“It may be dark outside but the sun is rising on the great state of Texas,” state Rep. John Bucy, James Talarico’s longtime deskmate in the Texas House, says as he takes the stage at Talarico HQ. “Tonight, everything changes.”

Kayla Guo covers state politics and government. Before joining the Tribune, she covered Congress for The New York Times as a reporting fellow based in Washington, D.C. Kayla has also covered transportation...