Analysis: In Texas, the Loyal Opposition is Dysfunctional
The Texas Democratic Party’s convention lands at a moment when the state’s Republicans are feverishly manufacturing topics for the opposition party to talk about. Will it matter? Full Story
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![The Texas Democratic Party will hold its 2014 convention in Dallas.]()
Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman -
Analysis: A Very Early Guide to November’s Competitive Texas Races
Most of the 218 races at the top of the state and federal sections of our general election ballots in November are not going to be competitive. Here's a look at those that are likely to be. Full Story
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Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman -
Analysis: A Texas Judge Takes Voter ID to Court
The only Democrat in an elected statewide post in Texas is suing to upend the state’s photo voter ID law, saying it’s an unconstitutional obstacle to a legal activity: voting. Full Story
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![Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Larry Meyers is shown in his office in 2013.]()
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Sanders Effort to Flip Clinton Superdelegates Likely to Stall in Texas
The Bernie Sanders campaign promises to put the screws to a special class of party elders known as superdelegates. But they've got their work cut out for them in Texas, where well-connected Clinton loyalists are so far not impressed. Full Story
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![Bernie Sanders speaks at a rally in Dallas on February 27, 2015.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber -
Texas Near Bottom Among States in Primary Turnout This Year
Texas saw record turnout numbers in last week’s presidential primaries, but it still had one of the lowest voting-age participation rates of the states that have held primaries so far. Full Story
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![People stand in line to vote in the primaries at the Flawn Academic Center on the University of Texas campus on March 1, 2016.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber -
Bernie Sanders' Nuclear Waste Votes Divide Texas Activists
A Bernie Sanders-supported proposal from the late 1990s to dump Vermont nuclear waste in a small minority in West Texas has attracted renewed attention in the lead-up to Tuesday's primary. Full Story
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Democrats' Alliance with Battleground Texas Shows Strains Ahead of Elections
While many Democrats have mixed feelings about the group that helped lead the party's election efforts in 2014, Battleground Texas officials still believe in their long-term strategy to turn Texas blue. Full Story
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![Former state Rep. Lon Burnam, a candidate for the Texas Railroad Commision, thanks Jim Hightower at his campaign kickoff at Scholz Garten on January 28, 2016.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber -
Clinton Supporters in Texas See Supreme Stakes in 2016 Race
One day after the sudden passing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in West Texas, supporters of Hillary Clinton's campaign in the state's largest city talked up the heightened stakes in the race for the White House. Full Story
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![State Sen. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, speaks to a crowd of Hillary Clinton volunteers at a panel discussion on women's health issues at the campaign's Houston headquarters on Sunday.]()
Credit: Jamie Lovegrove -
Analysis: Hard Advice for Texas Democrats From One of Their Own
A new book, written by a veteran of the last days when Texas Democrats were winning statewide elections, takes a hard look at what hasn't been working for the last 20 years, and what might get the party's candidates out of their long, long slump. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman -
Who's Running in the 2016 Texas Primaries? Get Your Answers Here
The ballots for 2016’s Republican and Democratic primary elections are set — for the most part. Here's an unofficial list of who has filed to run. The parties are finishing up their work and getting official versions to the state. We'll update and finish our list as they finish theirs. Full Story
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Credit: Graphic by Todd WIseman -
Slideshow: Photographer Captures Texas' Democratic Days
While photographer Scott Newton is best known for his iconic images of rock stars, he made a living photographing Texas politicians for three decades. Full Story
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![Ann Richards on longhorn, 1988.
Newton was 200 yards away photographing an event with the state’s slate of Democratic candidates when he saw then-state treasurer Ann Richards sitting on a longhorn steer. He grabbed his cameras and ran toward her.
“All I know is I turn around and Ann was sitting up there — they just put her up there. She saw me running and said, 'Scott, don’t you dare take my picture,’” he said.
This image, he said, conveyed Richards at her best.
"She was a hoot. She was not only the best politician I ever shot as far as understanding what it is you needed and providing it for you,” he said. “She is just naturally a hilarious person."]()
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Nearly 90 Texas Democrats Throw Support Behind Clinton
Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign on Monday announced the support of almost 90 Texas Democrats, including well over a majority of the Texas Democrats holding elected office in the Texas Legislature and Washington, D.C. Full Story
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![Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton addresses supporters during an October campaign rally in San Antonio. Her campaign announced Wednesday it had hired its first Texas staffers.]()
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Video: Lawrence Lessig at The Texas Tribune Festival
Here's full video of our conversation Saturday with Democratic presidential candidate Lawrence Lessig at The Texas Tribune Festival. Full Story
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AG's Office Probing Valley Election Fraud Claims
The Texas attorney general's office has opened an investigation into a contested election in the Rio Grande Valley won by a client of Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa two years ago, according to a lawyer for the losing candidate. Full Story
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![Gilberto Hinojosa chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, at a September 10th, 2014 Tribune event.]()
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Texas Primary Voters to Get More Say in 2016 Than Planned
The Texas Democratic and Republican parties are finalizing plans to allocate all their national convention delegates on presidential primary day in 2016. For the Democrats, it's a break from tradition, and for the Republicans, it's a return to normal. Full Story
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![Voters enter and a polling station at the Ben Hur Shrine Temple in northwest Austin Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014.]()
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Collier Joins Texas Democratic Party as Fundraiser
Mike Collier, a former candidate for comptroller, is taking a job with the Texas Democratic Party. He will serve as a finance co-chair for the party. Full Story
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![Mike Collier, then-Democratic nominee for Texas comptroller, at the state Democratic convention in Dallas on June 27, 2014. Collier is running for lieutenant governor in 2018.]()
Credit: Alyssa Banta -
TribLive: Craddick on the GOP Sweep
At our 11/6 TribLive conversation, Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Christi Craddick talked about the results of the 2014 general election. Full Story
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Battleground Misfires on Voter Turnout Memo
Oops. Battleground Texas, a liberal group working to boost Democratic hopes in conservative Texas, admitted Friday that its boasts of increased early voter turnout were wrong. Full Story
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![Jeremy Bird speaking at The Texas Tribune Festival on Sep. 28, 2013]()
Credit: Callie Richmond -
TribLive: Houston on His Uphill Battle
At our 10/16 TribLive conversation, Sam Houston, the Democratic nominee for Texas Attorney General in 2014, talked about the difficulty of running as a down-ballot statewide candidate in his party. Full Story
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Analysis: In Democrats' Fall, a Lesson for GOP
The Texas Democrats are now where the Republicans were when Wayne Thorburn was executive director of the Texas GOP. Thorburn, who held the post from 1977 to 1983, says the minority party is not yet a statewide contender but could become one. Full Story
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![The Third General Session during platform debate at the Republican Convention, Fort Worth on June 6, 2014.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich