The latest Texas Senate news from The Texas Tribune.
At a state Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday, senators debated the merits and tactical strategies of Gov. Rick Perry’s decision to send Texas National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. Full Story
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State Rep. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, has defeated state Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, in a special election runoff for a vacant Houston-area state Senate seat. Full Story
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Pretty soon, Texas lawmakers will have to decide who is a reporter — and who isn't. Full Story
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After appointing Sen. Jane Nelson to chair the Senate Finance Committee, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has picked Sen. Charles Schwertner to replace her as the head of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. Full Story
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House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, enters the next legislative session as a clear favorite for re-election, but the issues raised in the conservative wave in this year's elections could dominate the Legislature's calendar. Full Story
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UPDATED: With all of the precincts counted, Brandon Creighton and Steve Toth finished first and second and appear headed for a runoff in the contest to succeed Tommy Williams in the Texas Senate. Full Story
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Former state Rep. Mark Shelton and Tea Party favorite Konni Burton are vying in a Republican runoff election for the state Senate seat left open by Wendy Davis. It's a swing district that both political parties are paying close attention to. Full Story
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State Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, says his long tenure in office is an asset. Donald Huffines, who is challenging him in a contentious Republican primary race, says he's too liberal and too corrupt to represent a conservative Senate district. Full Story
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At Thursday's TribLive conversation, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst weighed in on the Senate's two-thirds rule and his possible picks for the chairmanships of key committees. Full Story
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Some Texas Republicans would like to change a rule that allows Democrats to block bills favored by the majority of the state Senate. They have a new ally, at least on the idea: Democrats in the U.S. Senate. Full Story
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How Texas state senators rank, from liberal to conservative, based on nearly 1,000 nonlopsided votes during the regular and special legislative sessions in 2013. Full Story
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Sometimes, it's the non-announcement that gets the political headline. Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns won’t run for the Senate, greatly increasing already high odds that the SD-10 seat will go to the Republicans. Full Story
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Dallas developer Donald Huffines, who has never run for office but comes from a well-known family, confirmed Monday that he will challenge state Sen. John Carona in next year's Republican primary. Full Story
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Announcements from state Sens. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, and Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, doubled the number of senators who won't be back in 2015. And there could easily be more. Full Story
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At Thursday's TribLive conversation, state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, a candidate for lieutenant governor, revealed how he'd dole out the chairmanships of Senate committees. Full Story
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At Thursday's TribLive conversation, state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, a candidate for lieutenant governor, explained his ongoing opposition to the Senate's two-thirds rule. Full Story
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UPDATED: Just over an hour after lawmakers ended their second 30-day special session of the year, Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday called lawmakers back for a third one, with transportation funding the only issue on the agenda. Full Story
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State Sen. Wendy Davis' filibuster against abortion legislation gave Democrats across the country a rare red-state rallying point, and some of them responded by opening their checkbooks. Full Story
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UPDATED: A week after saying that he saw bottles of urine and bags of feces at a DPS screening station ahead of a Senate debate on an abortion bill, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said Thursday that he wasn’t close enough to see what was in the containers but was told what was in them, the Houston Chronicle reported Thursday. Full Story
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State Sen. Wendy Davis raised her public profile with a filibuster on an omnibus abortion bill, but the Fort Worth Democrat didn't necessarily make herself more electable — at least in 2014. Full Story