Elections are about differences, about making friends look good and foes look bad. And that’s why you’re not hearing a lot of talk right now about solutions. The candidates are talking about problems instead.
Ross Ramsey
Ross Ramsey co-founded The Texas Tribune in 2009 and served as its executive editor until his retirement in 2022. He wrote regular columns on politics, government and public policy. Before joining the Tribune, he was editor and co-owner of Texas Weekly. He did a 28-month stint in government with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Before that, he reported for the Houston Chronicle, the Dallas Times Herald, as a Dallas-based freelancer for regional and national magazines and newspapers, and for radio stations in Denton and Dallas.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Analysis: College football is back — as both a spectacular and a science experiment
College football is starting back up with a new burden: It’s the most visible evidence of the wisdom of putting Texas students back on campus.
Posted in
Texas 2020 Elections
Analysis: In close elections, two opponents can be better than one
A Republican effort to knock 44 Libertarians off the ballot fell short, and that could have an outsize effect on close races in November.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Analysis: Voting in Texas could be as easy as a trip to the grocery store
Some of the biggest private-sector companies in Texas adapted quickly to customer service during the pandemic. Unfortunately, they’re not in charge of voting.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Analysis: With schools opening, Texas enters a critical two weeks of the pandemic
Texas is poised right now as it was in late April: COVID-19 numbers are moving in the right direction, and reopenings — schools this time — are underway. Everyone’s hoping for a different result this time.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Analysis: Some Texas voters are still uncertain, but so are the issues
Voters who still haven’t decided which candidates to support in November might be uncertain for a good reason: The issues that would help them decide — pandemic, recession and all the rest — are shifting rapidly.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Analysis: A weather map for Texas’ COVID-19 response
The state has disaster response down to a routine, ready to roll out whenever hurricanes and other bad weather strikes. But that coordination between state and local governments hasn’t been the model for pandemic response.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Analysis: Those aren’t just COVID-19 numbers. They’re Texans.
There are 347,700 Texans losing federal supplements to unemployment insurance. And 716,000 students getting laptops and tablets for virtual school. And 11,395 COVID-19 deaths. Each statistic has a human face.
Posted in
Texas 2020 Elections
Analysis: Austin’s police cuts give Texas Republicans new campaign material
Texas Republicans who were looking for fertile political ground in the runup to the November elections got a gift from a most unlikely source: the Austin City Council.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Analysis: With elections coming, Texas Republican leaders join the thin blue line
Freezing local taxes in Texas cities that cut police funding sounds better than it works. But the political angle taken by the state’s top leaders gives them something other than pandemic and recession to talk about this election season.
