In Texas’ largest city and its suburbs, Hurricane Harvey is a key issue for both incumbents and candidates, as they try to convince voters they can best represent a region that continues to reel from last year’s devastating hurricane.
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.
Posted in
Congress
Texas delegation splits on warrantless N.S.A. spying
While the 36 Texans in the U.S. House largely voted along party lines to reauthorize a key NSA surveillance program, some Republican voted against it and two Democrats voted for it.
Posted inState Government
Rita Clements, former first lady of Texas, dies at 86
In her later years, the widow of Texas Gov. Bill Clements served her alma mater — the University of Texas at Austin — as a member of the board of regents, as an appointee of both Gov. George W. Bush and Gov. Rick Perry.
Posted in
Texas Elections 2018
Texas poised to end dry spell of electing new women to Congress in 2018
Dozens of women from Texas are running for Congress this year, and several are drawing attention as serious contenders, prompting predictions that the state will elect the first freshman female to a full term in Congress in 22 years.
Posted inState Government
Report: Blake Farenthold waiting to pay back sexual harassment settlement
U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, a Corpus Christi Republican, is waiting on legal advice before reimbursing the federal government for a $84,000 sexual harassment settlement, a spokeswoman said.
Posted in
Texas Elections 2018
Julián Castro to launch new PAC
Former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro will launch a political action committee on Tuesday that aims to support Democratic Party efforts to take control of the U.S. House and groom younger candidates.
Posted in
2017 Year in Review
18 days that shook the Texas congressional delegation in 2017
There has never been a year in Congress like 2017, and most there spent the last year adjusting to an erratic president and an even more volatile American public.
Posted in
Congress
U.S. House approves billions more for Harvey relief, measure now heads to Senate
The U.S. House voted for billions more in Hurricane Harvey relief, but the U.S. Senate is not likely to take up the measure until after the holidays.
Posted inState Government
House Ethics Committee expands investigation into U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold
The U.S. House Ethics Committee announced Thursday it was expanding its investigation into U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold to explore, among other things, whether he used official resources for his re-election and if he made false statements to the committee.
Posted in
Congress
Congress just sent a massive tax cut bill to Trump. Here’s how Texans voted.
The U.S. House and Senate voted for a major overhaul of the American tax code on Tuesday and Wednesday, sending the measure to President Donald Trump’s desk. Here’s how all 38 Texans in Congress voted on the bill.
