demographics

State Rep. Rick Miller, R-Sugar Land, speaks with colleagues on the House floor during the House School Finance plan deliberations on April 3, 2019.

State Rep. Rick Miller drops reelection bid after saying opponents were challenging him because they’re Asian

by Alex Samuels and Patrick Svitek

The Sugar Land Republican faced fast and fierce backlash after he accused his opponents of running against him because they are Asian in a district with a sizable Asian population.

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A voting sign in four languages at the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center near downtown Houston on Monday, Oct. 22, 2018.

Translators help Korean American voters in Harris County find their electoral voice

by Alexa Ura

After years of relying on volunteer translators, Korean Americans voting in Houston last month received help from newly hired bilingual poll workers.

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Center for Public Policy Priorities CEO Ann Beeson and Educate Texas Executive Director John Fitzpatrick at the launch of Texas Counts in Austin on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019.

Texas isn't providing major support for the 2020 Census. Local officials and nonprofits say they will instead.

Several nonprofits, local governments and philanthropy organizations have formed Texas Counts, a coalition aimed at ensuring an accurate census count in 2020, which could affect representation in Congress and billions in federal funding.

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Tenth Talks: Watch four experts predict the future of Texas cities

by Emily Ramshaw

In this edition of Tenth Talks, The Texas Tribune's yearlong video series on the next 10 years of Texas, top leaders in housing, homelessness and transportation give Texas cities a decade's worth of marching orders.

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A long line of voters wait to cast their ballots at the Wonderland of the Americas Mall in San Antonio late Friday afternoon, Nov. 2, the last day of early voting.

Texas Democrats are suing the state over its move to end temporary voting locations

by Alexa Ura

The lawsuit — filed with the Democratic campaign arms for the U.S. House and Senate — alleges that a change in state law that effectively ends the use of temporary or mobile early voting sites is unconstitutional because it discriminates against young voters.

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Analysis: Maybe the Texas House should try something new and completely different

by Ross Ramsey

Looking for a new speaker, the Texas House wants a big change. Here’s a modest proposal.

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Lynda Costley kept a record of her student loan payments since January of 2014.

At 69, she's still paying off $12,000 of student debt — including out of her Social Security checks. It isn't just a millennial problem.

by Shannon Najmabadi

About 222,140 Texans ages 60 and older had student loan debt in 2017, carrying a median load of $15,754, according to government data.

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President Donald Trump speaks next to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 21, 2019.

Donald Trump compared his impeachment to lynching. Texans in Congress respond: “How dare you?”

by Alex Samuels

The White House insisted Trump wasn't equating the impeachment probe to “one of our darkest moments in American history,” but Democrats said the president was “weaponizing hate.”

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Big Tex and Dickies are a perfect fit, but Uvalde factory's fate is another story

by Todd Wiseman, Christopher Vazquez, Justin Dehn and Alana Rocha

Iconic Texas-based clothing maker Williamson-Dickie made headlines last year when it announced it was closing its last U.S. factory, in Uvalde. While that plant has been repurposed and still employs several residents, the city is grappling over changes to a key partner in its community.

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Texas considering whether to hand driver’s license, citizenship information to Census Bureau

by Alexa Ura

The Texas Department of Public Safety received a request for the information earlier this month but has taken no action.

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Texas Republican Convention attendees stand for the Pledge of Allegiance in Fort Worth.

As its U.S. House members of color depart, Texas GOP grapples with its lack of diversity

by Alex Samuels

Should Republicans actively recruit candidates of color? The party stands divided.

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People stand in line to vote for the primaries at the Flawn Academic Center on the University of Texas campus on March 1, 2016.

Do you plan to vote in Texas’ November elections? The time to register is now

by Elvia Limón

Texans hoping to participate in the Nov. 5 election have until Oct. 7 to register to vote.

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Tents set up near the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, or ARCH, in downtown Austin on Aug. 2, 2019.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatens to intervene in Austin’s “homelessness crisis”

by Alex Samuels and Davis Rich

Abbott’s office lamented reports of “violence, used needles, and feces littering the streets of Austin and endangering Texas residents.”

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Hear how this Texas school district found itself at risk of returning to a segregated past

by Aliyya Swaby and Alexa Ura

A new audio series, a collaboration between The Texas Tribune and 1A, explores why students of color in Longview ISD still don't have the same educational opportunities as white students.

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Legislators review redistricting maps on the House floor.

How a decade of voting rights fights led to fewer redistricting safeguards for Texas voters of color

by Alexa Ura

In a state with a long history of discrimination, lawmakers on Tuesday will kick off the 2021 round of political mapmaking — the first in nearly half a century without federal oversight.

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Gov. Greg Abbott meets with El Paso area state legislators on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019, four days after a mass murderer killed 22 people at a WalMart in El Paso.

Gov. Greg Abbott says “mistakes were made” in his fundraising letter before the El Paso shooting

by Alex Samuels

The governor’s comments come after reports emerged of a two-page fundraising mailer that warned of a liberal plan to "to transform Texas — and our entire country — through illegal immigration."

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High school students between classes in the hallway at the high school in Buffalo on March 28, 2019.

Snubbed by Texas lawmakers, local officials look to children for help to avoid a census undercount

by Troy Closson

Hoping to avoid an undercount of thousands of Hispanic and black Texans, Dallas, Harris and Hidalgo counties believe getting children engaged can bring families to participate in the 2020 census.

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Hundreds mourn for the victims and their family outside the El Paso Walmart where a mass murderer killed 22 people.

State leaders are looking for solutions after El Paso. Texas Latinos say they can start by changing the words they use.

by Alexa Ura

"Words not only matter but in today’s world, words are having more and more significant existential consequences in our society," said Miguel Solis, a Dallas school board member.

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Samantha Ordaz and César Antonio Pacheco during a Silent March for those that lost their lives to the mass shooting at a local Walmart, Sunday, August 4, 2019, in El Paso, Texas. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre

A racist manifesto and a shooter terrorize Hispanics in El Paso and beyond

by Alexa Ura

On Saturday, the city was the victim of white supremacy, but it was not the only target. By terrorizing El Paso, the gunman terrorized Hispanics across the state and the country.

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From left: U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush.

After El Paso shooting, some Texas Republican leaders decry "white" terror

by Patrick Svitek

Land Commissioner George P. Bush linked the shooting with "white terrorism," while U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz called it a "heinous act of terrorism and white supremacy."

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