Forrest Wilder

Mark Melton’s work defending tenants against illegal evictions was valuable and cost-efficient, but it has upset the wrong people.

An ascendant faction of the GOP wants to make the party smaller and purer while keeping Democrats from power by any means necessary.

One of the peculiar and unfortunate artifacts of the Texas election calendar is the primary runoffs. Few states use this system to pick Democratic and Republican nominees who don’t win an outright majority of votes during the primary, and for good reason. Runoffs are a relic of efforts to protect white political power in the South. Few voters bother to participate in them—even fewer than the primaries, which are themselves low-turnout elections. As a result, a small partisan cohort has outsized…

Three good spots around the state to fly-fish for Cyprinus carpio.

When you come at the king, you best not miss. House Republicans, with backing from Democrats, took a swing at Attorney General Ken Paxton and failed to land a fatal blow. In the days after Paxton was acquitted by the Texas Senate on all sixteen charges involving alleged corruption and abuse of his office, he and his allies have been positively giddy, trading memes and high fives while promising to go demon mode on their enemies. Paxton has been making the rounds on right-wing media promising…

And now we wait. After eight grueling days, the 30 Texas senators who will decide the fate of Ken Paxton are deliberating in private. When they emerge, they will cast votes on each of the sixteen impeachment charges brought by the Texas House. A two-thirds majority—that’s 21 senators—on any of the sixteen will result in a conviction and Paxton’s removal from office. The standard is “beyond a reasonable doubt”—the same as in a criminal trial. But this is no typical criminal trial, which is one of…

Rick Perry rides a gunboat. Ted Cruz goes militiaman. Ron DeSantis and George P. Bush try their best. Plus, Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton.

The Legislature took a big step Monday, but further efforts could come with great costs: a sky-high sales tax and decimated public schools.

The first rule of catching a carp: don’t expect to catch a carp.

Three good spots around the state to fly-fish for Cyprinus carpio.