of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) c…]()
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Texas House Republicans vote to track down absent Democrats and arrest them if necessary
The procedural move carries little apparent weight since the Democrats who fled the state to break quorum are beyond the jurisdiction of Texas law enforcement. Full Story
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![House Republicans crowd around the speakers desk to discuss a point of order attempting to strip absent members of their com…]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
To block voting legislation, Democrats put bail bills, legislative funding and other measures in peril
Conservative priorities to restrict pretrial release from jail and ban critical race theory in schools were up in the air after Democratic lawmakers chartered flights to Washington, D.C. But so was funding for retired teachers and legislative employees. Full Story
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![Speaker of the House Dade Phelan gavels in the opening day of the special session at the Texas Capitol on July 8, 2021.]()
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Twenty abortion providers sue Texas officials over law that bans abortions as early as six weeks
The law is set to take effect Sept. 1. Full Story
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Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, a Democrat, launches campaign against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton
Merritt officially began his Democratic campaign Tuesday with an emphasis on the voting rights battle that caused state House Democrats to leave Texas a day earlier. Full Story
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![Lee Merritt, attorney for the Merritt Law Firm in Philadelphia, testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to exa…]()
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After hours of impassioned testimony, Texas Senate panel advances bills limiting the school sports teams that transgender athletes can join
Gov. Greg Abbott added the legislation to the special session agenda after similar bills failed to pass during the regular session earlier this year. Full Story
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![A high school volleyball player gets ready to serve during a game.]()
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Texas Democrats land in Washington, D.C., and promise to stay out of Texas until after special legislative session ends Aug. 6
Texas Democrats said they are urging Congress again to pass federal voting laws, acknowledging that Gov. Greg Abbott would continue to call special sessions until the GOP elections bill was passed. Full Story
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![State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, speaks to the press after Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives…]()
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Deploy law enforcement? Call another special session? Texas GOP mulls options for elections bill after Democrats leave the state
A number of House Republicans indicated that they would support what’s known as a call of the House, a procedural move that would allow law enforcement to track down lawmakers who have already fled the chamber. Full Story
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![Planes stationed at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on July 12, 2021.]()
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Live updates: Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Democratic Texas lawmakers opposing voting restrictions legislation
Here are the latest updates on the Texas Democrats leaving Texas to block the special legislative session and a GOP voting restrictions bill. Full Story
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![Vice President Kamala Harris met in Washington D.C. with Democratic members of the Texas state legislature who left the stat…]()
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Texas House Democrats flee the state in move that could block voting restrictions bill, bring Legislature to a halt
A majority of Democrats in the Texas House left for Washington, D.C., Monday afternoon in a bid to again deny Republicans the quorum needed to pass new voting restrictions with 26 days left in a special legislative session called largely for that purpose. Full Story
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![Members of the House Democratic Caucus attend a press conference on the opening day of the special session at the Texas Capi…]()
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton agrees to stop blocking people on Twitter, ending lawsuit over First Amendment
Attorneys in the lawsuit, which was filed in April, argued that being blocked from viewing Paxton’s tweets limited the rights of people to access statements made by the public official, therefore violating the First Amendment. Full Story
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![Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks to the Gun Owners of America assembly in 2018.]()
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Eva Guzman raises $1 million in first 10 days of attorney general campaign, with some major donor support
The former state Supreme Court justice is one of two Republican primary challengers to Attorney General Ken Paxton, the other being Land Commissioner George P. Bush. Full Story
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![Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman at the Texas Republican Convention at the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center in San …]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune
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