Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson presides over the Texas House during the opening ceremony of the 89th Texas legislative session at the Capitol in Austin on Jan. 14, 2025.

Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson stepping down

Nelson’s office oversees elections. Abbott appointed her to the role in 2023 after she became the longest-serving Republican woman in Texas Senate history.

by Natalia Contreras, VoteBeat and The Texas Tribune and Stephanie Koithan June 3, 2026June 3, 2026

This coverage is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting access. Sign up for Votebeat Texas’ free newsletters here. Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson announced Tuesday she will resign effective July 17, capping off three and a half years as the state’s top election official. “It has […]

Don Huffines speaks at a campaign event at the Womens Club of Rockport on Feb. 7, 2022. The former state lawmaker is running to become the state's comptroller.

Texas News

Comptroller candidate Don Huffines’ family owns former Epstein ranch in New Mexico

Huffines’ campaign said the candidate’s family bought the ranch at a public auction four years after Jeffrey Epstein died.

by Alejandro Serrano, The Texas Tribune February 16, 2026February 16, 2026

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks to the media on Jan. 15, 2025, at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

Texas News

Texas AG Ken Paxton sues to stop Muslim housing project in North Texas

Paxton began investigating the East Plano Islamic Center in March for potential violations of consumer protection laws.

by Alejandro Serrano, The Texas Tribune December 6, 2025December 6, 2025

Texas A&M University is a public research university in College Station, Texas.

News

Video of clash over gender-identity content in Texas A&M children’s lit class leads to removals

After the video fueled outrage, two college leaders were removed from their administrative roles for approving plans to teach content inconsistent with the course’s published description.

by Jessica Priest, The Texas Tribune September 9, 2025September 9, 2025

News

Texas’ swift surrender to DOJ on undocumented student tuition raises state-federal collusion questions

Experts say Wednesday’s action to eliminate the long-standing policy could be a ‘collusive lawsuit,’ where the state and feds worked the courts to get a desired outcome.

by Eleanor Klibanoff, The Texas Tribune June 9, 2025June 18, 2025

The South Texas Family Residential Center was closed by the Biden administration but reopened during Trump's second term.

News

Department of Justice cuts off federally funded legal aid to detained immigrants

The decision to halt the program could prevent thousands of people detained in immigration detention centers from receiving legal advice.

by Uriel J. García, The Texas Tribune January 28, 2025April 13, 2025

News

Texas tells U.S. Justice Department that federal election monitors aren’t allowed in polling places

Texas’ top elections official said Friday that federal inspectors can’t be inside polls or places where ballots are counted under Texas law after the DOJ announced plans to send monitors to the state.

by Joshua Fechter, The Texas Tribune November 2, 2024November 13, 2024

News

Voting Rights Act doesn’t protect coalitions of racial or ethnic groups challenging political maps, appeals court rules

In a lawsuit challenging redistricting in Galveston County, the 5th Circuit said the protections afforded to a single racial group don’t apply to multiple groups who collectively claim voting rights violations.

by DanteDante Motley, The Texas Tribune August 3, 2024May 1, 2025

News

Texas’ new immigration law is blocked again

Hours after the U.S. Supreme Court had allowed Senate Bill 4 to go into effect, a federal appeals court let an earlier injunction stand. SB 4 lets Texas police arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the Texas-Mexico border.

by Uriel J. García and Alejandro Serrano, The Texas Tribune March 20, 2024December 11, 2024

News

5th Circuit upholds Texas law requiring minors to obtain parental consent for contraception

A three-judge panel in New Orleans ruled that a Texas law requiring minors to obtain parental consent to obtain birth control does not conflict with the goals of the federally-funded Title X program, which has given teens birth control confidentially.

by Pooja Salhotra, The Texas Tribune March 14, 2024July 6, 2024

News

Victims of Sutherland Springs mass shooting reach tentative $144.5 million settlement with government

The shooting in a church 30 minutes southeast of San Antonio took the lives of 26 people.

by Sanford Nowlin April 5, 2023July 9, 2025

News

Feds arrest Texas man charged with threats to Boston doctor who cares for transgender children

The 38-year-old Hill Country man faces up to five years in prison, if convicted.

by Alejandra Martinez, The Texas Tribune December 4, 2022May 18, 2025

News

Lawyer for San Antonio teen Erik Cantu wants Justice Department to investigate police shooting

‘No one is safe with him out on the streets,’ Erik Cantu’s mother, Victoria Casarez, said of the former officer who shot her son.

by Michael Karlis October 25, 2022February 13, 2024

News

ACLU calls on feds to investigate Abbott’s policy transporting migrants back to border

In July, Abbott authorized state law enforcement to transport migrants to ports of entry. It’s unclear how and why migrants are being detained, raising civil rights concerns and questions about whether the state is overstepping federal authority.

by James Barragán, The Texas Tribune August 9, 2022August 3, 2023

News

Understaffed, and under federal investigation, Texas juvenile detention system halts intake

The department doesn’t have enough staff to keep minors safe or deal with increasing suicidal behavior. Gov. Greg Abbott recently shifted millions of dollars from the long-troubled agency to his controversial border security mission.

by Jolie McCullough, The Texas Tribune July 10, 2022November 17, 2024

Members of law enforcement lay flowers at a makeshift memorial outside Robb Elementary School.

News

Uvalde city and district police departments stop cooperating with school shooting probe

The development is the latest chaotic turn in the state’s attempt to explain law enforcement’s response to the shooting that killed 21 people.

by Sanford Nowlin June 1, 2022August 17, 2023

News

Willie Nelson and wife had ballot applications rejected under Texas’ GOP-championed voting law

The music legend faced the same ID confusion that led Texas to reject 23,000 ballots under the new law.

by Sanford Nowlin March 25, 2022September 10, 2024

News

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U.S. Department of Justice

Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson stepping down

Comptroller candidate Don Huffines’ family owns former Epstein ranch in New Mexico

Texas AG Ken Paxton sues to stop Muslim housing project in North Texas

Video of clash over gender-identity content in Texas A&M children’s lit class leads to removals

Texas’ swift surrender to DOJ on undocumented student tuition raises state-federal collusion questions

Department of Justice cuts off federally funded legal aid to detained immigrants

Texas tells U.S. Justice Department that federal election monitors aren’t allowed in polling places

Voting Rights Act doesn’t protect coalitions of racial or ethnic groups challenging political maps, appeals court rules

Texas’ new immigration law is blocked again

5th Circuit upholds Texas law requiring minors to obtain parental consent for contraception

Victims of Sutherland Springs mass shooting reach tentative $144.5 million settlement with government

Feds arrest Texas man charged with threats to Boston doctor who cares for transgender children

Lawyer for San Antonio teen Erik Cantu wants Justice Department to investigate police shooting

ACLU calls on feds to investigate Abbott’s policy transporting migrants back to border

Understaffed, and under federal investigation, Texas juvenile detention system halts intake

Uvalde city and district police departments stop cooperating with school shooting probe

Willie Nelson and wife had ballot applications rejected under Texas’ GOP-championed voting law

Analysis: The never-ending fight over voting in the U.S.

Abortion access in Texas hangs in the balance as Supreme Court considers overturning Roe v. Wade

U.S. Justice Department sues Texas over new voting law