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James Barragán was a politics reporter for The Texas Tribune with a focus on accountability reporting. Prior to joining the Tribune, James worked as a statehouse reporter for The Dallas Morning News and previously had stints at the Austin American-Statesman and the Los Angeles Times. In 2021, he was a finalist for the Toner Prize for Excellence in Local Reporting for his coverage of Texas politics during the COVID-19 pandemic. James was selected as a 2023-24 Nieman Fellow at Harvard. A Southern California native, James received his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was based in Austin and is a native Spanish speaker.
Seliger has served in the Senate since 2005 and led the higher education committee. He was seen as a champion of public education and local control but was derided as too soft on social conservative issues near the end of his tenure. Full Story
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Gov. Greg Abbott’s office says there’s no plan for a fourth special session at this time. If this was the final special session of the year, what did we learn from it? Full Story
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Lawmakers approved new political maps and decided how to spend COVID-19 relief money. But they didn’t pass bills about vaccine mandates or the criminal penalty for illegal voting. Full Story
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A prohibition on vaccine mandates was one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s priorities for the special session, but it did not have enough support in the Legislature. Full Story
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Before ending the special session Tuesday, Texas lawmakers reached a deal to allocate roughly $3.3 billion to higher education institutions for capital projects. The price tag went up from the Senate's original proposal. Full Story
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The redistricting plans for the House, Senate and State Board of Education were approved Friday. Full Story
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Collier says his 2018 close call against Patrick was no fluke. Next year, he’s out to prove that his campaign can make a real challenge to the two-term incumbent. Full Story
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Texas gained two new seats in Congress based on population growth fueled by people of color. But the Senate’s proposal provides no new majority-Black or majority-Hispanic districts to reflect that growth. Full Story
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Timothy Mellon is the Wyoming-based grandson of banking tycoon Andrew Mellon. He is responsible for nearly 98% of the donations to Texas’ border wall fund. Full Story
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Democrats criticized Republicans for “targeting” a North Texas district that had been trending Democratic and for not drawing any new districts where people of color would represent a majority of eligible voters. Full Story
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