Controversial remarks by the GOP candidate cast a national spotlight on the typically quiet race for a spot on the Texas Railroad Commission.
State Government
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2026 Texas Elections
Texas election laws: What voters need to know before casting ballots in the 2026 midterm
From required IDs to navigating mail-in ballots, here’s how voters can navigate early voting and Election Day.
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State Government
Texas discovers more backlogged voter registration records days before early voting begins
Local election officials must now process thousands of voter address updates before early voting starts Monday.
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Politics
Meet the candidates running for Texas’ State Board of Education in 2026
The education board sets learning standards and approves instructional materials for public schools. Here are the nine candidates who are running and what’s at stake.
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2026 Texas Elections
In race to lead Texas agriculture department, Sheets and Tucker clash on data centers, credentials
The race to be the state’s first new agriculture commissioner in more than a decade has turned personal as both men have challenged each other’s ties to farm land.
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Texas affordability crisis
Report: Texas hospitals could offer more financial help before sending patients big bills
The report also found most nonprofit facilities in Texas — which has a higher rate of medical debt than most states — will not offer refunds to patients who are later found to qualify for free care.
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2026 Texas Elections
Local Texas election officials clear voter registration backlog caused by state error
More than 500,000 voter applications were held up by an error in a Department of Public Safety software update.
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Data Centers in Texas
Despite tough talk from Abbott and Paxton, Texas penalties for data center violations are light
Texas officials are promising tougher enforcement on data centers, but the existing law may offer limited leverage over the industry that has largely failed to report its water use.
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2026 Texas Elections
Texas sued for failing to process more than 500,000 voter registrations
Voting rights groups are asking a judge to enforce a 2021 settlement aimed at providing reliable online registration through DPS.
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Health care
Texas woman uses state law to sue anti-abortion group that allegedly ordered abortion pills online
Unable to abort two unplanned pregnancies because of the law, the woman is suing Students for Life for the cost of raising the children. The group posted about buying the pills undercover.