Vol. 29 Issue 48:
The year began with Rick Perry's first political losses and ends with speculation about his future and about the entire political organization chart in Texas. A last look at what happened in between.
Vol. 29 Issue 47:
Texas could be the next state to face legal action from a pharmaceutical company that sells a drug designed to prevent pregnant women from delivering premature babies.
Vol. 29 Issue 46:
House Speaker Joe Straus has the votes to win reelection, according to his loyalists. But he's got a declared opponent and another in the wings, and they've got a month to work with.
Vol. 29 Issue 45:
State Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, and a union that represents prison employees hope to make more history in 2013, suggesting the potential closure of two privately run prison facilities in Dallas and in Mineral Wells.
Vol. 29 Issue 44:
Who's leaving, who's coming in, and how the numbers compare to turnover after the last 40 years of Texas elections.
Vol. 29 Issue 43:
A lot of new names will go on those office signs in the Capitol, but the partisan lines didn't move much as a result of this election. And the redistricting people are good at what they do: Only 16 incumbents running for reelection lost in this year's primary and general elections.
Vol. 29 Issue 42:
It’s not the most exciting election season Texas has ever seen. Most legislative races are over after the primaries and what’s left, with an exception in the Texas Senate, don’t appear to involve the balance of power in the House.
Vol. 29 Issue 41:
Early voting is underway as of this week. The presidential and U.S. Senate debates are over as of this week and last, respectively. All that's left is getting out the votes and then counting them. That said, here is our second-to-last Hot List of the year.
Vol. 29 Issue 40:
Federal authorities say Texas health officials must resolve rounding errors that lead to mere pennies worth of Medicaid overpayments. The fix could end up costing Texas taxpayers more than $1 million.
Vol. 29 Issue 39:
Gov. Rick Perry has compared Texas Medicaid to the Titanic, but economists and business advocates from both sides of the political aisle say Texas shouldn’t let the program sink just yet.
Vol. 29 Issue 38:
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, fresh off a stinging loss to Ted Cruz in the race for the GOP nomination to the U.S. Senate, reshuffled the Senate committee chairs.
Vol. 29 Issue 37:
The Texas Weekly Hot List is back, with our best stabs at which races are closest and which ones ought to be on your watch list.
Vol. 29 Issue 36:
Democrat Paul Sadler is trying to persuade Texans that it's possible for a long shot to win a general election in Texas. Long shots win sometimes — just look at who Sadler is running against.
Vol. 29 Issue 35:
Texas, it’s official: We have the worst rate of health insurance coverage in the country. That creates a huge financial burden on the health care system and the insured. Is politics standing in the way of reform?
Vol. 29 Issue 34:
If a federal court decides that the state intentionally discriminated when drawing its new political maps, is it more difficult for Texas lawyers to argue against Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act? And is it fuel for the constant struggle over the leadership of the Texas House?
Vol. 29 Issue 33:
Texas’ controversial voter ID bill was struck down again, this time by a three-judge panel in Washington, D.C., that said the bill would disenfranchise certain segments of the voting-age population.
Vol. 29 Issue 32:
The conventions start next week, with Republicans going first, in Tampa, and Democrats following, in Charlotte. Both parties are going South, but they're interested in swing states. Texas isn't one.
Vol. 29 Issue 31:
Texas is to presidential politics what parents are to college students — remote players whose money is critical but whose votes don’t really matter.
Vol. 29 Issue 30:
The story through the primaries and runoffs? It's over for most of the races — only a few remain competitive. Turnover, as you would expect in the election after a redistricting, is high.
Vol. 29 Issue 29:
The high points and the low ones. Lessons learned and earlier lessons that were forgotten. Low turnout, unfortunate incumbents, successful climbers, the Hispanic Thing, the races ahead, the turnover and some things to help understand what happened on Tuesday.
Vol. 29 Issue 28:
In less than a week, you'll know something about the legislative session six months away.
Vol. 29 Issue 27:
In years when both parties had statewide primary runoffs, turnout in the second round of voting averaged almost half of turnout in the first round. On average, the runoff got a vote for every two in the primary. In elections with a statewide runoff, the average Republican runoff turnout was 27.3 percent of the party's average primary turnout. For Democrats, the corresponding number was 34.9 percent.
Vol. 29 Issue 26:
What Thursday's Supreme Court decision means for Texas, where leaders have opposed “Obamacare” despite the state's sky-high rate of uninsured residents, is complicated, both by politics and by the state's history of rejecting federal dollars.
Vol. 29 Issue 25:
Debate prep is futile.
Vol. 29 Issue 24:
Big tents and boos on one hand, and talk about how to start a fire on the other: Notes from the Republican Party's convention in Fort Worth and from the Democratic Party's convention in Houston.
Vol. 29 Issue 23:
So far, 37 members of the Texas House, four members of the Texas Senate, and three members of the 32-person congressional delegation from Texas are on the list. Runoffs could add more, and so will the general election.
Vol. 29 Issue 22:
The primaries left 37 runoffs — 25 on the Republican side, 12 on the Democratic side. That includes five races at the statewide level, 11 for Congress, three for the State Board of Education, one for the state Senate and 17 for the state House.
Vol. 29 Issue 21:
Time to reclaim your mailbox, your television, your home phone. The long-delayed Texas primary elections are finally here.
Vol. 29 Issue 20:
Who's voting? What's that new PAC spending money on Michael Williams' behalf? What did the parties put in the red meat portion of their ballots?
Vol. 29 Issue 19:
Does the John Carona-Dan Patrick spat help either senator's hopes of becoming the next lieutenant governor?
Vol. 29 Issue 18:
Predicting voter turnout in November is almost riskless; if the years-long pattern holds, just under 9 million Texans will vote. As for the primaries, who knows?
Vol. 29 Issue 17:
Congressional and legislative primary races, ranked by competitive heat.
Vol. 29 Issue 16:
Democrats see the governor as wounded and unpopular, and the more he becomes an issue in the 2012 elections, the happier they are. He has become their favorite whipping post and fundraising foil.
Vol. 29 Issue 15:
Rick Santorum getting out of the race for president presents two interesting problems in Texas. First, he'll be on the Republican primary ballot anyhow — it's too late to get off. Second, without a fight at the top of the ticket, turnout will probably slide.
Vol. 29 Issue 14:
What might have been a big turnout year has turned into a ho-hum affair, with the presidential race petering out before the Texas primary.
Vol. 29 Issue 13:
The top of the ballot is weird this year. The heat might be local this time.
Vol. 29 Issue 12:
A handful of races in the congressional delegation and the Texas Senate and more than three dozen in House primaries are likely to get most of the attention between now and May 29, when Texans vote.
Vol. 29 Issue 11:
Now that the filing deadline has passed, the congressional and legislative candidates are scouting their field. Some are shoo-ins, others have a primary crowd and a few are seeking another chance at the Lege. Here's who's who.
Vol. 29 Issue 10:
After weeks with no political maps, and with an impending deadline to a week of filings, the political activity has picked up considerably.
Vol. 29 Issue 9:
The Texas political primaries will be on May 29 and candidates can file for those elections between now and Friday, March 9.
Vol. 29 Issue 8:
Conservatives rule the roost in the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll, but just when you think the hot buttons are all going the same way, Texans surprise you.
Vol. 29 Issue 7:
There is a date for primary elections, but it's uncertain. And there is one redistricting map done, with two to go. And for what it's worth, the judges seem to be in a hurry.
Vol. 29 Issue 6:
Start here: The judges in charge of the redistricting case in Texas haven't rejected the maps proposed by the state and agreed to by some but not all of the plaintiffs. They simply observed that no deal has been made to satisfy everyone and told everyone to keep talking and get ready for a hearing next week.
Vol. 29 Issue 5:
This week, the redistricting judges in Washington did the judges in San Antonio a favor, telling them the D.C. panel won't be ruling on its part of the case for a month. The Texans can start drawing maps.
Vol. 29 Issue 4:
Three federal judges in San Antonio are going back, literally, to the drawing board for new political maps for Texas, and to decide when to have primary elections. The same things, in other words, they were trying to work out in November.
Vol. 29 Issue 3:
Rick Perry's impulsive presidential campaign fell apart faster than a soggy taco shell. But he's not done with politics yet.
Vol. 29 Issue 2:
Texas politics are on hold.
Vol. 29 Issue 1:
The bet here is that the U.S. Supreme Court wouldn't have taken the Texas redistricting case if they thought it was a good idea to hold elections using the San Antonio court's plan. If it was, why issue a stay, set arguments, and risk delaying the primaries?