Free Republic

AUSTIN, Texas - Anger over Texas’ power grid failing in the face of a record winter freeze mounted Tuesday as millions of residents in the energy capital of the U.S. remained shivering with no assurances that their electricity and heat — out for 36 hours or longer in many homes — would return soon or stay on once it finally does. “I know people are angry and frustrated,” said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who woke up to more than 1 million people still without power in his city. “So am I.” Making matters worse, expectations that the outages would be...

Pierce Bush, the grandson of former President George H.W. Bush, announced his candidacy Monday for a congressional seat in Texas, becoming the latest member of his famous Republican family to enter politics. But his first run for office won’t be easy. Bush joins one of the nation’s most crowded congressional races of 2020 in his bid to replace Republican Rep. Pete Olson, who is retiring from his suburban Houston district that Democrats nearly flipped last year and are aggressively targeting again.

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas’ GOP House speaker sought help ousting members of his own party in 2020, called a female lawmaker “vile” and said President Donald Trump is “killing us” in pivotal races in a secretly recorded meeting with a conservative activist released Tuesday. House Speaker Dennis Bonnen also profanely disparaged another Democratic House member in the hourlong tape, which also reveals other political scheming and has thrown the GOP-controlled Legislature into disarray at a fragile moment when their majority is at stake. The tape has uncorked the biggest Texas political scandal in years. Democrats filed a lawsuit accusing Bonnen...