In less than a week, Democrat MJ Hegar’s widely praised campaign video has many political insiders wondering if her long-shot campaign against U.S. Rep. John Carter has a chance at success.
Abby Livingston
Abby Livingston joined The Texas Tribune in 2014 as the publication's first Washington bureau chief, and departed August 2022. In this role, she covered members in the Texas congressional delegation and campaigns back in the home state. A seventh-generation Texan, Abby grew up in Fort Worth and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to the Tribune, Abby worked for NBC, CNN, National Journal and Roll Call. At the Tribune, she won the 2017 National Press Club Award for Washington regional reporting and the Society of Professional Journalists' 2018 Sigma Delta Chi Award for Washington correspondence. Abby is a contributing writer to the Almanac of American Politics and frequently appears on MSNBC, CNN and Sirius XM radio. She also had a role on an episode of "The Bold and The Beautiful." In keeping with the Trib’s great history of hiring softball stars, Abby is a three-time MVP (the most in game history) for The Bad News Babes, the women’s press softball team that takes on female members of Congress in the annual Congressional Women’s Softball breast cancer charity game.
In political win for U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway, farm bill narrowly passes U.S. House
U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee, has been laying the groundwork for passing the massive piece of legislation known as the farm bill for over a year.
Amid family separation saga, U.S. House votes down conservative immigration package
As expected, the U.S. House rejected a hard-line immigration measure Thursday afternoon – setting the stage for a vote on a more moderate immigration bill as early as Friday.
Republicans in Washington are closer to a compromise on immigration — but it’s still unclear if they can pass a bill
Republicans in Congress appear closer to reaching a compromise on immigration — and ending family separations at the Texas-Mexico border — after a closed-door meeting with President Donald Trump Tuesday evening.
Ted Cruz introduces legislation to keep immigrant families together after they cross the border
Cruz’s Protect Kids and Parents Act would require the federal government to keep immigrant families together “absent aggravated criminal conduct or threat of harm to the children.”
Texas sent its first woman to Congress in 1966. Why has she been largely forgotten?
The late U.S. Rep. Lera Thomas can’t be found in the Texas State History Museum. And she’s missing from most Texas history textbooks. Her tenure was short — but not without action.
With help of two Texas holdouts, lawmakers on cusp of bypassing Paul Ryan and forcing vote on “Dreamers”
The two Texas border Democrats initially withheld their support from a bipartisan effort to force a vote on major immigration legislation. Another Texan, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, remains the lone holdout among House Democrats.
Ted Cruz leads Beto O’Rourke by 11 points in Senate race, new poll finds
The new poll comes about a month after the same firm called the race “too close to call.”
Former President George H.W. Bush hospitalized in Maine
Former President George H.W. Bush was hospitalized in Maine on Sunday for low blood pressure and fatigue, according to a tweet from his spokesman.
With primary behind her, Lizzie Pannill Fletcher’s bid against U.S. Rep. John Culberson emerging as major midterm fight for fall
Though her primary fight against fellow Democrat Laura Moser drew national attention, Lizzie Fletcher’s general election race against U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, is poised to create plenty of buzz as well.

