At the direction of Gov. Greg Abbott, state transportation officials told local leaders to remove crosswalk art often used to mark historically LGBTQ+ neighborhoods or risk losing millions in funding.

Voters in Bexar County, Texas, are set to decide on November 4 whether to allow $311 million in venue taxes to go toward helping build a new arena for the San Antonio Spurs.

Issues about control of book purchases and how curriculums teach race and gender have led to change on many boards, including Keller, Katy and Mansfield ISDs.

Three Republican incumbents are being targeted for their role in recent abortion rulings by a new Democratic political action committee.

According to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which recruits and supports LGBTQ candidates, that leaves only Alaska, Louisiana and Mississippi as states that have never elected an LGBTQ legislator. With the addition of Jones and Torres, there will be nine openly LGBTQ members of the House as of January. Two other Democrats became the first openly transgender people to win seats in their states’ Houses: Taylor Small in Vermont and Stephanie Byers in Kansas. And in New York, Jabari Brisport, a gay math teacher, became the first openly LGBTQ person of color elected to the legislature. And in southwestern Michigan’s 6th District, Jon Hoadley, seeking to become the state’s first openly gay congressman, lost to 17-term GOP Rep. Fred Upton.

The LGBTQ Victory Institutes Out For America report, released Thursday, tallies 843 openly LGBTQ elected officials across all levels of government at present, up from 417 in June 2016. The institute says a record 850 LGBTQ people are running for office this year, including several candidates with strong chances of entering Congress. As of 2018, it counted 438 LGBTQ elected officials affiliated with the Democratic Party and only 16 Republicans. During that same time period, the number of transgender elected officials rose from six to 26. When LGBTQ elected officials are in the halls of power, they change the hearts and minds of their lawmaker colleagues, defeat anti-LGBTQ bills and inspire more inclusive legislation, she said.

From left, Tony Gonzales and Raul Reyes are running for the Texas Congressional District 23 seat that is being vacated by U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas. Texas TribunePresident Donald Trump's choice to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, was in a too-close-to-call runoff Tuesday night against a candidate endorsed by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. The Trump-backed Tony Gonzales was trailing Cruz's pick, Raul Reyes, by just 11 votes out of 24,533 with all polling locations reporting, according to unofficial results. Gonzales, a former Navy cryptologist backed by Hurd and House leaders, nabbed Trump's endorsement earlier this month, just three days after Cruz endorsed Reyes. Trump had endorsed another candidate in the Texas runoffs, Ronny Jackson, the former White House doctor running to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon.