Texas Democrats

The Austin state lawmaker is challenging former congressman and unsuccessful 2024 Senate candidate Colin Allred and former NASA astronaut Terry Virts for the Democratic nod. The Republican primary is a close race between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

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.

Democrats say recent changes to the bill give too much power to the TEA and fall short of meaningfully easing the pressures of standardized testing.

Texas' Republican-led legislature is expected to approve new congressional maps that add five new House seats that the GOP could win. The extraordinary move expected Wednesday comes at President Donald Trump's urging.

Other Texas Democrats, including from DFW, joined Rep. Nicole Collier after they tore up their “permission slips” to leave the chamber.

Texas Democrat Nicole Collier said she won’t sign “permission slip” to leave the chamber, which would require accepting round-the-clock monitoring by state troopers.

On Monday, House Democrats announced they were back in Austin. With their return, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature will likely move quickly to pass a new map of the state's congressional districts.

A second special session that has made approving the map a priority started Friday, shortly after the first one ended.

The new special session started Friday with threats to House Democrats, who have signaled their intention to return to Texas after leaving the state to block the passage of a new GOP-friendly congressional map.

More than 50 Democratic Texas House members have been out of state for nearly two weeks in an effort to block Republican-led legislation that would redraw the state's congressional maps. On Thursday, they announced their conditions for returning to Austin.

It's now week two of a quorum break by more than 50 Texas House Democrats who left the state to block a new, Republican-backed congressional district map. A lot has happened so far — from court filings to threats from top Texas officials to law enforcement showing up at Democrats' homes.

Texas Republicans are trying to reconvene the state Legislature to vote on redrawing congressional maps in their party's favor. This comes after Democratic lawmakers left the state last week, denying Republicans the quorum they need to proceed.