Free Republic

With its economic troubles, California has been losing people in droves. The plurality of those migrants have moved to Texas, as many as 70,000 in 2011 and 60,000 in 2012. Given this influx of new residents, we are fortunate to have at times asked our respondents whether they have moved to Texas from California, and though the actual number of these people is but a small subsample of our surveys, we have enough respondents to make two broad conclusions. First, these newcomers, on average, tend to be conservative. Pooling data from the May 2012 and February 2013 UT/Tribune surveys, we...

Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, a declared candidate for the 2014 lieutenant governor's race, did not rule out supporting a statewide property tax to benefit public education funding, and he said that Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has lost his "ability to sell" the issues. Patterson, who made his comments Thursday during a TribLive conversation, said a statewide property tax, rather than local property taxes, “might be the answer” to the financing inequities in different counties. Such a move would require that a constitutional prohibition against that tax to be repealed.

A man named John Lloyd wrote to the Texas Parks and Wildlife about killing Bigfoot, and got a response, which said in part: 'An exotic animal is an animal that is non-indigenous to Texas. Unless the exotic is an endangered species then exotics may be hunted on private property with landowner consent. A hunting license is required. This does not include the dangerous wild animals that have been held in captivity and released for the purpose of hunting, which is commonly referred to as a “canned hunt”.'

The religious leaders endorsing Leppert include: Jeffress, Carlisle, Denison and David Dykes of Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler; Randel Everett of First Baptist Church of Midland; Curtis Hail, founder of I Am Second; Jeff and Eileen Hackleman of Family Faith Church of Huntsville, Willis and Coldspring; Keith Craft of Elevate Life Church of Frisco ; Jeff Williams of First Baptist Church of Denton; Hal Habecker of Dallas Bible Church; Dr. Glynn Stone of Mobberly Baptist Church of Longview ;Rev. Mike Fechner, president of H.I.S. Bridgebuilders; Don Stephens, president and founder of Mercy Ships in Tyler; Ann Quest, the former...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry this morning endorsed David Dewhurst for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison... In a tweet this morning, Dewhurst (@DavidHDewhurst) declared, “I’m honored that veteran and conservative champion @GovernorPerry is endorsing our campaign for U.S. Senate"... Perry praised Dewhurst’s loyalty and said he was glad to return the favor.

Former Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, who announced his intention back in January to seek the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison, is likely to drop out of that race and instead run for a newly created congressional seat in House District 33, which contains his hometown of Arlington, sources tell the Tribune.

Next year’s U.S. Senate primary in Texas offers a wide range of choices. RedState has previously noted our strong preference for either former Texas solicitor general Ted Cruz or former railroad commissioner Michael Williams – both of whom have proven themselves as articulate and reliable champions of conservative principles. On the next tier are former Texas secretary of state Roger Williams and current railroad commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones, whose commitment to conservative principles may be somewhat shakier but at least are mouthing the right words so far in this campaign. And then there is Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, or as...

Reporting from Washington— A lobbying battle is raging largely behind the scenes over a seemingly obscure executive order that could — if signed by President Obama — make public the political spending that many corporations can now keep secret.

Some events occur so rarely in the course of the political history of a state that they become something of a curiosity. The impeachment of an executive officer is one of these events. In the 200 years that the United States has existed, two Presidents have been impeached, while another resigned from office rather than face this ignominy (though he was not able to avoid it). And in the 175 year history of the state of Texas, only one governor has ever been impeached: James E. Ferguson (1915-1917).

State Rep. Allan Ritter, D-Nederland, is telling associates he will switch to the Republican Party next week. Ritter was not immediately available for comment. That would give the GOP a 100-member supermajority in the Legislature's lower chamber — a number that allows them to pass constitutional amendments and other matters without seeking support from the Democrats.

State Rep. Aaron Peña says the dream that sweeping demographic changes in Texas will somehow come to the rescue of the State Democratic Party is an illusion. The Edinburg Democrat says a growing percentage of Hispanics are shifting over to the Republican Party in part because his party no longer reflects their values. And, he predicts his party faces decades in the political wilderness in Texas. “The Democratic Party in Texas has got decades of rebuilding to do. Their dream of demographic salvation is an illusion,” Peña said, in an in-depth interview with the Guardian about his party’s rout at...

As members of opposing political parties, we disagree on a number of important issues. But we must not allow honest disagreement over some issues interfere with our ability to work together when we do agree. By far the single most important of these is our current initiative to include substantial reductions in the projected level of American military spending as part of future deficit reduction efforts. For decades, the subject of military expenditures has been glaringly absent from public debate. Yet the Pentagon budget for 2010 is $693 billion — more than all other discretionary spending programs combined. Even subtracting...

Not everyone wants to admit it, but having a Libertarian on the ballot tends to favor the Democrat in a close race, taking a few percentage points away from Republican candidates and allowing Democrats to squeak by. And that party's November slate could give an edge to Democrats in more than a dozen races. Having a thumb on the scale helps. Need an illustration? Look at the fight the Democrats and the Republicans are having over whether to allow Green Party candidates onto the Texas ballot. The Greens — who tend to pull hard-left votes from Democrats and throw tight...

The claim... In his speech at last weekend’s state Democratic convention, Bill White said: "They tell me that Rick Perry has served as governor longer than anybody except Sam Houston." The facts...

Dolph Briscoe Jr., 87, a rancher, banker and businessman from the Texas Brush Country whose promise to restore integrity to a scandal-plagued state government propelled him into the Governor's Mansion in 1973, died Sunday at the family home in Uvalde. He had been hospitalized in January and had returned home only recently, said former Gov. Mark White, who considered Briscoe a mentor. The cause of death was kidney failure and pneumonia. "A giant of our time is gone. The state of Texas has lost a great leader, and I have lost a dear friend," White said. The first Texas governor...

CORPUS CHRISTI — The political dance known as the Texas two-step put the state Democratic Party into the national spotlight during the 2008 presidential election, and delegates to this weekend's state convention are gearing up for a fight over whether to keep dancing in 2012. The hybrid system of awarding some presidential convention delegates through a primary vote and others through a series of caucuses held on primary night became contentious in the contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

In South Carolina, where Republican Nikki Haley came within a whisper of winning the gubernatorial nomination but instead is in a runoff, there wasn't much written about her religious background before a fellow member of the Legislature referred to her as "a raghead.'

At the interval of about a generation from the passing of the first Reform Act, by a sort of universal consent the Legislature is about to employ itself in enacting a second. This determination has been adopted in circumstances strikingly contrasted with those by which it is usual for constitutional changes to be ushered in, and, at least immediately, brought about. The change to which all are looking forward, has not been pressed upon the ruling powers by impetuous and formidable demonstrations of public sentiment, nor preceded by signs of wide-spread discontent with the working of the existing political institutions....