Texas may be reddening, but Dallas County’s turning a darker shade of blue. While the GOP picked up hotly contested Dallas-area state House seats in November, the county voted for challenger Bill White over incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Perry by a margin of 12 percentage points. Straight-ticket voters also helped Democratic District Attorney Craig Watkins cling to his office in a squeaker and gave the County Commissioners Court its first Democratic majority in nearly 30 years.
Matt Stiles
Matt Stiles covered government and politics for the Tribune, with a focus on data journalism, from 2009 to 2011. He oversaw and developed the Tribune’s library of web applications and interactive graphics. Previously, he was a government reporter at the Houston Chronicle. While there, he won the newspaper’s Jesse Award for service journalism and beat reporting and was its reporter of the year in 2007. Before joining the Chronicle, Stiles worked as a reporter for nearly four years at The Dallas Morning News.
Posted in
Demographics
TribBlog: Texas Getting Four in Congress
Texas will get four extra seats in the U.S. Congress in the decennial apportionment process, bringing the total to 36, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today.
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: “Soft Corruption” at the Railroad Commission?
Members of the Texas Railroad Commission have become increasingly reliant on large campaign donations in the last decade, especially from industries they regulate, according to a new report to be issued today by Public Citizen’s Texas office.
Posted inState Government
Interactive: Texas House Travel Expenses
Members of the Texas House on average spent about $11,000 on travel expenses in the last fiscal year, which ended August 31. This table details those records by member. Click the column headers to sort the table and compare their spending in the various categories
Posted inState Government
Interactive: U.S. Population Change
Later this month, the U.S. Census Bureau will announce apportionment based on the 2010 decennial population count, and Texas could gain an extra four seats in the U.S. Congress. Explore historical population growth, density and apportionment data since 1910 with interactive maps and charts released today by the bureau.
Posted in
State Government
Interactive: House Travel
Retiring state Rep. Joe Crabb, R-Atascocita, led all Texas House members in government-funded travel expenses in the last fiscal year, according to a Texas Tribune review of expense reports obtained from the state comptroller. Crabb spent $48,400, versus a per-member average of about $11,000. In all, 14 members spent more than $30,000. View a sortable table of travel totals by member.
Posted in
State Government
Debbie Irvine: The TT Interview
The newly christened executive director of the Texas Legislative Council on how the upcoming session is going to be “really, really difficult,” how technology has changed her job, whether redistricting maps can get drawn and agreed upon by June and how she keeps politics from impacting her work.
Posted in
State Government
Debbie Irvine on Role as Lege Council Boss
The newly christened executive director of the Texas Legislative Council on how the upcoming legislative session is going to be difficult, how technology has changed her job, whether redistricting maps can get drawn and agreed upon by June and how she keep politics from impacting her job.
Posted inState Government
Interactive: Congressional Riches
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, is the fifth-wealthiest member of Congress, while U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, is the fourth-poorest, according to an analysis of personal financial statements by the Center for Responsive Politics. Use our interactive tables to see how the state’s members rank.
Posted inState Government
On the Records: How White Fared at Home
A few days ago, we noted the geographic similarities in the statewide performance of Democrats Bill White and Barack Obama in their respective (and losing) Texas campaigns. The same patterns held true in Harris County, where the former Houston mayor narrowly defeated incumbent Gov. Rick Perry, according to precinct-by-precinct maps.
