Patrick Svitek | Texas Tribune

Four prominent lawmakers — one each with ties to Baylor University, Texas Christian University, Texas Tech University and Texas A&M University — met with Gov. Greg Abbott’s staff Thursday, one day after news broke that the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma had reached out to the Southeastern Conference about joining.

Beckley unveiled her plans in a video set inside a hotel room in the nation’s capital, which House Democrats fled to earlier this month to break quorum in protest of Republicans’ priority elections bill.

With over 50 House Democrats in Washington — along with 12 paid staff — the costs are quickly mounting and the party's funds are not unlimited.

Merritt officially began his Democratic campaign Tuesday with an emphasis on the voting rights battle that caused state House Democrats to leave Texas a day earlier.

The State Republican Executive Committee met Sunday to pick a successor for Allen West, the chairman who resigned last month after a drama-filled tenure and is now running for governor.

The Flower Mound lawmaker is the most senior Republican in the upper chamber and has served as its top budget writer for the past four sessions.

Guzman's candidacy would add a new dynamic to the primary that is already unfolding between incumbent Ken Paxton and Land Commissioner George P. Bush.

The meeting will take place Wednesday, according to Harris' office.

One of the last remaining Republican mayors of a big city is jumping back in to the political arena after not seeking reelection.

West declined to say whether he was eyeing any particular statewide office, though he told a radio host earlier Friday morning that the host was "safe" to assume West was mulling a gubernatorial run.

House Bill 3979 is part of a national effort by red-state legislatures to ban or limit the teaching of critical race theory. That academic discipline examines how racism has shaped legal and social systems within the United States.

Huffines, who has criticized Abbott as being too slow to fully reopen the state, served in the Senate from 2015-2019.