As the field takes shape for the 2026 campaign, the Republican incumbent, Dan Patrick, starts with a large financial advantage.
State Government
Stay informed on Texas state government with The Texas Tribune’s in-depth coverage of the governor, Legislature, state agencies, and policies shaping the future of Texas.
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Texas Legislature 2025
Improved response to mass shooting is goal of “Uvalde Strong” bill approved by Texas Legislature
Uvalde’s former mayor, now in the Legislature, wrote the bill so that law-enforcement agencies would have better coordination and leadership as they respond to a mass shooting.
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Running Out: Texas’ Water Crisis
Oil companies want protection as Texas considers allowing treated fracking water released into rivers
As the state grapples with a threatened water supply, industry and lawmakers have invested millions in research to clean the toxic backwash for use in for agriculture.
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Texas Legislature 2025
Texas lawmakers are poised to ban minors from social media
The Texas Legislature has already passed a bill requiring age verification to download apps and is seriously considering another to ban children from social media.
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Health care
Long-running lawsuit against Texas’ foster care system appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court
Lawyers representing foster children asked the high court to reinstate a contempt order against the state, and the judge who issued it.
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Texas Legislature 2025
Bill requiring air conditioning in all Texas prisons wins House approval
House Bill 3006 would require the installation of climate control in state prison facilities by 2032.
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Texas Legislature 2025
Texas House votes to repeal ban on “homosexual conduct”
An unlikely group of Republican allies joined Democrats to approve repealing the ban, which has been unenforced since 2003. It is the first time the bill has made it to the House floor since it was first proposed decades ago.
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Investigations
Texas lawmakers push to enforce election transparency law after newsrooms found school districts failed to comply
ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found nearly three dozen school districts were missing required campaign finance reports online. Now lawmakers are pushing to impose steep penalties on local governments that fail to abide by the law.
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Texas Legislature 2025
Juvenile detention, imported shrimp, forever chemicals among hundreds of bills cut off by House deadline
Some measures that made it through before midnight dealt with jail bonds, an unconstitutional ban on gay sex, and the liability of vaccine manufacturers.
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Running Out: Texas’ Water Crisis
These are the proposals lawmakers hope will save Texas’ water supply. Track them here.
Most lawmakers — as well as Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — want to invest big in water. Here are the proposals that would do it.