The latest politics news from The Texas Tribune.
A small group of Texas farmers and environmental advocates is pushing for the labeling of genetically modified foods. But the effort has received little interest from Texas' Republican-dominated Legislature or from major agribusinesses. Full Story
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The spill of as much as 168,000 gallons of fuel oil into Galveston Bay has crews working hard to avoid lasting impacts on a crucial shipping channel as well as an ecologically sensitive area of the Texas coast. Full Story
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Across wide swaths of state government, male employees make more on average than their female colleagues. But a closer look at the payrolls of individual agencies and offices presents a more complicated picture. Full Story
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The Texas Senate's swing to the right started more than 20 years ago, when the incumbents' definition of extreme simply meant a Republican had entered the Capitol. Now some of those same Republicans are under fire for being too liberal. Full Story
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With equal pay emerging as the single biggest issue this week in the contest for governor, the Tribune has taken a deep look at pay disparities across state government. Full Story
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At our 3/20 TribLive conversation, Kinky Friedman, a Democratic candidate for Texas agriculture commissioner in 2014, previewed his strategy for winning the runoff and the general election. Full Story
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At our 3/20 TribLive conversation, Kinky Friedman, a Democratic candidate for Texas agriculture commissioner in 2014, talked about why he wants to legalize marijuana — and what it would mean for the state. Full Story
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At our 3/20 TribLive conversation, Kinky Friedman, a Democratic candidate for Texas agriculture commissioner in 2014, defended his decision to run as an independent in 2006 and to say nice things about Rick Perry in 2011. Full Story
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Full video of my 3/20 TribLive conversation with Kinky Friedman, a Democratic candidate for Texas agriculture commissioner in 2014. Full Story
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For political challengers, a runoff can be good news: They lived to fight another day. For incumbent officeholders, runoffs are fraught with the idea that voters are shopping for someone new. Full Story
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The CEO of the Borderplex Alliance on what El Paso needs to do to shed its reputation as a hub for low-skilled and low-wage industries, why he thinks the war in Ciudad Juárez is officially over and his thoughts on immigration reform. Full Story
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The issue of equal pay dominated the discussion again in the gubernatorial contest on Wednesday. Full Story
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In the latest iteration of the fight over women's issues in the Texas governor’s race, Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott and his Democratic opponent state Sen. Wendy Davis are sounding off over equal pay. Full Story
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As the campaigns for gubernatorial candidates Greg Abbott and Wendy Davis use social media to expand the discourse on the issues they consider priorities, they must also deal with addressing issues like name calling and personal attacks in such forums. Full Story
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The widely panned attempt by two Greg Abbott surrogates to push a GOP alternative to legislation to address the pay gap between men and women has brought outreach to female voters back into the spotlight in the contest for governor. Full Story
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What was originally planned as the first head-to-head encounter of the Republican runoff race for lite guv will now be a solo appearance by David Dewhurst. His opponent, Dan Patrick, announced late Monday afternoon that he was withdrawing from the debate. Full Story
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Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis launched a Spanish-language version of her campaign website on Monday. Her Republican opponent, Greg Abbott, released a Spanish version of his campaign site earlier this year. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry was the first prominent Texas politician to grab the Tea Party wave. Ted Cruz was next, winning a U.S. Senate seat in 2013. Is state Sen. Dan Patrick next in line? Full Story
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The rightward tilt of the Texas Senate has one of its more hallowed traditions — the two-thirds rule — in danger of going the way of the dodo. Full Story
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Cecilia Abbott has been a regular at her husband's side as he travels across the state for his campaign for governor. She could become the first Latina to be the first lady of Texas. Full Story
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