Photos: Texas Democrats return to Austin as redistricting standoff ends
Texas Democrats return to Austin after a two week fight over GOP-drawn congressional maps Full Story
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![Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, speaks with press outside of the Texas House on Aug. 18, 2025. Wu led the democrats in Chicago, where they fought to prevent redistricting in Texas.]()
Credit: Lorianne Willett for The Texas Tribune -
Rep. Ray Lopez of San Antonio will not seek reelection to Texas House
The San Antonio Democrat was first elected to the Legislature in 2019. Full Story
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![State Rep. Ray Lopez, D-San Antonio, followed by Rep. John Bryant, D-Dallas, gets off a charter bus from the Austin airport outside the State Archives building on the east side of the Texas Capitol upon their return to Austin following a two-week quorum break, on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Texas redistricting map: How the GOP could increase its stronghold
Texas lawmakers redrew congressional districts in a partisan bid to give Republicans five additional U.S. House seats. The move set off a bipartisan war across the U.S. Full Story
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![Three rectangles made up of smaller red and blue rectangles that show how cracking and packing in gerrymandering works.]()
Credit: Carla Astudillo and Jason Kao -
State health officials declare West Texas measles outbreak over
With no new cases reported in 42 days, the nation’s largest measles outbreak in 30 years, is declared over. Full Story
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![Patient blood samples seen on May 1, 2025 that are ready for testing at the Texas Department of State Health Services Laboratory.]()
Credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Texas Tribune -
Texas House Democrats return to Capitol, ending walkout over redistricting plan
After two weeks out of state, Democratic lawmakers returned to Austin, paving the way for Republicans to pass their proposed congressional map. Full Story
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![Texas Democrats, who left the state earlier this month in protest of proposed congressional maps, return to the Capitol on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Vaccine exemption requests in Texas spike in July, as some experts fear more families will opt out
Federal funding cuts to immunization efforts and a new law that allows exemption forms to be downloaded, instead of mailed, could drive up exemptions in the future. Full Story
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![A nurse administers a dose of the Pfizer vaccine at a clinic organized by the Travis County Mobile Vaccine Collaborative at Rodriguez Elementary School on July 28, 2021.]()
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
Texas House, Senate panels again advance redrawn congressional map
A second special session that has made approving the map a priority started Friday, shortly after the first one ended. Full Story
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![State Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, listens to testimony during a special Senate virtual hearing on Texas redistricting at the Texas Capitol on July 29, 2025.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
O’Rourke’s PAC donated more than $1 million to Democrats during redistricting battle
A judge temporarily barred Powered by People from fundraising for Democrats or financially supporting the quorum break. Full Story
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![Texas Democratic legislators board a plane as they head to Illinois on August 3, 2025.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
U.S. will build sterile fly factory in Texas to stop screwworm from devastating livestock industry
Mounted patrol officers, known as tick riders, who typically patrol the southern border to protect cattle from fever tick, will also now serve as the first line of defense against screwworm. Full Story
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![Forty to fifty head of cattle down from 5,000 due to restrictions on cattle imports from Mexico at the Vaquero Trading stockyard in Sunland Park, New Mexico on January 8, 2025.]()
Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune -
Abbott calls second special session as first round ends with Democrats still out of state
The second session is set to consider the same agenda that stalled in the first, with redistricting and disaster response at the top of the governor’s priorities. Full Story
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![Governor Greg Abbott speaks at a press conference Friday, Aug. 15, 2025 in Austin, Texas. Abbott spoke about Texas’s response to screw worm as well addressed California Governor Gavin Newsom comments and actions regarding redistricting.]()
Credit: Ronaldo Bolaños/The Texas Tribune -
Texas megadonor Alex Fairly will fund legal bid to keep GOP lawmakers on the primary ballot
The Amarillo businessman said he would tap into the $20 million political action committee he launched last year to preserve ballot access for censured Republicans. Full Story
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![Alex Fairly attends a board of directors meeting for the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation on Monday, April 21, 2025, in Amarillo.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune -
Poll finds Cornyn, Paxton in dead heat in Texas’ Senate GOP primary
Every previous public poll had shown the attorney general with a considerable lead over Texas’ incumbent senator. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is challenging U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the 2026 Republican primary.]()
Credit: The Texas Tribune -
Riding political wins, a once-restrained Gov. Greg Abbott is increasingly steamrolling foes
The third-term governor appears determined to win any battle — even if it means scorched-earth primary crusades or trying to boot duly elected legislators from office. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott responds to a reporter during a press conference at the Hill Country Youth Event Center in Kerrville on Saturday June 5, 2025.]()
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Kratom poisoning calls climb in Texas as the state fails to enforce ban on synthetic version
Texas law bans the sale of synthetic kratom, but it isn’t enforced. Earlier this year, legislation died in the Texas House to ban the natural plant, too. Full Story
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![A worker shifts a barrel of Kratom inside the 1836 Kratom warehouse and headquarters Friday, Aug. 8, 2025 in Pflugerville, TX. Kratom is shipped to the United States as a crushed powder and is distributed by 1836 Kratom into various consumption forms.]()
Credit: Ronaldo Bolaños/The Texas Tribune -
Federal judge appears ready to dismiss 2 of 14 charges in Henry Cuellar’s bribery case
The dismissal comes after Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo narrowing the enforcement of laws relating to foreign lobbying and bribery. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, R-Laredo, at a Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 10, 2024.]()
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Texas Democrats say they will return to state once session ends, California unveils retaliatory map
In a statement, the House Democratic Caucus said its lawyers had advised returning “to build a strong public legislative record for the upcoming legal battle” against the GOP’s map. Full Story
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![Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin speaks during a press conference surrounded by members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus at Painters District Council 30 in Aurora, Ill., on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025.]()
Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis for The Texas Tribune -
Justice Department presses Texas for list of registered voters and the officials who check it
For now, the state is holding off on fulfilling the request while it switches to a new voter registration management system. Full Story
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![The line wraps around the sidewalk at the Cinco Ranch Branch Library on Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Ft Bend County.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
History repeated itself when the Guadalupe River swept away Camp Mystic. Why few lessons were learned after the 1987 flood.
The Fourth of July flood bore a striking similarity to the Hill Country flood that killed 10 summer campers in 1987. In the following years, officials took little action to protect against the next storm. Full Story
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Credit: Desiree Rios for The Texas Tribune -
Casar, Doggett would run for same Austin congressional seat under GOP map, setting up clash of generations
The contest would unearth brewing Democratic tensions over age and experience, forcing Austin politicos to choose between two well-liked progressives. Full Story
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![U.S. Reps. Lloyd Doggett and Greg Casar, both of Austin (left), listen as Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio speaks during a press conference with Texas Democratic leaders at the Texas Capitol on July 31, 2025. Doggett and Casar could face each other in a primary under the new congressional redistricting maps drawn by the Texas Legislature at Pres. Trump's prompting.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Illinois court rejects Texas request to enforce arrest warrants against House Democrats
Judge Scott Larson ruled that the Texas speaker and attorney general had “failed to present a legal basis for the court” to take up the issue. Full Story
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![Democratic Texas Rep. Ron Reynolds speaks during a press conference with members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus at IBEW Local 701 in Warrenville, Ill., on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. More than 30 Democratic Texas lawmakers fled the state the day before to block a quorum and delay a redistricting plan backed by former President Donald Trump. They regrouped in Illinois to prevent the Legislature from advancing a mid-decade congressional map that could shift several seats to Republican control.]()
Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis for The Texas Tribune