The winner of the special election will replace former U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, who resigned last month to work for Akin Gump.
Patrick Svitek
Patrick Svitek was the primary political correspondent for The Texas Tribune. Patrick covered elections, state leaders, the Legislature and political trends across the state from 2015 until 2024. He previously worked for the Houston Chronicle's Austin bureau. Patrick graduated in 2014 from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. He is originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Posted in
Politics
How a Plano toy inventor helped push U.S. Rep. Van Taylor out of office
Josh Malone funded a super PAC that spent over $400,000 working to defeat the Plano congressman, who got forced into a primary runoff and then admitted to an affair and ended his campaign.
Posted in
Texas 2022 Elections
Abbott calls June 14 special election for South Texas congressional seat that Republicans want to flip
The race will determine who finishes the term of former U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville.
Posted in
Texas 2022 Elections
Texas Democratic Party leadership election roiled by accusation that a candidate shoved a staffer
Witnesses say Kim Olson pushed the party’s top staffer during a bus tour in 2018. Olson denies the allegation.
Posted in
Texas 2022 Elections
Running for Texas Senate, Raul Reyes defies the lieutenant governor who controls it
Reyes faces Pete Flores in the May 24 Republican primary runoff for the open state Senate seat. Flores is backed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Posted in
Texas 2022 Elections
U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela’s resignation announcement sparks a sudden special-election scramble in hotly contested South Texas
A special election will determine who finishes Vela’s term, and while the winner will only serve for a short period, Republicans are already eyeing the contest to show momentum in South Texas.
Posted in
Texas 2022 Elections
Nancy Pelosi affirms support for U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar after FBI raid, primary runoff berth
The U.S. House speaker said during a stop Wednesday in Austin that she always supports her incumbents — “from right to left.”
Posted in
Texas 2022 Elections
Beto O’Rourke touts his oft-overlooked background — small-business owner — as Greg Abbott attacks him as job-killer
Abbott’s campaign has argued O’Rourke would “destroy the Texas miracle.” O’Rourke argues he’s the one who has run a business.
Posted in
Politics
Former U.S. Senate candidate Amanda Edwards announces run for Houston mayor
Edwards joins a field that already includes two well-known names: veteran state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, and Chris Hollins, the former Harris County clerk who oversaw election changes in 2020 that became a lightning rod for Republicans.
Posted in
Transgender Texans
Fighting care for transgender kids shifts from a fringe issue to a litmus test for Texas Republicans
The issue is no longer contained to just the party’s fringes — and it is unlikely to go away any time soon as the national fervor grows, Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive faces legal challenges and it factors prominently into a slew of GOP primary runoffs.
