The latest politics news from The Texas Tribune.
The super PAC backing Cornyn's reelection, Texans for a Conservative Majority, got a $1.2 million donation from the Senate Leadership Fund days before the election. Full Story
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Mayor Steve Adler told KVUE that he did not violate his own order or orders by Gov. Greg Abbott and took multiple steps to ensure the safety of his guests, including rapid COVID-19 testing. Full Story
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Burgess had been vying to be the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Full Story
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In January, the lieutenant governor suggested he could push to further lower the threshold required to bring bills to the floor if the GOP lost its supermajority. Now that that has happened, it remains to be seen whether Patrick will follow through. Full Story
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Burgess, a Lewisville Republican, and Castro, a San Antonio Democrat, spent much of the last year pursuing colleagues to support their bids as their parties' top representatives of a pair of high-profile committees. Full Story
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The Legislature is set to convene in January. Full Story
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Springer and Luther, who has been a vocal opponent of Abbott's pandemic management, are in a Dec. 19 special election runoff. Full Story
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Nearly a dozen pieces of legislation, all of them filed by Republicans, target mail-in balloting, illegal voting and misbehaving elections officials — inspired by events and talking points from the previous election cycle. Full Story
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Outgoing President Donald Trump's administration wants to exclude undocumented immigrants from the count that determines how many congressional seats each state gets. Texas could lose at least one congressional district under the plan, according to a study. Full Story
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Keith Nielsen won the job in March, but as he prepared to take office this summer, he faced widespread condemnation for posting a Facebook graphic juxtaposing a Martin Luther King Jr. quote with a banana. Full Story
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At a housing unit turned health clinic in rural Brown County, the director of a family planning clinic laughs at the idea of offering tele-health visits to limit the virus' spread: “Where we are, that is just not an option for us.” Full Story
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More than 60 election-related bills have been filed in the House and Senate in the three weeks since the election. About half of them are aimed at increasing voter access, which lawmakers said became a more urgent issue during the pandemic. Full Story
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In this week's TribCast, Matthew speaks with Ross, Aliyya and Cassi about how state Rep. Dade Phelan became the likely next speaker of the Texas House and why remote learning has been so difficult for schools. Full Story
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Ryan Vassar, who had served as the deputy attorney general for legal counsel, was one of eight senior aides who told authorities they believed Paxton was breaking the law — a report that has sparked an FBI investigation. Full Story
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Phelan was a prominent lieutenant of current House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, whose handling of the 2019 legislative session was popular before scandal brought him down. Full Story
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Two questions could shape Texas politics in the coming years: Who will challenge Gov. Greg Abbott in 2022? And will Abbott — and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz — run for president in 2024? Full Story
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El Paso is far from the only predominantly Hispanic area that has been ravaged by the virus. Hidalgo and Cameron counties, both along the state’s southern border, have seen death tolls that rival larger and more urban parts of the state. Full Story
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The border city recently resorted to using inmates from the county jail to move bodies. At the request of county officials, the state is sending assistance. Full Story
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Granger is a prominent member of the Texas congressional delegation who received an endorsement from Trump in a heated 2020 primary. Full Story
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The request comes as the county has used low-level offenders from the county jail to help transport bodies and as officials await a response from the Texas National Guard. Full Story
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