Burrows relied on Democratic support to win the gavel last year, then green-lit a wave of conservative priorities.
Kayla Guo
Kayla Guo covers state politics and government. Before joining the Tribune, she covered Congress for The New York Times as a reporting fellow based in Washington, D.C. Kayla has also covered transportation policy for Politico and local news for The Raleigh News & Observer, and she was a part-time digital producer for The Boston Globe. She graduated from Brown University, where she studied public policy and served as editor-in-chief and president of the independent student newspaper. She was born and raised on Long Island, New York. She is based in Austin.
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2026 Texas Elections
Tala-freak-o vs. Ken the Criminal: Texas candidates sharpen attacks as U.S. Senate race locks in
Texas’ Ken Paxton and James Talarico focus their energies — and attack ads — on each other as the fight for U.S. Senate narrows to two.
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2026 Texas Elections
Ken Paxton defeats John Cornyn for U.S. Senate GOP nomination
The attorney general’s victory is a crushing blow to the Texas GOP’s old guard, which has faltered in recent years against the Paxton-led insurgent wing.
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2026 Texas Elections
Alex Mealer wins GOP nomination for new Houston congressional district, defeating state Rep. Briscoe Cain
The Army veteran was endorsed by President Donald Trump and saw millions in outside spending on her behalf. Cain, meanwhile, was backed by Gov. Greg Abbott.
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2026 Texas Elections
“The last of the gentlemen Republicans”: John Cornyn’s four-decade political career ends with a MAGA uprising
A former state Supreme Court justice, Texas attorney general and a four-term U.S. senator, Cornyn had held on in the Republican Party as it transformed from the party of Bush, to the Tea Party movement and eventually the dominion of Trump.
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2026 Texas Elections
Rallies, ad blitzes and a Trump endorsement: inside the final days of the Cornyn-Paxton runoff
Nearly 14 months and $135 million later, Texas’ blockbuster Republican Senate primary will finally be decided Tuesday.
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Redistricting Texas 2025
Texas Supreme Court rejects Abbott’s request to remove Democratic Rep. Gene Wu from office over redistricting protest
More than 50 Democrats, including Wu — the House Democratic leader — left the state last August to shut down the Legislature and stall passage of the GOP’s map.
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2026 Texas Elections
Here are the megadonors and dark money groups boosting James Talarico’s anti-billionaire Senate bid
As the Austin Democrat campaigns against big money in politics, he is being supported by a super PAC bankrolled by several billionaires, as well as nonprofits that do not have to disclose their funders.
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2026 Texas Elections
Cornyn and Paxton bury each other in negative ads as Senate GOP runoff enters final stretch
The incumbent senator and his allies have massively outspent the pro-Paxton side, though polling points to a tight finish in the May 26 election.
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2026 Texas Elections
Barack Obama appears with James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa at Austin restaurant
The former president greeted patrons while stopping for tacos near the University of Texas at Austin campus — a notable show of support for the Democrats atop the ticket this fall.
