State Rep. Briscoe Cain was named chair of the House Elections Committee months after traveling to Pennsylvania to help the Trump campaign challenge the results of the 2020 election.
Alexa Ura
Alexa Ura reported for The Texas Tribune from 2013 to 2023. She covered the complex dynamics of race, ethnicity, wealth, poverty and power and how they are shaping the future of Texas and Texans, in the long and short term. Alexa started at the Tribune as a reporting intern before graduating from the University of Texas at Austin and joining the staff full time. Originally from Laredo on the Texas-Mexico border, she is a native Spanish speaker and is based in Austin.
Posted in
Demographics
Census delays will force Texas lawmakers into a special session to redraw political maps
The Census Bureau revealed Wednesday that the detailed results lawmakers need to reconfigure congressional and state legislative districts won’t be available until at least two months after the end of the regular 2021 legislative session.
Posted in
Demographics
Reversing Donald Trump policy, Joe Biden will include undocumented immigrants in critical census count
President Donald Trump’s efforts to exclude undocumented immigrants from congressional representation are out with his administration. But Texas lawmakers still face delays in receiving census results needed to redraw the state’s political maps.
Posted inDemographics, Politics, State Government
In 2021, the Texas Legislature remains mostly white and male
When the 2021 legislative session begins Tuesday, three of every five lawmakers in the state House and Senate will be white and just 27% of seats will be held by women.
Posted in
Texas 2020 Elections
Ted Cruz says he’ll object to certification of Electoral College votes that will make Joe Biden’s victory official
Joining several other U.S. senators, Cruz is calling for an emergency audit of election results in “disputed states,” despite no evidence of widespread election fraud.
Posted in
Texas 2020 Elections
Appeals court sides with Harris County in lawsuit over mailing absentee ballot applications
Harris County’s plan to send applications for mail-in ballots to all its voters was cleared by an intermediate appeals court, but it remains on hold until the Texas Supreme Court can rule.
Posted in
Texas 2020 Elections
Texas Supreme Court rules 3 Green Party candidates should be added back to November ballot
Democrats successfully sued last month to remove from the ballot the Green Party nominees for U.S. Senate, Railroad Commission and the 21st Congressional District.
Posted in
Texas 2020 Elections
Texas Supreme Court again blocks Harris County from sending mail-in ballot applications to all voters
The Supreme Court granted the Texas attorney general’s request to temporarily halt the county’s mailing of applications while the case is appealed. A separate order blocking the effort was set to end this week.
Posted in
Texas 2020 Elections
Texas judge allows Harris County to send all voters applications for mail-in ballots
State district judge R.K. Sandill rejected the state’s request for a temporary injunction to bar Harris County from pursuing its mailing plan.
Posted in
Texas 2020 Elections
Federal appeals court rejects Texas Democrats’ effort to expand voting by mail
The Texas Democratic Party had challenged the state’s age limits on voting by mail, arguing that they violated the 26th Amendment’s protections against voting restrictions that discriminate based on age.
