Republicans are growing increasingly grim about their election chances in November.

In this week’s episode, we talk about how French’s tweet has brought turmoil to the Republican Party and assess whether other statewide races are really competitive.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk said in his ruling that he expects Republicans to succeed in restricting primaries to voters registered with the party during the next legislative session.

The General Land Office oversees investments that earn billions of dollars for public education, manages state lands, operates the Alamo and administers disaster recovery funds and benefits to Texas veterans. Here’s a look at who’s running in the 2026 race and where they stand.

The Railroad Commission candidate is under fire from fellow Republicans for a post that said a picture of college students celebrating a football victory shows “how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners.”

One of the state’s largest oil and gas industry groups condemned French’s comments about South Asian students. They have not pulled their endorsement.

The outgoing U.S. senator called the Texas Railroad Commission candidate “an embarrassment to the Republican Party.”

Democrat James Talarico is consistently leading in the polls over Ken Paxton, which is unheard of in recent decades. National forecasters are calling Texas a tie, or else giving the advantage to the Democrat.

Tierra Walker, who was 20 weeks pregnant, died of a serious complication known as preeclampsia in December 2024.

A new AP-NORC poll shows Americans are growing more concerned about the environmental impacts of AI.

For a third time, the U.S. House has voted to end the war in Iran.

Another Texan, Rep. Pat Fallon, also is seeking a leadership role on the top investigatory committee for the U.S. House.

The commission doesn't have anything to do with railroads. It regulates Texas’ oil and gas industry. Here’s where 2026 candidates Bo French, Jon Rosenthal and Arthur DiBianca stand.

Wayne Christian said his agency’s meeting kept him from addressing lawmakers about eliminating some public comments at the Texas Railroad Commission.

Senate Democrats have blocked legislation to create a new regulatory framework for cryptocurrency.

Two ads will take the U.S. Senate candidate’s economic message to the Harlingen, Laredo and Corpus Christi areas.

On a conservative radio show, Bo French suggested the politicians who criticized him were "less-conservative people."

President Donald Trump is playing down the need for his administration to check the development of artificial intelligence.

Donald Trump’s pitch to send Americans $5,000 checks should Republicans prevail in the November midterms is drawing scorn from some members of Congress — the very people who have constitutional authority over federal spending.

President Donald Trump and his Vice President JD Vance teamed up to close out the second and final night of the Republicans’ midterm convention in Dallas.

The president used his winding, nearly two-hour keynote address to try to boost Republicans around the country, telling his supporters to “pretend that I’m on the ballot” this fall.

Two of American politics’ most unique and least predictable voices bookend our three days of live journalism.

It would cost $1.5 billion to fully cool all prisons, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice estimates.

The two-day gathering, informally dubbed “Trumpapalooza,” will put Texas at the center of the political world as it hits the homestretch of its most competitive election cycle in years.

On the campaign trail, the governor said dismantling city-owned utilities will save customers money by introducing competition.

A new poll shows that only 32% of Americans are satisfied with the quality of K-12 education in the country.

This is the first buy that Trump’s well-heeled political operation has made for a general election, underscoring how critical Texas’ Senate race is to the GOP’s hopes.

The attorney general won a lawsuit against the feds for withholding a Medicaid funding stream three years ago. Texas faces the same cut, but Paxton has stayed quiet.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s latest push to restrict what students can access adds to Texas school librarians’ angst, the educators said.

If not carefully vetted, candidates’ proposals to lower costs could exacerbate future affordability issues, experts say.

Islamic scholars and Muslim Texans say fear and political opportunism distort the meaning of sharia.

The Democrat’s negative spot that alleges corruption by his GOP rival debuts Saturday during a TCU vs. North Carolina football game.

Data centers and agriculture depend on many of the same resources, such as water, land and electricity, which has some in the industry worried about the future.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also speculated during their conversation that Gov. Greg Abbott also aspires for the White House.

The petition, to be filed in Collin County, seeks the transcripts from two rounds of testimony Paxton gave as part of a legal clash that entangled his financial adviser and former business associates.

Democrats have narrowed the list of potential host cities for their 2028 presidential convention to Boston, Denver and Philadelphia as their party looks ahead to a wide-open primary to succeed Republican President Donald Trump.

With early voting about two months away, the Democrat has had TV nearly to himself, outspending his Republican rival more than 200-to-1 on advertising as GOP groups weigh when — or whether — to get involved.

In this week's episode, Matthew speaks with James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin about the polls showing a tight race for U.S. Senate. Are they reliable? Is Talarico really in the lead?

Raphael Warnock, Kevin Stitt, Dolores Huerta, Maggie Haberman and other prominent voices in American political and civic life join us in Austin next month

It was not immediately clear how long CBP plans to implement the pause. The Trump administration had announced plans to build an access road and vehicle barriers in the park.

Democrats seeking the party’s presidential nomination in 2028 will need to prove themselves early on in states where Black and Latino voters and union members are key supporters.

A tribal nonprofit and an outdoor recreation company filed the federal lawsuit, arguing the work threatens archeological sites and sacred grounds.

Without key details on the audits but the eagerness to support them, policy watchers question how impactful these audits will be in curbing data center growth.

Rio Grande Valley residents are unhappy with the economy, salaries, and other factors. That could sway their political views, according to political watchdogs.

Campaigning for the U.S. Senate, Paxton says he was “delivered by God” to protect Texas from leftists. Talarico’s focus

The battle over the Kennedy Center’s future is escalating.

Democrats are gathering to finalize their 2028 presidential primary calendar this week, setting the stage for a wide-open contest to succeed President Donald Trump and chart a path ahead as the party’s voters oscillate between progressive and more moderate candidates.

The Texas Broadband office made the announcement after facing scrutiny from lawmakers for changing the rules to seemingly favor companies such as Elon Musk’s Starlink.

Texas plaintiffs’ lawyers are bankrolling populist GOP insurgents. Tort reform groups like Texans for Lawsuit Reform are aghast.

The president’s media company posted a massive loss in the latest quarter and plans to ditch new business lines and refocus as a forum for users to post their views.

The president’s comments to Punchbowl News come just days after Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statewide pause of approval for data centers trying to connect to the power grid.

Immigration officials denied the allegations, but Reps. Joaquin Castro and Veronica Escobar said they’ve come across numerous problematic examples.

The Texas agriculture commissioner has openly criticized Gov. Greg Abbott for not taking a stronger stand against data center development. The governor has ignored him.

The former Democratic lawmaker was accused of disrupting a Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting and spent hours in jail before his release.

House Democrats are adding a dozen Republican-held seats to their list of targets for the November midterms.

The sprawling district, vacated by former GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales earlier this year, went for President Trump by 15 points. But Democrats see an opening to win its Hispanic-majority electorate.

More than 200 local law enforcement agencies have data-sharing agreements with DPS, providing wide access to vehicle information.

The Republican attorney general is starting a tour next week to promote the plan, which would create new housing and healthcare tax write-offs.

Republican business leaders said immigration raids on the Latino community would be top of mind at the ballot box in the midterm elections.

Mealer, the GOP nominee in Texas’ 9th Congressional District, would represent Houston’s Magnolia Park, where an ICE agent fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, under the GOP’s new redistricting map.

The House has narrowly passed a resolution to halt U.S. military action in Iran, sending a warning to President Donald Trump for the second time as the war has escalated and the future of the conflict is increasingly uncertain.

Residents along the U.S.-Mexico border said they want crossings under control and the state’s next senator to actually do something on immigration policy.

Christian and Jewish leaders urged limits on using force as well as accountability for immigration agents who go too far.

The House adopted a Republican-only $95 billion budget proposal, a long-shot effort to fund the Iran war and other White House priorities.

A Texas Tribune analysis found Texas' incoming U.S. House delegation stands to get wealthier, with a $3.34 million median net worth among the crop of potential new members.

State and community leaders are working to keep the reVision soccer nonprofit alive after it was featured at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The House has moved to head-off a potential government shutdown before this fall’s critical midterm elections.

A SpaceX superfan proposed changing Boca Chica Beach's name to reflect its significance to space travel.

The Democratic Senate nominee faced pointed questions from some Black voters and was confronted by a political content creator who said “you cannot win without us.”

Paxton's campaign said he plans to debate after Talarico challenged him to do so, though it did not commit to a specific host.

Cody Campbell, a major Texas Tech booster and GOP megadonor, has vocally defended Brendan Sorsby’s right to play amid a legal battle stemming from his betting scandal.

More than half of House Democrats have voted to strip $3.3 billion in U.S. aid from Israel.

Abortion isn’t polling as high as other issues that matter to women voters, and Democrats have also retreated on the topic.

Texas officials have sued a Houston area postpartum center as well as investigated Rio Grande Valley hospitals over allegations of soliciting foreigners to have babies on U.S. soil.

As attorney general, Paxton threw unprecedented resources into stopping Biden’s agenda. That record is his sword and shield as he runs for U.S. Senate.

Federal agencies and investigators have offered limited information, prompting calls for outside scrutiny.

The Tribune spoke with nine people who voted for the senior senator in the primary, offering a window into how that key voting bloc is thinking about the general election.

Almost none of the state’s major Republican officials have weighed in on the killing of a Houston man by federal agents, and U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia of Houston said she had not spoken with Gov. Greg Abbott.

"They control the scene, the deceased, the van, the witnesses. So yes, they control the investigation," Mayor John Whitmire said.

The wall would have blocked parishioners from reaching La Lomita chapel. A state representative has put a stop to those plans.

District Attorney Sean Teare said he is in contact with prosecutors in Minnesota who are investigating the January shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents.

As of February, 21% of Texans who enrolled in a plan through the federal marketplace did not pay their first premium.

Most migrant deaths in Texas have occurred while they were detained since President Donald Trump began his immigration crackdown. Several were from natural causes.

Speakers at the vigil and a statement from Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s family elevated calls for an independent investigation into his death and raised doubts about ICE’s description of events.

Inside the Texas Democrats’ convention in a hopeful year for the party.

Last month, the Texas Republican Party included in its platform a ban on foreigners using American surrogates, arguing the practice allows children born under these circumstances to obtain U.S. citizenship.

Just 2% of Texas voters call abortion the state’s most pressing problem. Advocates are reframing the issue as one of reproductive healthcare that affects families’ pocketbooks.

ICE detained the 56-year-old nun from Nigeria on Sunday but released her later that day after federal lawmakers intervened.

Democrats in 25 states and the District of Columbia are suing the Trump administration over its interpretation of new Medicaid work requirements.

A new AP-NORC poll finds that Americans have grown less proud of the country’s history or the way its democracy works over the past several years.

Black elected officials said the Senate nominee had more work to do to engage voters in their communities, while noting there was still time to do so before November.

State Rep. Gene Wu says Texas must do more to support public education and address the root causes of youth crime, arguing that underfunded schools and a lack of mental health resources are contributing to problems in the state’s juvenile justice system.

In a 6-3 decision, the justices green-lit the practice of limiting the number of people who can apply for asylum each day.

The vast majority of Republicans indicated they had moved on from the bitter GOP primary and now support Paxton. Talarico had commanding leads among independents and moderates.

Lynn Callaway says she was sent home from two hospitals, despite an infection, due to healthcare providers’ fear of the state’s abortion ban.

The chosen readings, to be voted on soon by the State Board of Education, draw heavily from Christian perspectives.

The U.S. Department of Labor is telling states they have to combat fraud, waste and abuse in their unemployment insurance programs.

The Republican National Committee has not yet announced the midterm convention or its location, but it has teased the event as an opportunity to put Trump on the ballot.

Republican Bo French is keeping Islam, immigration and LGBTQ+ issues at the fore of his campaign for Texas’ oil regulatory agency. Democratic foe Jon Rosenthal is betting on his technical expertise.

The decision by Senate Democrats to let a key surveillance authority lapse comes as they're increasingly emboldened in their legislative fights against President Donald Trump.