INSIDER
Voting went well in the presidential election, but Trudy Hancock and her staff are still fielding questions. And the answers don’t seem to matter.
Cruz beat his challenger by 9 points, while Trump prevailed over his by 14 points. Still, Cruz performed better this year than he did in 2018
The former president captured 55% of Latino voters in the state, according to exit polls. He also won 14 out of the 18 counties within 20 miles of the border, a number that doubled his 2020 performance in the Latino-majority region.
A historic 18.6 million Texans were registered to vote in the 2024 election, and 61% cast ballots, a nearly 6% drop from the 2020 presidential race.
Republicans Tom Maynard, Pam Little, Aaron Kinsey and Brandon Hall prevailed in contested races. Democrat Gustavo Reveles won in the District 1 race.
The longtime Laredo congressman fended off Republican challenger Jay Furman despite a federal indictment accusing the incumbent of bribery and money laundering.
Tuesday’s vote was a rare chance for Texans to vote directly on abortion restrictions. The state already has a near-total abortion ban.
Texas might not be a swing state, but many of its races will have major consequences to the national political landscape and on the lives of everyday Texans.
Texans from across the state went to the polls early with plenty on their mind. The Texas Tribune partnered with other news organizations to hear from a diverse cross-section of voters.
The turnout rate dropped more than 8 percentage points compared to four years ago — a high-water mark for the Lone Star State.
The federal agency agreed their monitors would remain outside polling locations and wouldn’t interfere with voting.
By state law, Election Day totals must be submitted to the state within 24 hours after polls close. Meeting that deadline requires careful but quick work.
Texans serving time for misdemeanor offenses or who are in jail awaiting trial are eligible to vote but only two counties offer voting in jail.
The county decided to not have an early voting site at a Laredo university because of historic low turnout. It will have one on Election Day.
A Bexar County election worker was assaulted Thursday, officials said. In Tarrant County, officials encouraged voters to review their ballots before voting.
Only a handful of Texas counties will not have all in-person voters cast paper ballots at the polls. By 2026, all voting machines in Texas must produce a paper trail, per a 2021 state law.
Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the federal government of failing to provide citizenship data for registered voters, even as he acknowledged that the vast majority of the people on the rolls are lawful voters.
During a tense debate with U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, Flores attacked Gonzalez for being soft on border security, then suggested requiring residents to prove citizenship in some instances was appropriate.
In their only debate before Election Day, Gonzalez and Flores traded jabs over the economy, immigration and abortion, and regularly spoke over each other.
The debate proved combative from start to finish, with Cruz and Allred trading barbs on nearly every issue that came up.
A federal court’s decision is the latest development in a bitter pre-election brawl between Republican state officials and Democratic county leaders.
Texan voters will have significant influence in November, both within and outside the state. They will be electing a U.S. senator, 38 U.S. House members, 150 state House members, as well as various judges and local elected officials. Additionally, they will have influence over important questions.
Amarillo Mayor Cole Stanley calls himself “pro-life.” But the proposal to police the streets for women traveling out of state to get an abortion is overreach, he said.
Four GOP state representatives suspended their bids to challenge Phelan and 48 Republicans backed Cook, which could threaten Phelan’s shot at a third term.
La fecha límite para registrarse para votar es el 7 de octubre. El último día para solicitar una boleta para votar por correo es el 25 de octubre. El periodo de votación anticipada será del 21 de octubre al 1 de noviembre.
The first-term Republican defending her seat said a private school voucher program will help her community, especially students from low-income families.
The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 7. The Texas Tribune, ProPublica and Votebeat want to hear from people removed from voter rolls.
Jolt, which advocates for more Latino voting participation, says the attorney general’s probe spurred threatening comments online.
In a conversation starting at 11 a.m. Saturday, four of the digital news organization’s sharpest minds will discuss the politics of 2024 and beyond.
Since the 2020 election, Texas Republicans have dramatically rewritten the state’s voting laws, which have made some long-standing practices illegal.
Biden will travel to Houston on Monday and Harris will attend a Celebration of Life Service on Thursday. The trip will mark Harris’ third visit to Texas in the past month.
The $500 fine from the Texas Ethics Commission comes after the agency found the Harris County judge broke state campaign laws barring use of government resources for political purposes.
Ground Game Texas, a group that has pushed for progressive policies in cities across the state, is working to make it easier for McAllen residents to change local laws.
Six years after Beto O’Rourke nearly toppled Ted Cruz, Democrats outside Texas are expressing confidence in Colin Allred’s 2024 challenge.
Cook will fill John Whitmire’s unexpired term — but will face Johnson again in a Democratic primary runoff for a full four-year term.
Brazos County election officials are responding to demands from skeptical residents by expanding hand counts and ordering special paper.
Texas’ turnover rate has held steady at 40% since 2014. That’s slightly above the new national average.
The Beaumont Republican’s foes are trying to paint him as soft on the border, even after last year’s passage of far-reaching laws and record border funding.
Johnson narrowly avoided a runoff to replace U.S. Rep. Colin Allred. Brian Williams, who was in second place, has conceded.
Johnson is virtually assured to have won the seat, because there is no Republican challenger in November.
About 3.2 million Texans voted in the state’s primary election, down from 4.1 million during the 2020 presidential primary. Democratic turnout accounted for the entirety of the decline.
Big spending and anger surround reelection bids for state House members like Glenn Rogers, who’s facing heat for votes on vouchers and Ken Paxton’s impeachment.
As promised, the governor is going after members of his own party after some of them tanked his top legislative priority.
Tax cuts were a major legislative priority for Republican leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott. The governor cannot certify the election results until the challenges are resolved.
The moderate South Texas Democrat has held meetings with union leaders and filed a labor-backed bill this month. But he still shares some disagreements with the movement.
Former President Donald Trump said the acquitted attorney general should not have been impeached but that he was happy to have helped the state’s top civil lawyer.
The Democrat has dedicated significant energy to probing law enforcement’s response to the Uvalde school shooting. But he faces a fundraising deficit against U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas.
The West Virginia Democrat said running as an independent would help bring a divided nation together, not hand the election to former President Donald Trump.
During a conversation with Tribune co-founder Evan Smith, Sununu also laid out a vision for the future of the Republican Party that contrasted with Texas’ GOP.
The senior pastor positioned himself as a leader who would represent all Texans in contrast to Cruz. The Democratic primary race has already drawn a congressman, a state senator and a South Texas district attorney.
Currently, more than 80% of Texas voters can vote anywhere in their home county, a model that originated in Lubbock County. If lawmakers approve new legislation, that would change.
Allred was first elected to Congress in 2018 and quickly became a rising Democratic star. Cruz is Texas’ junior senator and unsuccessfully sought the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.
Voters in nearly 100 counties — mostly rural — can vote at any polling site in their county. The sponsor, without offering evidence, said the practice was not secure despite years of successful elections in Texas with the system.
The Austin Republican is the staunch conservative who led 19 House members in blocking Kevin McCarthy’s bid for the speakership. “I believe it’s time for a new generation of leadership,” he said of DeSantis.
