The latest politics news from The Texas Tribune.
Land Commissioner George P. Bush made his debut this week as a surrogate for his dad's presidential campaign. The younger Bush hit the campaign trail in early-voting Nevada, making a pitch for his father in personal and political terms. Full Story
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Full video of our 6/18 conversation with Erica Grieder and R.G. Ratcliffe, the lead authors of Texas Monthly's biennial list of the best and worst legislators. Full Story
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Mike Collier, a former candidate for comptroller, is taking a job with the Texas Democratic Party. He will serve as a finance co-chair for the party. Full Story
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The backlog of immigration cases from Texas has grown almost 60 percent in two years. U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, is trying to get Congress to cough up funding for 55 more immigration judges and staff to help overloaded courts across the country. Full Story
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The legislative session may be over, but that doesn’t mean it’s vacation time for many of the Capitol’s lobbyists. With a Sunday deadline for Gov. Greg Abbott to veto legislation, some of them are still making a last-ditch effort to kill bills. Full Story
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State Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, plans to announce Wednesday that he will not seek another term in the Texas House. He is one of a handful of House Speaker Joe Straus' original supporters still in the Legislature. Full Story
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Gov. Greg Abbott has signed legislation that could make it tougher for local governments to sue big-time polluters – an effort that largely targets Harris County prosecutors. Full Story
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Houston appeals court judge Michael Massengale said Tuesday he will challenge Texas Supreme Court Justice Debra Lehrmann in next year’s Republican primary. Full Story
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The Texas Oil and Gas Association and the state’s General Land Office have expanded the scope of their lawsuits against Denton. Both are taking aim at the city’s moratorium on new gas drilling in addition to the toothless fracking ban still on its books. Full Story
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Power in elected office doesn't always translate into success in elections. Just ask Leticia Van de Putte. Or Trey Martinez Fischer. Or John Carona. Or David Dewhurst. Full Story
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Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush enters the 2016 presidential race with perhaps more ties to Texas than any other candidates in the field besides the two who live here: former Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. Full Story
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The fight over guns on campus now shifts to the schools, where university and college presidents must figure out where and where not to ban weapons. Full Story
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Attorneys who represented Texas doctors in a lawsuit against the state’s 2011 abortion sonogram law are considering their legal options following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Monday decision not to revive a similar North Carolina law. Full Story
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To add transparency to the state's capital punishment system, the Tribune is unveiling a new tool for readers: Faces of Death Row. It profiles all 261 inmates facing execution, summarizes their crimes and allows filtering by race, age, sex and years spent on death row. Full Story
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"At the end of the day, we needed 3,000 Democrats to get off their asses and go vote, and they didn’t," observes one Democratic consultant, summing up why Ivy Taylor narrowly defeated Leticia Van de Putte in the San Antonio mayoral runoff. Full Story
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This week's edition of WFAA-TV's Inside Texas Politics features an extended interview with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Full Story
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State Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, has reportedly decided not to run for re-election in 2016, bringing to a close more than two decades in public service and setting off a potentially crowded GOP primary to replace him. Full Story
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Declaring victory at her election night party, Interim Mayor Ivy Taylor asked supporters if they realized they had "defeated a political machine," by edging out former state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte in the San Antonio mayoral runoff. Full Story
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The Texas GOP has abandoned an effort to issue an official statement on the 84th legislative session, divided over a proposed resolution that would have accused individual lawmakers of standing in the way of gun rights legislation. Full Story
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In a bill-signing ceremony at a popular Central Texas gun store, Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday praised pro-gun groups and lawmakers for helping Texas ensure that the Second Amendment is alive and well in the Lone Star State. Full Story
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