How far are Texas Republicans willing to go?
A public hearing over House Bill 6, one of the most suppressive election-related bills this session, ended abruptly Thursday after Elections Committee Chair and bill author Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park) screwed up a procedural rule. Cain called a recess without...
Could Kentucky’s bipartisan election reform be a model for Texas?
In the wake of Trump’s 2020 loss and the subsequent Big Lie about widespread voter fraud, many Republican-controlled state governments are doing everything they can to restrict voting rights in ways that will allow them to stay in power. In Texas, Republicans are...
How much money do Ted Cruz and John Cornyn receive from the NRA?
No matter how many mass shootings afflict the country, the GOP has largely refused to budge on even modest gun safety reforms. Texas’ Republican Senators are no exception, with Ted Cruz already lashing out at Democrats in the aftermath of shootings in Colorado and...
Whitmire for Mayor? Hollins for Houston? Let’s Speculate.
In a recent Texas Monthly piece about Art Acevedo’s decision to jettison the Houston Police Department for the allure of being Miami’s top cop, Mimi Swartz dropped an observation that raised my eyebrows. Acevedo, long rumored to be interested in becoming Mayor of...
Opal Lee’s campaign to make Juneteenth a national holiday gets an assist from Carmelo Anthony
As one of the biggest advocates for making Juneteenth a national holiday, Texas native Opal Lee has attracted quite the following around the country to rally around her cause. Yesterday, at a virtual summit sponsored by Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Lee discussed the...
Texas Republicans take aim at local worker protections with major deregulation bill
Texas Republicans in the Senate Committee on Business & Commerce were giddy with excitement Tuesday afternoon over Senate Bill 14, a massive deregulation bill that would prohibit local governments from passing or enforcing laws that create basic protections for...
Biden administration planning $3 trillion economic recovery package
The Biden administration plans on going big yet again. After passing a $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, the White House is now planning an additional $3 trillion package as part of its “Build Back Better” agenda. First reported by the New York Times, the sweeping plan...
A post-election report from the Rio Grande Valley offers critical guidance for Democrats
The Rio Grande Valley was the subject of breathless reporting after the 2020 election with dozens of think pieces dissecting the performance of Donald Trump, who improved his electoral numbers dramatically over his showing in 2016, and speculating about a...
MOVE Texas launches ad campaign against Abbott’s ‘election integrity’ bills
MOVE Texas, a nonpartisan voter registration group, announced Monday they would be launching a six-figure ad campaign against Senate Bill 7 and House Bill 6, Gov. Greg Abbott’s pick for “election integrity” legislation to pass this session. “As Texas struggles...
All Texas adults eligible for COVID-19 vaccine starting Monday
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) just announced that beginning Monday, March 29, all adults in Texas will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The newest announcement is the latest sign that a robust federal push to...
Op-Ed: I’m an immigrant working to get vaccines to every American – but I could be doing so much more
When the FDA approved the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use in December, I was overcome with relief. I’d spent four months assisting COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials at a Houston-based research center. Finally, our vaccine would be on the market saving thousands of...
Rep. Filemon Vela says he won’t seek reelection
Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Brownsville) will not be seeking re-election, a spokesperson for the lawmaker confirmed to Axios on Monday. Filemon has represented the district since 2013. He was re-elected in 2020 with a 13.5 percent margin over his Republican opponent. ...
Musings: My Top 4 Bracket Seeds
When we launched our bracket challenge last week, it set off some serious debate among our staff about who should make the round of 16 and which candidates deserved to be seeded in which positions. While some of our staffers included some bold and intriguing choices...
Republican bail reform bill poses threat to poor Texans, activists
Members of the Texas Senate Committee on Jurisprudence held their first hearing this week over Senate Bill 21, a controversial bail reform bill backed by Republicans. The purpose of the bill according to its author Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston) is to prevent repeat...
Op-Ed: The Real Framing of the Atlanta Massacre: Hate Crime, Evangelical Terrorism & Femicide
We are reeling. We see our families in the six Asian women killed in Atlanta this week. To us, hate crimes against the AAPI community are not a statistic. Awareness and pain are not buffered by distance. In the faces of these women, we see our sisters, our...