Texas House

The two-term Republican caught many Capitol observers off guard when he emerged as the standard-bearer for a coalition that wants to depose Phelan and reshape how the House operates.

The Senate's District 25 and several House seats are on the ballot this year.

Six of eight GOP incumbents lost their races. Gov. Greg Abbott declared he “now has enough votes to pass school choice.”

Phelan placed a close second behind Covey, a former Orange County Republican Party chairman, in the first round of the primary for East Texas’ House District 21 in March.

A lack of air support and ineffective coordination hurt efforts to contain this year's Panhandle fires, the committee said.

Nearly one in five state representatives could be newbies when the Texas Legislature meets next in January.

The three-term attorney general was impeached by the Texas House in May. Most of the articles of impeachment are related to Paxton’s relationship with Nate Paul, an Austin-based real estate tycoon who is a close friend and campaign donor.

With the House absent, the measures passed by the Senate have no way of clearing their final hurdles and becoming law.

Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, slammed the measures, saying 'they can talk about drag shows and they can talk about nonsense. But at the end of the day, we are not protecting our most precious asset — and that is our children.'

The bill needs to clear one last procedural vote in the House before it goes to the Senate for consideration in that chamber. It has the support of Gov. Greg Abbott.