Middleton helped fund the Legislature’s swing to the right, and an internecine challenge to Ken Paxton. But that’s nothing next to the money he’s spent on himself.  WASHINGTON — When Michael Burgess first ran for Congress in 2002, his name was sandwiched between two now-familiar politicians on the Republican ballot.  Above him was John Cornyn, making his first bid for U.S. Senate. Further down was Ken Paxton, a then first-time candidate running for the state House in Collin County.  All three won those initial races in a landmark year for the Texas GOP, when the party established the trifecta control of Austin it’s maintained ever since. Twenty-four years later, Cornyn and Paxton are on a collision course, battling in an ugly runoff to be the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat Cornyn has occupied for over two decades.  Burgess, a Lewisville Republican and affable policy wonk, retired at the end of 2024. Having observed both for decades, he’s backing Cornyn. view article

Some party leaders are also also alleging GOP interference on behalf of Galindo, who said she would “turn Karnes ICE Detention Center into a prison for American Zionists” if elected.  Democratic leaders are condemning Texas congressional candidate Maureen Galindo over her latest round of antisemitic comments.  Galindo finished first in the Democratic primary for Texas’ 35th Congressional District and is in a runoff election against Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Garcia. Democratic leaders in Washington and Texas have backed Garcia amidst a mysterious six-figure advertising campaign to boost Galindo, a sex therapist and housing advocate.  Last weekend, Galindo said in an Instagram post that she intends to write legislation to “turn Karnes ICE Detention Center into a prison for American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking.” view article

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The Wylie ISD Republican Student Club founder testified before Congress on the infiltration of Sharia into Texas schools. view article

Republicans and Democrats are picking party nominees in a slate of other races, from attorney general to congressional seats that could help determine partisan control in Washington. If no single candidate won at least 50% of the vote in the March 3 primary, the top two finishers head to a runoff.  view article

Campaigns are racing to turn out small slice of voters expected to decide contests for the U.S. Senate, House and statewide offices. view article

Six of Texas’ largest cities lost residents in 2025: Dallas, El Paso, Arlington, Plano, Irving and Garland.  Fewer people are moving to Texas cities amid the country’s broader immigration slowdown, but the state remains home to some of the fastest growing cities in the country, new U.S. Census Bureau data show.  Celina, a city about an hour north from downtown Dallas, was the fastest growing city in the country last year, according to census data released Thursday. The city grew by 24.6%, adding more than 12,710 residents between July 2024 and July 2025.  Eight of the 15 fastest-growing cities in the U.S. are in Texas — primarily suburbs in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, the state’s largest urban area. Meanwhile, some of the state’s biggest cities like Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth are still adding tens of thousands of residents — despite a slowdown in international migration to the United States and lower birth rates. view article

Julie Johnson labels her opponent a “flip-flopper.” Colin Allred said previous votes reflected Rio Grande Valley frustration with Biden-era border policies. view article

Data center construction is unpopular among locals, and a majority of the facilities are being proposed in red, rural counties. That puts Texas Republicans in a tough spot, as the White House has encouraged states to let the centers flourish. view article

Texas can enforce the state's law requiring Ten Commandments posters in public schools. Here's what to know about the latest legal challenges.  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation into whether public schools are displaying posters of the Ten Commandments, following a recent federal court ruling that the state can enforce a law requiring them to do so.  More than two dozen Texas school districts must provide documentation to Paxton’s office “regarding the display or lack thereof of the Ten Commandments and their policies,” Paxton said in a statement Thursday.   The districts must also show that their school boards voted on whether view article

Last year’s redistricting upended the makeup of Texas’ 35th Congressional District, prompting the Democratic incumbent, Rep. Greg Casar, to run for a different seat. The open race for the new TX-35 spurred competitive primaries on both sides, with two Democrats and two Republicans advancing to runoffs in their respective races after no one received 50% of the vote in either March primary.  view article

The president says he likes both Cornyn and Paxton as early voting nears in a closely watched GOP runoff.  The day after John Cornyn and Ken Paxton were forced into a runoff for U.S. Senate, President Donald Trump indicated he planned to endorse in the race.  Now, with early voting less than two weeks away, Trump says that endorsement decision could come “relatively soon.”  Asked Thursday whether he still planned to endorse in the runoff between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton, Trump replied, “I’ll make a decision.”  When asked when that decision could come, Trump answered: “Maybe relatively soon. I like them both actually.” view article

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating Fort Worth ISD and dozens of other school districts over whether they are complying with new state laws requiring Ten Commandments displays and board votes on prayer time in schools. Paxton announced the statewide probe Thursday, weeks ahead of a May 26 runoff election where the attorney general is challenging U.S. Sen. John Cornyn for his seat. Paxton directed districts to send documents related to two religion-related laws passed by Texas lawmakers in 2025.  “I will always fight for students’ fundamental right to pray in our schools and work to ensure that Texas kids are able to learn from the Ten Commandments daily,” Paxton said in a news release.  One law requires public schools to display donated copies of the Ten Commandments that meet certain specifications. Another requires school boards to take a record vote on whether to adopt a policy allowing designated time for voluntary prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious texts. view article

Thousands of families in Texas’ largest public school districts are seeking to leave or supplement their local campuses through the state’s new school choice program, according to newly released data from the Texas Education Freedom Accounts rollout.   Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock announced that more than 42,600 students will receive award notices in the first round of the Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) program, with priority given to students with disabilities and their siblings.   A closer look at the data shows where demand is most concentrated: the state’s biggest school districts.   Houston ISD leads the state with 1,558 student applications in the program’s top priority tier, followed by Dallas ISD with 1,313 and Northside ISD in San Antonio with 1,139. Other large districts—including Fort Bend ISD (1,048), Cypress-Fairbanks ISD (914), and Fort Worth ISD (808)—also saw hundreds of families apply.  view article

The investigation comes after the 2022 Uvalde mass shooting incident was used as a game mode in the popular online game. view article

Like their larger neighbor, small South Texas cities are drilling new water wells amid a stubborn drought. But experts say that could deplete local aquifers. view article

Government watchdogs raised conflict-of-interests concerns, but Christian said his involvement in the venture is “separate” from his elected position on the Railroad Commission. view article

Here’s some basic arithmetic for you: The proposed school voucher bill approved tonight in the Texas Senate is cruel in at least five fundamental ways. First, it stacks the deck against public education, the bedrock of our democratic society. This has been the goal of Gov. Greg Abbott and his billionaire backers all along. They seek to undermine public education by starving it of funding. view article

Rep. Salman Bhojani, one of the first Muslim state legislators, joins TribCast to talk about the backlash his community has experienced in state government. view article

Texas is growing older faster than the rest of the nation. While the number of young people in the U.S. has shrunk, the population of children in Texas has grown.  The population of Texans age 65 and older grew faster than any other age group since the start of the decade, growing by 3.8% from 2023 to 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. They grew faster than working-age adults and children under the age of 18.  Their numbers show that people are living longer than in past generations. And, as they age, they'll increasingly rely on those of working age, a population that isn’t growing as quickly, said Holly Heard, vice president of data and analytics at Texas 2036.  In Texas, which has the highest levels of people without health insurance, elder Texans will likely face more ailments as they age.   view article

The state House Public Education Committee on Tuesday considered more than 30 bills aimed at making Texas public schools safer, including measures that would put more armed personnel on campuses and give districts money for sweeping security changes. The Legislature has made improving school safety a priority this session after 10 people, mostly students, were shot and killed at Santa Fe High School 10 months ago. The shooting spurred roundtable discussions and studies among policymakers, lawmakers and Gov. Greg Abbott in the immediate aftermath. “Out of that loss, we have an opportunity to devote ourselves and commit ourselves to seeing that their loss was not in vain and that future students, future teachers, future families in this state will, if at all possible, not have to experience what these individuals experienced,” said Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, during Tuesday’s hearing. view article

Property tax reform has been a top priority for Texas lawmakers from the start of the 86th legislative session. The early filing of identical, wide-reaching bills in the House and Senate in January—Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 2—sparked debate on the topic and earned pushback from many local entities that could be affected by the proposals. The twin bills propose to lower the cap for local entities’ annual tax revenue growth from 8 percent to 2.5 percent and to improve efficiency and transparency in the tax system. The proposals were fast-tracked for debate in both chambers after Gov. Greg Abbott declared property tax an emergency item in February, and dozens of related bills have been filed in their wake. view article

Hillary Clinton and Helen Keller are back on the lesson plan after a vote by the Texas State Board of Education. The committee voted 12-2, with one abstention, on Tuesday to continue teaching students about Clinton in high school history classes, according to State Board of Education Director Debbie Ratcliffe. The board also voted to keep Keller on the curriculum. The vote reverses a September preliminary decision to cut the women, along with 1964 Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater and several other historical figures, from the required curriculum. The board said then that the change was intended to streamline the curriculum for its 5.4 million students at the recommendation of volunteer work groups. view article

School finance was the big-ticket item this legislative session, said Emett Alvarez, Victoria Democrats Club president. "Education should be important to everyone," Alvarez said. "We are all taxpayers and are affected by it one way or the other." The Victoria County Democratic Party will host its club meeting Tuesday at VeraCruz Restaurant, 3110 N. Navarro St. Guest speakers will be Dwight Harris, former president of the Victoria chapter of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, and Ray Thomas, who is running for chief justice of the 13th Court of Appeals. view article

Will there ever come a day when our state leaders and lawmakers want to make Texas as good a place for children as it is for business? The 85th legislative session didn't seem often inclined in that direction, particularly in matters related to educating the state's schoolchildren. A massive funding failure for prekindergarten students. The state Senate's defeatist response to a solid House attempt at school finance reform. Out-of-proportion talk about vouchers for those attending private schools. But let's not overlook a couple of bright spots. Thanks to skillful work by three North Texas lawmakers, the state's youngest learners should eventually get the gift of better-prepared teachers. view article

Back in March, James Dickey, then the chairman of the Travis County Republican Party, showed up at the state Capitol to testify in support of House Bill 1911 — a proposal known as constitutional carry, or the ability to carry firearms without a license. It was a top legislative priority for the state GOP, and Dickey brought a message tailored for the Republicans on the House panel considering it: Don't forget the platform. "The plank which said we should have constitutional carry scored a 95 percent approval rate, outscoring over 80 percent of the other planks in the option," Dickey said, referring to the party platform — a 26-page document outlining the party's positions that is approved by delegates to its biennial conventions. Constitutional carry, Dickey added, "is something very clearly wanted by the most active members of the Republican Party in Texas." view article

Contention over where transgender people use the restroom has clouded much of the 2017 legislative session and has expanded to cover other issues such as property tax policy and school finance as lawmakers push to complete their work by Monday. After Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick served notice that the scaled-back version of the so-called bathroom bill recently approved by the Texas House was a non-starter in the Senate, the upper chamber in the predawn hours Wednesday made an end-run effort to save the stronger measure that fell victim to legislative deadlines. But by the time the sun rose over the Capitol, it was clear that the House would kill the measure again. view article

An effort to overhaul the state’s beleaguered school finance system has been declared dead after the Texas Senate Education Committee’s chairman said Wednesday that he would not appoint conferees to negotiate with the House. “That deal is dead,” Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, said. Taylor’s remarks come after his counterpart in the House, Dan Huberty, R-Houston, gave a passionate speech in which he said he would not accept the Senate’s changes to House Bill 21 and would seek a conference committee with the Senate. view article

The Texas House has voted to allow concealed carry permit holders to have guns in their locked cars parked outside schools. Tentative approval came late Tuesday night as an amendment to an otherwise unrelated bill on school boards. Final House approval should come Wednesday. The state Senate already approved a full, bipartisan bill seeking to do virtually the same thing. A similar, full bill had died in the House without reaching a floor vote but now lives on as an amendment. view article

A standoff between the Texas House and Senate over vouchers killed a major school finance fix Wednesday. The House tried to pump $1.6 billion dollars more into public schools. The Senate didn't want that much and countered by tacking on their own priority. The author of the House Bill 21 rejected the changes made to it in the Senate, saying they don't go far enough. Last year, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the system was barely constitutional. So the House approved pumping $1.6 billion additional dollars into it but that plan came out of the Senate reduced to $530 million. view article

Texas lawmakers have given final approval to a measure cracking down on inappropriate relationships between teachers and students. The bill requires principals and superintendents to report inappropriate teacher-student relationships or face jail time and fines up to $10,000. The teacher's family could also lose access to the teacher's pension. view article

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick declared a key school funding bill dead Wednesday, saying he was "appalled" the House would refuse to go along with the Senate's plan to create a school voucher program for students with disabilities.  "Although Texas House leaders have been obstinate and closed-minded on this issue throughout this session, I was hopeful when we put this package together last week that we had found an opening that would break the logjam," Patrick said in a statement. "I simply did not believe they would vote against both disabled children and a substantial funding increase for public schools." view article

 A state lawmaker is looking for donations to pay off debt Texas students rack up in school cafeterias. Partnered with Feeding Texas, Representative Helen Giddings, D-DeSoto, launched a statewide crowdfunding campaign Tuesday, in an effort to prevent what she calls “lunch shaming.” At some Texas schools, students with lunch debt or empty accounts are denied a hot lunch and given a cheese sandwich instead. “The cruelty and lack of compassion for children who suffer the humiliation, the labeling and not to mention the hunger pains of so-called lunch shaming, it is inconceivable,” Giddings said. view article

Texas lawmakers wrap up a very busy week at the Capitol today, and last night had a little bit of everything that you’ll find at the end of a legislative session. Bills as amendments With just over two weeks left in the legislative session, lawmakers are scrambling to get their bills to the governor’s desk. That scramble often has lawmakers looking for ways to add their bills to other legislation. That’s exactly what Sen. Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood) did Thursday morning when he added a provision to create a school voucher system onto a school finance bill.  “It establishes the educational savings account program administered by the comptroller, which provides parents with funds to pay for education needs of their child,” Taylor said as he added the amendment to the House bill in the Senate Education committee. But even this addition isn’t everything the Senate Education chair wanted. The addition only provides money for private school tuition or tutoring for children with disabilities. view article

Over the last two years, I’ve been working with students, teachers, parents and taxpayers to improve the way that we’re providing education to Texas students. During the current legislative session, some of those efforts are beginning to show results. The Texas House of Representatives where I serve, has passed three bills to improve the “Robin Hood” program, A-F rating system, and standardized testing. In overhauling the entire funding of our public education system, House Bill 21 will address a problem that has long plagued our West Texas districts. The “Robin Hood” scheme has been a detriment to school districts in our region, and under this bill we will be reducing the burden on our local school districts bear by allowing them to keep more of their hard-earned money.  view article