The latest Ken Paxton news from The Texas Tribune.
State Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, will stay in the race for speaker tomorrow though he got spanked in the Republican Caucus today. More than two-thirds of the caucus membes expressed their support for Speaker Joe Straus in a non-binding preference poll conducted behind closed doors. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Paxton_SpeakerRace.jpg)
House Speaker Joe Straus has the support of the House Republican legislative caucus, which met on the afternoon before the legislative session to take the measure of the incumbent and two challengers: Warren Chisum of Pampa and Ken Paxton of McKinney. With all but one of the 101 Republicans in the House present, 70 stood up to show their support for Straus in the closed meeting, according to legisaltors who were inside. With that done, there was no reason to check the support for the other two candidates. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/strauss-caucusmeeting.jpg)
The House Republican Caucus will meet today to debate whether it should choose a favorite in the race for speaker of the House among the three candidates: the incumbent, Joe Straus of San Antonio, and Warren Chisum of Pampa and Ken Paxton of McKinney. But the vote's not binding. So why do it? Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/PaxtonChisumStraus.jpg)
The 82nd Texas Legislature convenes in Austin this week, and while it’s not as much fun as the circus — usually — it’s more important and does have its share of comedy and drama. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/CapitolComputers.jpg)
A speaker preference vote in the House Republican Caucus is "simply the right thing to do," state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, said Friday night, wading into a roiling controversy that has pit Republican against Republican in the aftermath of November's election. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/patrick.jpg)
The biggest caucus in the Texas House is the Republicans', now with 101 members. Next? The Democrats', at 49. And then there’s the freshman class — one of the biggest in years — with 38 members. All but six are Republicans, and many of them replaced Democrats. They face some challenges. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Freshmen.jpg)
Hoping to see a debate between the candidates for speaker? A group of Tea Party organizations recently posed an identical set of questions to Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, and contender Ken Paxton, R-McKinney. The result is not really a debate, but it might be the closest we get. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/593d6ab875237891d548a2383178369e/BD%20INC%20House%20Straus%202010)
State Rep. Beverly Woolley, R-Houston, threw her support to House Speaker Joe Straus today, putting an important member of former Speaker Tom Craddick's team on the incumbent's side. Full Story
Add four East Texas state representatives to Rep. Ken Paxton's list, bringing the McKinney Republican closer to a dozen-and-a-half votes in his quest for 76. Paxton is challenging Speaker Joe Straus for the top job. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Ken-Paxton.jpg)
The next speaker of the Texas House should be chosen by the Republican Caucus instead of the full House, says state Rep. Warren Chisum, and he has prepared a letter with 10 signatures that he says will force a caucus vote. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/3130c9670fc2165857973909a8082e27/BD%20INC%20Warren%20Chisum%20001%202010)
State Rep. Randy Weber, R-Pearland, who today withdrew his pledge of support for House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, was the beneficiary of two fundraisers this month at which a featured guest was ... House Speaker Joe Straus. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Randy_Weber.jpg)
M. Smith and Butrymowicz of the Hechinger Institute on charter schools and public schools making nice in the Valley, Ramsey's interview with House Speaker candidate Ken Paxton and column on the coming budget carnage, Hu on the Legislature's disappearing white Democratic women, Grissom on the sheriff who busted Willie Nelson, Hamilton talks higher ed accountability with the chair of the Governor's Business Council, Aguilar on the arrest of a cartel kingpin, Ramshaw on the explosive growth in the number of adult Texans with diabetes, Philpott on state incentive funding under fire and Galbraith on the greening of Houston: The best of our best from November 29 to December 3, 2010. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/11_29_10_Tribweek.jpg)
The Republican state representative from McKinney on why he's running for speaker, why Joe Straus is "the most controversial Republican elected official ... that maybe has ever happened," the role of outside groups in what has historically been a forum for the most inside of insider politics and whether he thinks he can really win. Full Story
An interview with state Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, about his run for speaker of the Texas House. Full Story
Freshman state Rep. Van Taylor, R-Plano, says he's supporting Ken Paxton's challenge to incumbent House Speaker Joe Straus. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/vantaylor.jpg)
The newest video touting Joe Straus for reelection as Speaker looks like the intro for one of those lifetime achievement statues they give away on the awards shows. Full Story
Add state Reps. Erwin Cain of Como and James White of Hillister to the list of members backing Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, for speaker of the House. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/paxton.jpg)
Grissom (with Tedesco of the San Antonio Express-News) on high-speed police chases on the Texas-Mexico border, Hu and Hamilton draw a roadmap through the tangle of the Speaker's Race, M. Smith on the trouble with electronic supplements to science textbooks, Ramshaw interviews patient privacy advocate Deborah Peel, Aguilar on Cuba and Texas and trade, Hamilton on the latest in biotech from Texas A&M University, Stiles on who's in the money in Congress, Hu on the controversial renewal of the state lottery contract, yours truly on Tom DeLay's victory in the face of his conviction on money-laundering charges, and E. Smith with a Thanksgiving cornucopia of TribLive videos: The best of our best from November 22 to 26, 2010. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Tribweek_11_22_2010.jpg)
We’ve reached a point in the soap opera known as the House Speaker’s Race at which it's tough to track all the characters and their connections. To keep his post, current Speaker Joe Straus is actively campaigning for the votes of House members who will elect him — or his replacement — in January. In recent weeks, two of his fellow Republicans have emerged as challengers, and the involvement of sundry outside interests make for an increasingly tangled web. As the House General Investigating and Ethics Committee prepares to hold a hearing today about alleged threats made against one minor player in the drama, we present this handy interactive to help make sense of it all. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2011House_speaker-flow-art004.png)
The bomb-throwing president of Empower Texas and Texans for Fiscal Responsibility on why Joe Straus hasn't proved himself as a conservative, why the entry of outside groups like his own into the insiders' race for speaker is proper and what he'd like to see out of a Texas House with 99 GOP members in it. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/mqs.jpg)