Abbott vowed to campaign against anti-voucher GOP House members. Why did these six candidates get spared?
With the March 5 election just a few days away, six anti-voucher House GOP incumbents managed to sidestep Abbott’s revenge warpath. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott during a property tax cut bill signing ceremony in New Caney, on Aug. 9, 2023.]()
Credit: Douglas Sweet Jr. for The Texas Tribune -
Donald Trump says Greg Abbott is “absolutely” on vice president short list
On Friday, Abbott told reporters that he wants to stay in Texas and plans to run for reelection for governor. Full Story
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![Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump walks next to Texas Governor Greg Abbott as Trump visits the U.S.-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, TX on Feb. 29, 2024.]()
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Texas law allowing police to arrest migrants suspected of being in country illegally blocked by federal judge
Senate Bill 4 was Texas’ latest attempt to deter people from crossing the Texas-Mexico border amid a surge in migration. Full Story
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![Migrants traverse the bank of the Rio Grande at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, on Jan. 19, 2024.]()
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Texas wildfires continue growing as firefighters struggle to contain massive Panhandle blazes
The five fires have burned more than a million acres — more than double the landmass of Houston — as residents have fled or sheltered in place. Full Story
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![Wildfires have erupted in the Texas Panhandle this week.]()
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Greg Abbott, Tim Dunn spend millions in Texas GOP primary fights over vouchers, impeachment
Texans For Lawsuit Reform and pro-voucher groups are also spending millions. Full Story
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![Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs a bill banning COVID-19 vaccine mandates at the Governor's Mansion in Austin on Nov. 10, 2023.]()
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In leaked audio, Supreme Court Justice John Devine railed against “brainwashed” GOP colleagues
Devine, a former anti-abortion activist, faces a heated primary challenge that has focused on questions about his ethics. Full Story
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![Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine, far left, with fellow judges on the House floor in Austin in 2013.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
Years before Texas conservatives painted them as criminals, Colony Ridge residents sought help from state agencies
Texas has little to show for conservative leaders’ uproar — or previously unreported complaints about the community developer. Full Story
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![An overhead view of the Colony Ridge development on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in New Caney, Texas.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott signals support for IVF in Texas after Alabama ruling
Abbott stopped short of calling on the Legislature to take actions to protect IVF after a Alabama court ruling threw fertility treatments into legal limbo in that state. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks about the recent 88th Legislative Session to an audience at the Texas Public Policy Foundation offices in Austin, on June 2, 2023. Abbott recounted policy victories in regards to fentanyl and the border crisis, as well as limiting gender affirming care and banning DEI practices in higher education. Abbott ended the event by promising to call a special session for school choice, after the current special session for property tax resolves.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Texas launches new property tax incentive program to lure new businesses
The Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation program cuts property taxes for new manufacturing, research and development facilities. It replaces a shuttered program criticized for its impact on school finance. Full Story
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![Construction workers work on an office building on the corner or Metric and Parmer in Austin on June 18, 2020.]()
Credit: Allie Goulding/The Texas Tribune -
At odds with Abbott and Paxton, Rep. Stan Lambert is under fire and getting outraised in his GOP primary
District 71 is one of three-dozen Texas House races where statewide Republicans are trying to oust incumbents from their own party. Lambert says he knows his constituents better than they do. Full Story
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![Texas House District 71 Rep. Stan Lambert gestures during an interview at Monk’s Coffee shop in Abilene Thursday Feb. 8, 2024.]()
Credit: Ronald W. Erdrich for The Texas Tribune -
Frustration boils as Abbott, Paxton target GOP incumbents
Big spending and anger surround reelection bids for state House members like Glenn Rogers, who’s facing heat for votes on vouchers and Ken Paxton’s impeachment. Full Story
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![State Rep. Glenn Rogers, R-Graford, walks to his desk on the House floor prior the gaveling in of the second special session of 2021 on Saturday, August 7.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Texas has spent more than $148 million busing migrants to other parts of the country
Since Gov. Greg Abbott announced the program in 2022, Texas has paid to bus more than 102,000 migrants to cities around the country. Full Story
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![Two buses transporting migrants from Texas arrive at Union Station in Washington, D.C. on April 21, 2022. Gov. Greg Abbott’s new plan in response to the end of Title 42, a pandemic-era emergency health order which allowed immigration authorities at the border to deny entry.]()
Credit: Shuran Huang for The Texas Tribune -
Border security overpowers school vouchers and Paxton impeachment in Republican Texas House primaries
Despite all the hubbub about vouchers and the attorney general’s impeachment, it’s still about the border. Full Story
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![Texas Republican state House ads touting the border as a central election issue. Clockwise, from top left: Mark LaHood, challenger for HD-121; Joanne Shofner, challenger for HD-11; Chris Spencer, challenger for HD-1; and Gary VanDeaver, HD-1 incumbent.]()
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Once hesitant, Texas Republicans have united behind Donald Trump again
While polls once showed Trump and DeSantis tied in Texas, they now suggest the primary is all but over here. Trump leads Nikki Haley by a landslide. Full Story
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![Former president Donald Trump holds his first 2024 campaign rally in Waco, Texas on Mar. 25, 2023.]()
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School voucher opponents are unpopular with Texas GOP primary voters, poll finds
In a University of Houston poll, nearly half also signaled they didn’t support Republican incumbents who voted to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton. Full Story
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![Bonham Middle School students eat lunch in the school’s cafeteria Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023 in Odessa.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
House Speaker Dade Phelan, enemy of the far-right, faces toughest reelection yet
Attorney General Ken Paxton, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and former President Donald Trump are accusing Phelan of being a “RINO,” even as Phelan has overseen the passage of some of the most conservative bills in recent history. Full Story
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![Beaumont, Texas: Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives Dade Phelan poses for a portrait at his office in Beaumont on Friday, Jan 26, 2024. Mark Felix/The Texas Tribune]()
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In Texas House special election, big endorsements weren’t enough for Brent Money
Money fell short in the runoff for House District 2, despite winning the support of a who’s who of Texas Republican leaders. Full Story
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![From left: Jill Dutton and Brent Money. Dutton won the race to replace Bryan Slaton in HD-2, the state House district east of Dallas, but they'll face off again in the March primary.]()
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Under Ken Paxton, Texas’ civil Medicaid fraud unit is falling apart
After the chief of the attorney general’s Civil Medicaid Fraud Division was forced out last year, two-thirds of attorneys have quit the unit, leaving it at its smallest size since Paxton took office. Full Story
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![Nearly two-thirds of the lawyers for Texas’ Civil Medicaid Fraud Division have quit under Attorney General Ken Paxton, which former staffers say will leave the elite unit less equipped to weed out fraud and abuse in the Medicaid system.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Republicans who defied Gov. Greg Abbott on school vouchers face mounting primary attacks
As promised, the governor is going after members of his own party after some of them tanked his top legislative priority. Full Story
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![A protester, left, pauses to leave a boot at the steps of the Governor's Mansion during a rally to "boot vouchers" on Oct. 7, 2023. Hundreds gathered to protest two days before a special session was slated to begin on Oct. 9, 2023.]()
Credit: Julius Shieh/The Texas Tribune -
“Hold the line”: Republicans rally to Abbott’s defense in border standoff with Biden
From the Texas House to former President Donald Trump, Republicans around the country defended Gov. Greg Abbott’s challenges to the Biden administration's border policies. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott, displays SB 1900, one of six bills he signed during a border security bill signing session at the state capitol in Austin on June 8, 2023. The bills signed include SB 423, SB 602, SB 1133, SB 1403, SB 1484, and SB 1900. “Washington D.C. has failed to do its job to secure the border,” Abbott said. “As a result, Texas has had to take unprecedented steps in responding to the crisis caused by the Biden administration on the border, and in response the Texas legislature has stepped up to make sure that we will be able to more robustly respond.”]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune