Democrats Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico have kicked off their Texas Senate campaigns with contrasting strategies.

Some Democrats dismissed the Dallas congresswoman as too polarizing to capture the swing voters needed to win. Others said her turnout-over-persuasion approach is the recipe to break through.

A shakeup in the Texas 2026 U.S. Senate race sees Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett entering the Democratic primary after U.S. Rep. Colin Allred withdrew. Crockett will face State Rep. James Talarico, while incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn faces a tough primary against Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt.

Crockett, a second-term congresswoman, has skyrocketed to fame through viral spats with Republicans, becoming one of her party’s most prolific fundraisers.

Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett has launched a campaign for the U.S. Senate in Texas.

The U.S. Supreme Court seems likely to expand presidential control over independent federal agencies, signaling support for President Donald Trump’s firing of board members.

The former Dallas congressman said he wanted to help his party avoid a runoff. In his campaign to return to the House, he will face U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson, his successor in Congress.

The Dallas congresswoman said she discussed polling with Colin Allred and James Talarico.

Hear conversations on the issues shaping Texas and the nation, including education, the economy, politics, public policy, the arts and more.

Allred’s comments at The Texas Tribune Festival marked the first time either leading Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate publicly criticized the other.

The San Antonio Democrat said at The Texas Tribune Festival that he hoped to form a statewide slate with Colin Allred, Beto O’Rourke and James Talarico, but the group couldn’t find consensus.

Former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred said his latest campaign for U.S. Senate is about fighting for ordinary Texans — the working families like the one he grew up in — have had a difficult time making ends meet despite doing everything right.

Before James Talarico entered politics, he was teaching sixth grade language arts at Rhodes Middle School on San Antonio’s West Side — an experience he says continues to shape his views as he campaigns for a seat in the U.S. Senate.

The two leading Senate Democratic candidates have made it a point to spend time along the border early in the cycle, a sign of the region’s importance in 2026.

Republican congressman Wesley Hunt is running for the U.S. Senate in Texas, defying Senate GOP leadership and adding a new element to an already contentious primary campaign.

The Austin state lawmaker took in $6.2 million in the three weeks since he launched his bid, outpacing the $4.1 million Allred raised over the last three months.

Charlie Kirk's mastery of social media was key to his becoming a force in conservative politics.

The Austin lawmaker says his faith fuels his vision of a Democratic Party that “fights back” against billionaires. Republican critics say his stances are at odds with Scripture.

The survey found many Texas voters are either undecided or would support candidates who haven’t actually entered the race. It also showed GOP Sen. John Cornyn leading Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Local, state and national political figures from both sides of the aisle are remembering conservative political commentator Charlie Kirk after he was shot and killed at a Utah college Wednesday.

A former public school teacher, Talarico has emerged as one of Texas Democrats’ strongest communicators. He joins Colin Allred and Terry Virts in the primary.

The Austin Democrat has made a name for himself with his viral social media presence. His entry to the race pits him against former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred in the increasingly crowded primary.

In this week’s episode, Matthew and Eleanor talk to Texas Tribune climate reporter Emily Foxhall about the emotional pleas Camp Mystic parents made to state lawmakers and analyze the proposed new laws in response to the Kerrville floods.

The push to redraw congressional maps in Texas is shifting the dynamics of the state’s 2026 Senate campaign.

In this week’s episode, Matthew and Eleanor ask University of Houston law professor David Froomkin to help them break down the legal cases seeking to remove 13 Democrats from the Texas House.

Reps. Caroline Fairly and James Talarico, along with Texas attorney general candidate Aaron Reitz, also join us to talk Texas’ future this November

Allred says he has learned to show up more in his attempt at a Senate do-over. But critics contend he’s not generating enough attention.

The Democratic state lawmaker has inquired about Senate television ad rates, two sources told the Tribune.

Democrats concede there’s only so much they can do to keep Texas from redrawing its maps. But they want to encourage blue states to retaliate.

Texas Democratic lawmakers who left the state to block a Republican plan for congressional redistricting are pleading for donations to help cover their costs.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has asked the state Supreme Court on Tuesday to remove from office a top state lawmaker he called the “ringleader” of Democrats who left the state to block a vote on a new congressional voting map pushed by President Donald Trump.

Texas Democrats on Thursday slammed the GOP's unusual push to redraw the state's House maps to win more seats ahead of the 2026 elections.

Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke was joined at his San Antonio town hall by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro and state Rep. James Talarico, whose names have been floated for statewide office.

Democrats will need to sort through a pileup of potential candidates who see an opportunity to harness backlash to the Trump administration in next year’s midterms.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 10, even though a similar Louisiana law was deemed unconstitutional. Supporters say Christianity is core to U.S. history.

Anti-voucher Republicans said they voted for the bill so they could fight to improve it, and also to fend off political retribution.

The lower chamber overwhelmingly voted in favor of House Bill 2, a sweeping $8 billion piece of legislation that would also limit schools’ reliance on teachers without formal classroom training.

The Texas House also approved more money for schools in a bipartisan vote.

The average age of Texans last year was 37, while the Legislature’s average age was 55. Hurdles to voting and the unique challenges young candidates encounter fuel the mismatch.

House hearing focuses on a curriculum plan and on school vouchers.

Republican lawmakers may try to force Texas cities to allow greater housing density as the state faces a housing crunch.

Gov. Greg Abbott called lawmakers back to Austin to try again to pass education savings accounts, which would let families use state funds to pay for their children’s private schooling. Teacher pay was not part of his agenda.

The groups work in dozens of school districts across the state, but some public health experts say their curricula can be misleading and biased.

Lawmakers at a Texas Tribune Fest panel found common ground on school funding and teacher pay but took starkly different stances on “school choice.”

Texas joins a handful of states turn to the north for cheaper drugs. But feds have been slow to approve requests, three years after giving initial OK.

Abbott will have until June 18 to sign or veto bills. If signed, SB 629 will become law immediately.

Passage of a school choice measure is anything but a sure bet, as there is little evidence that the governor has been able to convince rural Republicans in the Texas House — who have for years been a reliable firewall — to drop their opposition.

The authors of bills in both legislative chambers say their bills’ aim is simple: keeping sexually explicit content off school bookshelves. But opponents say the legislation is vague and broad enough to wreak havoc.

Plagued by decades of scandals over sexual and physical abuse of children, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department is at a crossroads.

The COVID-19 pandemic, inflation and burnout have pummeled teachers in the last few years. Lawmakers from both parties agree they should get a pay bump — but it won’t happen without some negotiation.

Texas lawmakers are proposing what they call the largest teacher pay increase in Texas history.

A Texas Democrat is proposing a constitutional amendment stopping future abortion restrictions. Voters would have to approve it — but Republican lawmakers aren’t likely to put it in front of them.

Without a jolt of funding, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department will struggle to hire workers and regain control over the safety and treatment of almost 600 incarcerated youth, its acting director told lawmakers at a hearing.

“Republicans have gerrymandered me out of my district,” Talarico tweeted. “If they think they can keep me off the House floor, they better think again.”

Texas Republicans have again authorized using law enforcement Democrats who are still refusing to come back to the state Capitol in a bid to stop new voting restrictions.

While the quorum-busting Democrats were able to maintain a largely united front during the first special session, which ended Friday, it was clear they reached a fork in the road when the second special session began a day later.

This is the second time in recent weeks the majority Republican House has voted to issue a “call of the House,” though members on Monday did not offer or debate a motion to enable law enforcement to track down members still missing from the chamber.

Both Republicans in Austin and Democrats in D.C. have engaged in the political drama over the past two weeks, with the two camps battling it out on cable news interviews and social media over the quorum bust and who is to blame for it.

Two bills that will bring some financial relief to those with diabetes that use insulin are headed to the governor’s desk for a signature. If enacted, the bills would lower the cost of prescription insulin starting in September.

AUSTIN, Texas – As frozen Texas reels under one of the worst electricity outages in U.S. history, Republican Gov. “It's especially unacceptable when you realize what ERCOT told the state of Texas," Abbott said. While ERCOT manages most of Texas’ power grid, the commission and the Texas Legislature made key policy decisions that have factored into the ongoing crisis. In Texas, grid officials say they can't speak for why power generators here don't do the same. By comparison, the Texas oil and natural gas industry paid $13.9 billion in taxes and royalties last year alone, according to figures from the Texas Oil & Gas Association.

Talarcio named House Bill 54 “Javier Ambler’s law," and wrote the bill with Ambler’s family, he said. Ambler was killed after he was chased by Williamson County deputies for failing to dim his headlights in March 2019. He was heard begging “Save me” and “I can’t breathe” before he was stunned a fourth time and lost consciousness. “In the tragic murder of Javier Ambler, we saw what happens when law enforcement leaders are more interested in boosting their ratings than protecting our communities. Law enforcement reality television has caused issues in Bexar County, too.

Social mediaLocal and state leaders are calling for the resignation of Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody and for the deputies involved in Javier Amblers death to be fired. Last year, Williamson County deputies pursued Ambler in a car chase for 22 minutes, after trying to pull him over for not dimming his headlights. Williamson County sheriffs department maintains that its deputies did nothing wrong, according to an internal affairs investigation obtained by the Statesman. Moore needs to focus on completing her 16-month-old Ambler investigation. Instead, she is trying to blame her own failures on the Williamson County Sheriff's Department, Chody tweeted.