Outgoing DA Craig Watkins considering options, says he'll be fine
Watkins made history in 2006 by becoming the first black candidate elected district attorney in Texas.
Watkins made history in 2006 by becoming the first black candidate elected district attorney in Texas.
WASHINGTON - Texas Attorney General and Gov.-elect Greg Abbott and governors-to-be from a half-dozen other states are meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House today.
No one, particularly Cornyn or Cruz, should let immigration politics scuttle a worthy nominee to head ICE.
The Dallas County judge showed true leadership in time of crisis, and not just once, the lawmaker says.
He wants to block funding of the president’s executive orders, which could complicate talks to keep the government open past next week
Mike Rawlings is sometimes called the education mayor for his efforts to improve and promote the Dallas Independent School District. On Thursday he said Texas lawmakers should spend much of the 2015 legislative session on public education.
Can Ashton Carter bring coherence to a seemingly rudderless defense policy?
The Texas governor might be better prepared for ‘16, but the field is stronger, the columnist says.
They contend the president isn’t discharging his duty, while the White House says Obama has discretion to set priorities.
Republicans on the committee, including Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, opposed her nomination, setting up a potentially contentious confirmation process going forward.
With six City Council seats turning over next year and critical issues facing Dallas, the city needs strong and stable leadership.
The Texas senator outlined a more muscular approach that he would presumably offer as a presidential candidate.
The homeland security chief defends the plan and warns against a possible GOP plan to fund his department only through March to try to force changes.
The Texas senator probably will have small donors and possibly big super PACs on his side.
Sen. Ted Cruz called Saldaña "another rubber stamp for illegal amnesty," referencing her support for President Barack Obama's recent executive actions shielding 5 million people from deportation.
Austin Republican Michael McCaul and other Republicans questioned Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on the legality of President Barack Obama's recent executive actions.
More than 1,000 cast votes for Chuck Norris, Jesus, Stephen Colbert and Harry Potter, among others — though only one write-in candidate’s votes counted.
Congress is running out of time to renew the deduction that educators use.
Key lawmakers who track the state budget adopted the most conservative estimate of Texans’ income growth available.
It’s unclear when he’ll return to Washington as he recovers from a car accident and aides pack up his office.
Cities and states are mostly in favor, as are brick-and-mortar stores, but Republicans are divided.
The Texas Senator told a conservative veterans group Tuesday over lunch at a hotel a block from the White House that world suffers from a lack of American leadership.
Lawmakers' to-do list includes avoiding a government shutdown, renewing expired tax breaks and approving a defense policy measure that's passed for more than 50 years.
Cruz sat next to the Las Vegas billionaire Sunday night at the Zionist Organization of America dinner in New York. The next morning, according to the New York Observer, they met privately for two hours at the Palace Hotel.
Texans complain of bills on oil and gas regulation and less controversial measures being blocked in the upper chamber.
A House report offers little for those seeking political fodder from the administration’s Benghazi attack response.
Frustrated by the modern pressures of the presidency, Obama has chosen to betray himself, the columnist says.
The hard-liners are right about their right to impeach, but they shouldn’t use it, the law professor says.
According to the keys, GOP prospects could turn on whether Hillary Clinton loses a primary challenge, he says.
The outgoing Texas attorney general said Monday his office will finalize a decision within two weeks on whether to sue over the unilateral order President Barack Obama issued last week.
Health care, unaccompanied minors and crowded detention centers aren’t touched by the order, they say.
Obama’s executive order is a confession of democratic failure, and it serves the cause of polarization, the columnist says.
Sen. Ted Cruz headlined a Zionist Organization of America dinnerand said Iran’s nuclear ambitions must be blocked
Republicans say they have better chance to repeal Texas law giving in-state tuition to some unauthorized immigrants, but political fight awaits in Austin.
A sampling of reaction from Texas officials to President Obama's announcement on immigration:
The president’s immigration plan is a formula for failure because the GOP now seeks retaliation, not cooperation.
The president tonight will announce orders protecting up to 5 million people from deportation, conferring work permits to those who have been in the country for at least five years. That could apply to about 1.2 million people in Texas.
The Secret Science Reform Act of 2014 would require the Environmental Protection Agency to base its rules only on scientific studies whose data can be shared in sufficient detail that other researchers can duplicate the research.
We’re glad to hear that Republicans vow to bring the project before a vote again in January. It’s time to approve.
Get ready, America. What you’ve seen since the election is probably what you’ll get for the next two years, he says.
The president will unveil the order at 8 p.m. EST Thursday in an address live-streamed at whitehouse.gov/live, and major news outlets likely will televise it as well.
A McKinney investment firm hired Texas Attorney General-elect Ken Paxton to solicit clients.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is promising the new Republican majority will quickly resurrect Keystone XL pipeline legislation killed by Democrats.
With so many rookies in top statewide offices, the House can’t afford on-the-job training for a new leader.
Senate Democrats blocked a move Tuesday to compel construction of the pipeline by a 59-41 vote. Just 14 Democrats backed it; all 45 Republicans voted for the House-passed measure.
With the 2016 campaign season looming, Sen. Ted Cruz lost two top advisers Tuesday, including a star digital strategist who defected to Sen. Rand Paul’s budding presidential effort.
Cruz joined other opponents of an online sales tax plan on Tuesday, calling it a giveaway to Amazon, Best Buy and other big retailers at the expense of consumers and small start-ups.
The congressman from Bryan was voted chairman of the Republican Study Committee.
The $1,000 Montblanc a lawyer left behind at the Collin County courthouse metal detector wound up in the hands of the incoming attorney general, whose spokesman called it a simple mistake.
Instead, he should put the onus on Congress to act.
Misdeeds by the Obama administration are the real cause of Democrats’ midterm defeat, she says.
So much money is at stake that insurers may be on a collision course with the Republican majority in the new Congress.
President Barack Obama and GOP lawmakers seem to be preparing not for compromise but for combat.
By taking executive action, he is putting Democrats and Republicans on a collision course, the columnist says.
They have just weeks to learn where things are, get office space and a place to live, and try to grab top committee assignments.
The head of the state cancer fund saw different treatment from the Democratic DA the governor aimed to oust with a veto threat.
His foes acknowledge they lack the votes to prevent his re-election, but they want their disputes on the record.
Speaking in Washington after a breakfast with the Texas State Society, a group for Texans on Capitol Hill, Straus said he believes House members are pleased with his leadership.
“Coalition builder” Bill Flores and underdog Louie Gohmert are up against South Carolina’s Mick Mulvaney for a role that comes with outsized influence and often leads to bigger things.
If it proceeds correctly, the GOP can claim credit for permanently replacing our broken immigration system.
Atrocities have turned the United States into a warlike tribe, the columnist says.
To recover, it’s likely up to Hillary Clinton to give voters a rationale that was absent this year, the columnist says.
The newly elected congresswoman from Utah is everything you wouldn’t expect, the columnist says.
He says they’ll have input that they denied Republicans but warns again that Obama shouldn’t act alone on immigration.
The governor-elect wants changes in Texas’ unpopular “margins tax,” if not outright repeal, but cautions that will have to compete with other tax cuts and budget needs.
The columnist hopes for a contest that pits Marco Rubio and Rand Paul in a battle of ideas.
This week alone, Perry spent two days in New Hampshire, the first presidential primary state, and two days in South Carolina, the second primary state.
Lawmakers have two months to file measures before their session begins, though most won’t become law.
The columnist offers four ways Obama can save his last lap from becoming a hopeless slog.
Wooing white voters would require stances that would turn off the party’s base voters.
True, new women were elected, but the male-dominated GOP is more in charge than ever, the columnist says.
From where I sit, what we did on Tuesday was elect strong, conservative women.
She said she's long admired her local government and praised former Mayor Julian Castro, who gave the office a higher profile as an up-and-coming Democrat.
Former President George W. Bush is giving it a ‘50-50’ chance that his brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, will vie for president in 2016.
Prediction: Future presidential historians will be intrigued by the physical proximity of George W. Bush and Ross Perot. They live who very close to one another and can occasionally be seen chatting at Dallas social events.
Texas’ junior senator’s conservative agitation could create headaches for the senior lawmaker, who’s in leadership.
The author of the new book "Lone Star Nation: How Texas Will Transform America" deciphers the election results here and what's in store for the state's future.
Reince Priebus gloated Friday morning about the victories in Texas over breakfast with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.
We fear voters will regret approving a citywide ban on fracking rather than strengthening setbacks.
He moves quickly to begin his transition, and experts say he’s not known as quick to compromise.
In the courtroom, Gov. Rick Perry stays quiet as his attorney bashes criminal charges against him as a “comedy of errors.”
Smith said such an order, which Obama has suggested could be issued by year's end, would "give amnesty to millions."
Republicans’ resounding midterm gains include a U.S. Senate majority and greater House dominance, but they still go only so far in achieving what voters really want: superior governance.
Dallas County’s incoming district attorney shows that voters were tired of Craig Watkins’ political roller coaster.
Analysis: Democrats, wiped out again in seeking statewide office, look for clues on how to rebound.
An energy industry group and the Texas Land Office argue that regulation belongs with the state, not the city.
Greg Abbott's campaign gurus laid out voter diagnostics used to steer his landslide victory, including knowing what TV shows likely voters watched and using 450,000 Facebook likes to follow supporters.
Republicans will now be in control of both the House and Senate, which means the weight of the world rests on the shoulders of Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, Tod Robberson writes.
Indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry is making his first court appearance on felony abuse of power charges, sitting largely stoically through heated arguments from lawyers.
Voters on Tuesday made Denton the first municipality in Texas to pass a ban prohibiting hydraulic fracturing, which is used to extract oil and natural gas from shale formations.
The city of Denton showed last night what happens when industry pushes too far into people's lives and too close to their homes.
Exit polls show that Davis’ outreach to women and Hispanics fell short.
The Republican Party found victory Tuesday night, but now comes the hard part.
Here are five reasons Republican Greg Abbott beat Democrat Wendy Davis, according to an exit poll of voters.
The only real suspense on election night was guessing how much rain would fall (a lot) and by how much top-ticket Republicans would maintain their party’s dominance over Texas politics (also a lot).With...
Incumbent Democrat Craig Watkins and his Republican challenger were locked in a neck-and-neck battle most of the night.
Not to take anything away from Susan Hawk, but this was Watkins’ race to lose.
With DA Craig Watkins and GOP challenger Susan Hawk neck-and-neck, voters are sending the incumbent a clear warning.
With Republicans gaining control of the Senate, the Texan will be second to the majority leader in power.
Republican Dan Patrick capped a remarkable rise in Texas politics Tuesday, easily winning election as lieutenant governor and paving the way for a more conservative brand of leadership in the state Senate.
Three potential presidential candidates were on hand as the party looks to the Lone Star State as its center of gravity.
GOP continues its dominance in Texas elections, including attorney general and comptroller
The contest between Republican Will Hurd and Democratic incumbent Pete Gallego was too close to call late Tuesday.
Republican Konni Burton defeated Democrat Libby Willis for the state Senate seat vacated by Wendy Davis.
The county’s elections website went down, but most poll troubles appeared to be minor.
They plan to tout Tuesday’s big election victory as a voter mandate for more funding of repairs and construction.
The city, the first in Texas to pass a hydraulic fracturing ban, plans to defend its ordinance against any legal challenge.
All but one of nine proposed charter amendments, covering a wide range of subjects, were passed by voters.
Redistricting reform and better council pay should improve city elections.
His public stances on immigrant children and Ebola had raised his profile.
Garland ISD passed the largest bond program in the district’s history as Frisco voters approved late-night alcohol sales and Sunnyvale supported a bond measure that will allow it to switch water districts.
Though Denton County's still a long way from counting all its votes, Mayor Chris Watts says it looks pretty, pretty clear that a ban on hydraulic fracturing is in the cards based on early voting results.
Update at 9:45 p.m.: Dan Patrick said his election reaffirms the state's conservative tilt.
Texans overwhelmingly agreed today to steer billions in existing tax revenues to the state transportation department, which has run about $5 billion in the red every year.
Update at 11:45 p.m.: With 99 percent of precincts reporting, the proposition to raise Dallas council pay is in the clear by a 51-49 margin.
Update 8:40 P.M.: Glenn Hegar, who will take over as comptroller in January, released his victory statement.
Update, 7:03 p.m.: Early voting totals indicate that County Judge Clay Jenkins has a big lead over Republican challenger Ron Natinsky.
Update at 7:55 p.m.: Hawk won early voting by the slimmest of margins, 50.1 percent to 49.9 percent, about 400 votes. But odds are that's not enough. Democrats in Dallas County typically score many more votes on Election Day that Republicans.
Many voters in Dallas turned out early Tuesday, casting their ballots before the first significant rainfall in a month began.
A double-digit Wendy Davis loss in the governor's race would damage the credibility of Battleground Texas, especially among its big-dollar donors, and set back Democratic organizational hopes in Texas.
Abbott and Davis have campaigned for more than a year, spending up to $90 million in the first race without an incumbent governor on the ballot since 1990.
It’s a whole new lineup for statewide offices, and Republicans again are favored to win.
Weak early-voting totals suggest a bad day for Democrats. And lousy weather won’t help.
The disputes could dampen the group’s efforts to turn out voters, hurting local candidates.
He raises the specter of witness intimidation in the case of the governor’s veto of funding for the Travis County district attorney.
Tuesday’s elections come as U.S. growth has been improving, thanks in part to a congressional truce on budget fights.
Abbott, the attorney general and GOP nominee for governor, said standing up to the Democrats' vaunted voter turnout machine presents a challenge for Republicans.
Craig Watkins was a rising star when first elected district attorney in 2006, but a Democratic precinct leader says he's now "one of the most disliked persons in Dallas County."
Get a look at the top issues you picked in the race for governor between Republican Greg Abbott and Democrat Wendy Davis. The Dallas Morning News, along with partners KERA-TV, NBC5 and Telemundo 39 surveyed voters online and will focus this week on each of your leading concerns in our five-day series.
Republicans look poised for victory, but what will be their spoils?
On the issue of whether Rick Perry should be provided transcripts of grand jury testimony, special prosecutor Michael McCrum cited centuries-old common law that uses secrecy to help protect all parties involved with allegations.
Difficult-to-trace outside groups are slipping tens of millions of dollars of attack ads in right before Tuesday’s elections.
But a Republican majority could lead to compromises, too, experts say.
Greg Abbott and Wendy Davis are crisscrossing the state rallying supporters and reaching for every hand they can shake.
GOP board members Geraldine “Tincy” Miller of Dallas and Pat Hardy of Fort Worth are seeking re-election in districts that have leaned Republican in recent years.
The Texas attorney general has made Hispanic outreach a cornerstone of his campaign for governor.
Most are confident they’ve made up ground, but the struggle shows the division the party faces.
A ballot cast in the midterms is less a vote for a person than it is a vote against the void in the presidency, she says.
The party relies on no great animating idea other than the fear (or avoidance) of the Obama nightmare, the columnist says.
The race to replace Wendy Davis in the legislatures has become one of the most expensive contests in Texas.
‘Partyism’ ruins human interaction and precludes productive discussions, the columnist says
The two swapped insults just two years ago, but the Dallas businessman strongly backs Patrick’s bid for lieutenant governor.
Candidates are rallying core supporters, who have turned out at early voting locations.
Election officials were surprised not to see higher turnout, though they cautioned that the final day typically sees longer lines and bigger numbers.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday endorsed the Democratic women running for Texas' top two offices, gubernatorial aspirant Wendy Davis and lieutenant governor candidate Leticia Van de Putte.
WASHINGTON - Former CIA director and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is publicly backing Republican Will Hurd, his first endorsement this cycle.
Voters who let the one button elect an entire party slate give cover to inferior candidates.
Ryan LLC represents many companies with business before the office, including recipients of tax incentives.
The senator pivoted to his stance on the issue of same-sex unions: that marriage is a question best left to the states.
Aging Democratic leaders Pelosi, Reid still play a leading role as GOP gets younger
They demonstrated their differences on property taxes, estimating revenue and professional experience in the only down-ballot campaign debate this election.
She has nearly four times as much left for the stretch run in their heated campaign for district attorney.
Eric LeMonte Williams, challenging Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson as an independent, is accused of not paying alimony and attorney fees from his 2008 divorce.
The Texas House District 105 Republican candidate said he’ll end his pursuit of the complaint against Democratic opponent Susan Motley.
How did we lose our democracy? Blame the U.S. Supreme Court, the author says
Proposition 8 on the Nov. 4 ballot would increase City Council members’ annual pay to $60,000 from $37,500 and the mayor’s salary to $80,000 from $60,000.
In an appearance last year, he said the GOP would be better off if voters in a largely minority district would “spend their food stamp money” on Election Day instead of voting.
While Dan Patrick took in cash from old and new GOP sources, Democrat Leticia Van de Putte reported more individual donors.
The rare retraction follows Rodney Anderson campaign mailers accusing opponent Susan Motley of breaking the law.
Ebola in Dallas has put Clay Jenkins in spotlight, but Ron Natinsky criticizes his management of the crisis.
"I think that he has and will continue to tone down rhetoric like that and cast a vision that is inclusive of everyone in this state," Abbott told 200 gathered at a Lubbock event.
His schedule includes a two-part interview with CBS' Bob Schieffer and both presidents' appearance with Bush daughter Jenna Bush Hager on "Today."
Candidates for state comptroller, Sen. Glenn Hegar and Mike Collier, are heading into the final week of the election on uneven footing.
Democrat Leticia Van de Putte raised more money - barely - than her GOP rival for lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, in the latest reporting period, according to reports posted Tuesday on the Texas Ethics Commission website.
A spending spree on both sides -- basically prepurchasing TV time for commercials that will run through the Nov.4 general election -- has left Davis and Abbott with very little bottom lines.
His climb in GOP leadership and position in Texas have helped him draw big corporate donations.
Taylor was criticized for his North Dallas investments, but he also worked for better public housing, development in southern Dallas, and lead contamination cleanup in East Oak Cliff and West Dallas.
Texas House District 104 pits Democrat Carol Donovan against incumbent Republican Kenneth Sheets.
In the past 27 years, we’ve had farmers, teachers and businessmen, but Texas hasn’t had a lawyer as governor in that span. Get ready for a change.
The Republican and the Democratic candidates in the lieutenant governor’s race are using different styles of campaigning.
Leticia Van de Putte’s great-grandmother’s ‘promesa’ is a part of the candidate’s stump pitch.
Like his fellow Texan Ted Cruz, he’s offering time and help as he builds toward a White House run.
We can no longer have a truly great president. That’s OK: We seldom need one, and we might not want one, he says
These days, Obama finds himself welcome only in the palatial homes of Hollywood stars, the professor says
Columnist makes a case for political idealism, but not the brand that surrounded Obama’s 2008 campaign
Rodney Anderson’s claim that Susan Motley was barred by law from running quickly collapsed.
The spot features the Dallas County district attorney with his grandmother and makes no mention of his battle with Republican Susan Hawk.
Republican Matt Rinaldi faces political newcomer Paul K. Stafford in the race to represent Carrollton, Coppell, Irving, Farmers Branch and Addison.
Bold steps are needed to bridge the state’s road-funding gap, even Prop 1 passes.
The current law punishes low-income families and leaves students with indelible criminal records for missing school, they say.
Van de Putte condemned what she said were his rival's attempts to dramatize conditions along the Texas-Mexico border.
Two recent federal court opinions make a powerful argument that voter ID laws were designed less to minimize fraud than to achieve political ends, the columnist says
Sen. John Cornyn has widened his already commanding financial lead over challenger David Alameel.
WASHINGTON - Texas voters who don't speak Spanish will get to hear Sen. John Cornyn's only debate with challenger David Alameel after all.
Republican Ryan Sitton and Democrat Steve Brown are competing for a seat on Texas’ energy regulation panel.
He’ll appear in Georgia this weekend, but in many battleground states, his tea party presence could hurt GOP candidates in close races.
The lieutenant governor candidates began airing ads Tuesday that pulled no punches.
Her middle-of-the-night missive calls attention to what Ginsburg likely sees as a grave injustice, the law professor says.
Kenneth “Buddy” Barfield took more than $5 million, a Dewhurst spokesman said.
The Republican nominee for governor noted a Supreme Court ruling on the matter and says his role is to defend state laws.
Reinstating our tried-and-true voting system would not have led to intolerable confusion, as the Supreme Court argued.
Officials say the funds are much-needed in growing districts that have waited a decade or more for bond elections.