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Texas Senate

The latest Texas Senate news from The Texas Tribune.

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Ramsey on what a GOP supermajority means, Ramshaw on a crime victim not eligible for crime victims' compensation, M. Smith on grave matters and state regulation, Hamilton on the college pipeline at San Antonio's Jefferson High, Hu on a senator's anticlimactic return, Grissom on the coming closure of juvenile lockups, Aguilar on the return of residents to their drug-war-torn Mexican town, Galbraith on next session's energy agenda, Philpott on the legal fight over federal health care reform and Stiles on the travel expenses of House members: The best of our best from Dec. 13 to 17, 2010. Full Story 

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  • Him Again

    By Elise Hu

    State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, wasn’t expected back at the Capitol this session after seeking two high-profile higher education jobs over the summer. But both opportunities fizzled, and now the 70-year-old says he’s “gunned up and ready to go” for his seventh term in the Senate — even if he'll return with clout resembling that of a freshman. He’s without the aides who knew him best and stripped of the Jurisprudence Committee he used to chair. Still, his insistence on putting his own political views ahead of his party's could make him a key player at a time when Senate Republicans are a few votes short of a two-thirds majority. Full Story 

    State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, at the Texas GOP Convention in June, 2010
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Single White Female

    By Elise Hu

    The force of the GOP wave in November was so strong that black Republicans and Latino Republicans outnumber the Texas House's new endangered species: the white Democratic woman. And if the 16-vote victory of state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, doesn't survive a recount, the species will be extinct. Full Story 

    State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin and state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth.
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Debbie Irvine: The TT Interview

    By Matt Stiles

    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. Full Story 

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  • Hosed in Waco

    By Ross Ramsey

    It was a bad Election Night for residents of the largest city in McLennan County. After years of regional dominance, their congressional seat belongs to Bryan, halfway to Houston; their state senate seat is 86 miles away in Granbury; and one of their House seats has moved three counties east, to Centerville. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Bob Daemmrich/Marjorie Cotera/Todd Wiseman

  • Inside Intelligence: The Next Speaker Will Be...

    By Ross Ramsey

    For this week's installment of our non-scientific survey of political and policy insiders on issues of the moment, we asked two main questions: "Do you think Joe Straus will win another term as Speaker of the House next year, or do you think it will be someone else?" and "Should the Senate keep or abandon its practice of requiring approval from two-thirds of the senators before raising an issue for debate and approval?" And we asked an open-ended third: "How do you think the election outcomes will affect the legislative session ahead?" Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • The Most Unpopular Fraction

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    Whatever the size of their majority in the Texas House, Republicans in the Texas Senate have to contend with the rule requiring two-thirds of members to agree to bring a bill up for vote. That's 21 out of 31 — and there are only 19 Republicans in the upper chamber. As Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, some in the GOP want the rule changed. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • And They're Off!

    By Ross Ramsey

    The start of the 2010 election sprint finds Texas Republicans feverish: Even the sober ones think they could snatch up to 10 more state House seats. Democrats maintain they can still wrest majority control away from the GOP. Full Story 

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  • How I Became Lieutenant Governor

    By Bill Hobby and Saralee Tiede

    "I always wanted to run for office," Bill Hobby writes. "And I grew up in a family that had been part of state government for a couple of generations." An excerpt from the forthcoming How Things Really Work: Lessons from a Life in Politics. Full Story 

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  • The Sting of the Killer Bees

    By Bill Hobby and Saralee Tiede

    The rules of the Texas Senate are designed to create an orderly process that respects the rights of individual members. They have lasted this long because they do the job well and consider the need for compromise in the legislative operation. Trampling the rights of the minority is never a good idea — and yet it has happened over and over again. An excerpt from the forthcoming How Things Really Work: Lessons from a Life in Politics. Full Story 

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  • 2010: Democrat Withdraws From SD-22 Race

    By Evan Smith

    John Cullar, the attorney and former McLennan County Democratic Party chair chosen to run in the November general election against state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, notified state election officials today that he is withdrawing from the race. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • 2010: Birdwell Will Stay on Ballot

    By Ross Ramsey

    Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, can remain on the November ballot, the state's 5th Court of Appeals ruled this afternoon. Texas Democrats had sued to remove him, saying his vote in the Virginia elections in 2006 made him ineligible to serve in the Texas Senate. Full Story 

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    Credit: Birdwell campaign

  • Kip Averitt: The TT Interview

    By Ross Ramsey

    The McGregor Republican — who quit the Texas Senate earlier this year — talked to the Tribune on Tuesday about politics and parties, redistricting, things left undone and how the Legislature changed during his time there. Full Story 

  • A Conversation with Kip Averitt

    By Elise Hu

    No longer a government official, former state Sen. Kip Averitt talked with the Tribune's Ross Ramsey about politics and parties, redistricting, things left undone and how the Legislature has changed during his time there. Full Story 

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    Credit: Justin Dehn