Reporting Texas
News and features from UT-Austin's School of Journalism
byVikram Sundaram
The day after Bo French lost his bid for Texas Railroad Commission to Democrat Jon Rosenthal, French attempted to spin his widely condemned social post targeting South Asian students at a Texas Longhorns football game — one of many flashpoints this election season that turned Texas blue.
French may be playing coy now, but South Austin candidates running for office certainly felt like he was taking aim at their communities.
“Thanks to Bo French, it’s kind of why we all have to step up and talk about why we’re here and why we’re all Texan and why we’re all American,” said Texas House District 47 Rep.-elect Pooja Sethi, an Austin Democrat who defeated Republican candidate Jennifer Mushtaler on election day.
byAdele Doat
Whataburger is not the only emblematic Texas food brand James Talarico featured on his Instagram profile in the final stretch of the 2026 midterm election campaign.
bySaile Aranda
Burning candles and bright orange marigolds decorate San Jose Cemetery II as guests walk through the smoke of copal incense on the Day of the Dead, a Mexican tradition celebrated annually on Nov. 1 and 2 for more than 3,000 years.
Joaquin Rodriguez, founder of San Jose Montopolis Cemetery Association, said he thinks these traditions have been happening for so long because it’s a way of having a common language within the community.
Rodriguez, who was adopted, said he always felt connected to Mexican culture although it was never practiced in his home. As an adult, he sought out connections to his birth family and ancestors, which helped him find his heritage.
byGabrielle Caumon
Rafael, a former Austin middle school theater teacher, heard last year that some of his students from first-generation immigrant families had seen Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at their apartment complex.
Fear, Rafael told them, should not stand in the way of their future. So he shared his story.
Rafael, 33, told the students that he is a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient who came to Texas from Mexico at age 6. But Rafael, like other DACA recipients and immigration lawyers, is fearful in the current immigration climate. Recipients are navigating a precarious legal status in the U.S. immigration system as court rulings reshape the legal landscape and deepen uncertainty.
