Reporting Texas
News and features from UT-Austin's School of Journalism

Politics

Austin’s South Asian Candidates Were Forced Into a Game of Identity Politics. They Won.

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.

Voices on the Line: Inside the Final Push for Travis County Votes

byLucas Armbruster

Inside the Travis County Democratic Party headquarters on Banister Lane, a constant hum of overlapping voices fills the room. Volunteers sit at folding tables, holding their phones and watching their laptop screens automatically cycle through numbers using Scale to Win, a cloud-based predictive phone dialing system.

“This is really an important time, and I’m really hoping for some change,” said George Vance McGee, a Travis County Democratic Party volunteer who returned to phone banking this election cycle after decades away from the headsets.

In the days before the Nov. 3 election, this high-volume dialer setup at Banister Lane represented the traditional, centralized approach of campaign field strategy. The Travis County Republican Party ran a different operation, highlighting two contrasting voter-mobilization strategies in Central Texas.

For phone banking volunteers, the challenge isn’t just navigating technical difficulties, but also weathering the emotional consequences of cold outreach. Out of every 10 calls dialed, only two or three result in an actual pick-up. The rest vanish into voicemails, disconnected numbers, or incorrect records.

Iconic Texas Food Brands Stay Out of Politics. Midterm Candidates Are Using Them Anyway.

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.

Texas HUB Changes Put Minority-Owned Businesses at Risk of Losing Access to State Contracts

byErika Gonzalez

In the weeks leading up to December 2025, Cortena Williams, owner of a Burleson water damage restoration company, was reviewing proposals and preparing agreements she said could help build up her business. After years trying to establish herself in an industry dominated by larger contractors, she had moved closer to contracts with major public institutions, thanks in part to the state’s Historically Underutilized Business Program designed to help businesses owned by minorities and women compete for public contracts.
But then the Texas comptroller’s office issued emergency rules restructuring the HUB program and stripping women- and minority-owned businesses of their HUB certifications. Instead, the program’s focus shifted to helping businesses owned by veterans.
“The comptroller’s actions ended those conversations overnight, not because I wasn’t qualified, but because they eliminated a program that gave me a path to compete,” Williams said.

Apr 17, 2026

Rio Grande Valley and Texas Hispanic Voters Are Back in Play for Democrats, Analysts Say

byMax Mazoch

President Donald J. Trump carried the Rio Grande Valley in the 2024 presidential election along with 46% of the Latino vote nationwide — a record among Republican presidential candidates. Now, the Texas Democratic Party might have its best chance to win back the once reliably Democratic region and Latino voters, Texas political analysts say. “I […]
Apr 06, 2026

As federal homelessness policy shifts, Austin’s supportive housing model faces political scrutiny

byIsabel Neumann

Austin has invested millions of dollars into permanent supportive housing, a strategy of providing long-term housing and rental assistance that is widely seen as one of the most effective ways to reduce chronic homelessness. But as federal funding grows uncertain and costs continue to rise, city leaders are facing questions about how long they can […]
Mar 02, 2026

Pulido, Teixeira Hope to Ride Fame to Congressional Seats

byNatalia Rodriguez

Ronald Reagan went from actor to governor to president. Donald Trump went from real-estate developer to reality TV star to president. Now, two Texas celebrities, Bobby Pulido and Mark Texeira, hope to join that list as they run for U.S. Congress without holding any prior office.
“Name recognition is huge,” says University of Texas Rio Grande Valley professor Richard Longoria, whose research focuses on celebrity politics. “It’s one of the biggest predictors for people that study electoral politics. Getting a lot of media attention and being well known is a huge advantage, but by itself is not enough.”
Mar 02, 2026

As Texas Republicans Tout Their Trump Ties, Experts Say It Could Come Back to Haunt Them

byOISAKHOSE AGHOMO

 As Tuesday’s primaries inch closer, you can’t turn on the TV without seeing ads from Republicans trumpeting their ties and devotion to President Donald Trump.  Candidates are trying to brand themselves as the “most MAGA ever,” calling their constituents to “stand with President Trump” and taking digs at their opponents for not being MAGA enough.  […]
Feb 25, 2026

As Gen Z Struggles to Navigate Sex, Texas Makes It Harder to Get Information in Schools

byOisakhose Aghomo

Experts say Gen Z, the generation born between 1997 and 2012, is struggling to navigate real-life sex and dating culture in a digital age, and research points to this generation having less sex. Now, their teenage counterparts will have less access to information about sex after parents’ rights groups successfully lobbied for a new law that restricts Texas schools from teaching sex education or providing student health services unless parents have specifically authorized it.
Feb 24, 2026

Texans Demand Special Legislative Session for Data Center Debate

byRachel N. Madison

  Protesters at the Texas Capitol called for the Legislature to stop the rapid spread of data centers Monday, urging representatives to hold a special session to discuss the environmental impacts of the new technology. “My land is being threatened,” said Rena Schroeder, a Republican candidate for a state Senate seat in South Texas. “We […]
Feb 23, 2026

Faith Under Fire: How ICE Raids Affect Religious Practice in Texas

byErika Gonzalez

In immigrant congregations across Texas and other states, faith leaders report declining attendance and rising anxiety since the elimination of the federal government’s policy of not conducting enforcement in “sensitive locations.”
Feb 17, 2026

Undocumented Immigrants are the Backbone of Texas Agriculture. An Abbott-Endorsed Agriculture Commissioner Candidate Wants to Change That.

byMax Mazoch

Immigration raids have caused unrest in Texas agriculture, the state’s second largest industry. Now, Gov. Greg Abbott’s preferred candidate for agriculture commissioner, the chief advocate for the state’s 230,000 farms, has made stricter immigration enforcement a key tenet of his campaign. “If I was king for a day, and I got to go in and […]
Feb 08, 2026

Dual Citizens in Texas Critical of Effort to Make Them Choose One Nationality

bySamantha Rubin

Texans with dual citizenship are decrying the potential effects of a  bill introduced by an Ohio senator that would force Americans who hold citizenship in another country to renounce one nationality or risk being treated as if they gave up their U.S. citizenship. 
Legal experts said the proposal is unworkable.  “There really is no good way to police this,” said Elissa Steglich, who teaches the immigration law clinic at the University of Texas law school. “There’s no actual benefit to the nation for people to relinquish citizenship to other countries.” 
Feb 06, 2026

Talarico Urges UT Students to Channel Frustration into Political Action at Campus Rally 

bySamantha Rubin

As Democrats look to energize young voters ahead of a competitive primary, U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico urged University of Texas at Austin students Wednesday to reject political division and to help mobilize voters on campus. 
Dec 15, 2025

‘It’s a Constant Sacrifice’: DACA Struggle With Loss of In-State Tuition

byErika González and Noemi Castanon

Elizabeth Mazariegos flips through her folder full of school reports, letters of recommendation and college documents, feeling worried. “I never thought I could get this far, and now I feel all my effort is disappearing overnight. It’s like everything I achieved is not enough,” said Mazariegos, a 31-year-old Guatemalan who has lived in the United States for two decades.
For years, the U.S. policy of Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, protected immigrants who came here as children and allowed Mazariegos to study, work and plan a stable future. Now, that path has become more uncertain as both the state and federal governments clamp down on immigrants.
On June 5,  Texas repealed the Texas Dream Act, a law that since 2001 had allowed undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates and to have access scholarships and loans.
Nov 18, 2025

New Graduate Workers Union Fights for Better Pay and Protests the College Compact

byRachel N. Madison

or the past two months, the University of Texas’ newly formed Graduate Workers Union has been advocating for better treatment, pay and rights of graduate student employees. And now it is joining other student groups in opposing a deal with the Trump administration that would transform the university’s governance structure.
“A union is a commitment by workers at a workplace to stand together with each other to be treated the way they deserve to be treated in terms of compensation and working conditions,” said Sociology Ph.D. student and union member Noah DiAntonio.
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