Invoking the killing of George Floyd and the ravages of COVID-19, former Vice President Joe Biden told Texas Democrats that it has never been clearer why he must defeat President Donald Trump in November.“I said from the beginning: The very soul of this nation is at stake,” Biden said at the party’s online state convention Saturday. “That’s why I’m running for president and why I stand united with every single Democrat behind our mission to beat Donald Trump and restore real leadership to the White House.”Biden said the “horrifying killing” of Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer has...…Invoking the killing of George Floyd and the ravages of COVID-19, former Vice President Joe Biden told Texas Democrats that it has never been clearer why he must defeat President Donald Trump in November.“I said from the beginning: The very soul of this nation is at stake,” Biden said at the party’s online state convention Saturday. “That’s why I’m running for president and why I stand united with every single Democrat behind our mission to beat Donald Trump and restore real leadership to the White House.”Biden said the “horrifying killing” of Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer has...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateTexas has once again shattered vote registration records, adding more than 1.5 million voters since the last presidential election.Texas now has surpassed 16.6 million voters, according to the latest numbers announced Tuesday by Texas Secretary of State Ruth R. Hughs. And there are still almost two weeks to add more.“Ahead of the November election, I encourage all eligible Texans who have not already done so to register to vote by Oct. 5 so that they can help shape the future of the Lone Star State,” Hughs said.In the four...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateTexas has once again shattered vote registration records, adding more than 1.5 million voters since the last presidential election.Texas now has surpassed 16.6 million voters, according to the latest numbers announced Tuesday by Texas Secretary of State Ruth R. Hughs. And there are still almost two weeks to add more.“Ahead of the November election, I encourage all eligible Texans who have not already done so to register to vote by Oct. 5 so that they can help shape the future of the Lone Star State,” Hughs said.In the four...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateWith nearly 16,000 Texans dead from the coronavirus, it is no surprise that the response to the pandemic has become a focal point of campaign ads around the state as voters prepare to start heading to the polls in less than two weeks.But the issue is even more raw in Houston’s 2nd Congressional District where Democrat Sima Ladjevardian is running ads that slam U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw for having minimized the seriousness of the disease — a charge Crenshaw’s camp said is false.In her new ad running on cable and network television,...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateWith nearly 16,000 Texans dead from the coronavirus, it is no surprise that the response to the pandemic has become a focal point of campaign ads around the state as voters prepare to start heading to the polls in less than two weeks.But the issue is even more raw in Houston’s 2nd Congressional District where Democrat Sima Ladjevardian is running ads that slam U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw for having minimized the seriousness of the disease — a charge Crenshaw’s camp said is false.In her new ad running on cable and network television,...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateWith the presidential battle in the state tightening, President Donald Trump went to West Texas on Wednesday to cast himself as the savior of the state’s vital oil and gas economy, and to blast the Democrats who want to phase it out.“If they got in, you will have no more energy coming out of the great state of Texas,” Trump said while standing near an oil rig in Midland with less than 100 days until Election Day.Instead, he warned that the “zealots, radicals and extremists” are “trying to shut down your industry.” Before he took...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateWith the presidential battle in the state tightening, President Donald Trump went to West Texas on Wednesday to cast himself as the savior of the state’s vital oil and gas economy, and to blast the Democrats who want to phase it out.“If they got in, you will have no more energy coming out of the great state of Texas,” Trump said while standing near an oil rig in Midland with less than 100 days until Election Day.Instead, he warned that the “zealots, radicals and extremists” are “trying to shut down your industry.” Before he took...WW…

Gov. Greg Abbott is warning of even “greater fatalities” from COVID-19 as the number of people in hospitals with lab-confirmed cases hit a record 8,698 on Monday.During a television interview in Dallas, Abbott agreed that at one point even as new coronavirus infections were rising, the state’s deaths were decreasing — which could have been seen as good news. But he said heading into the Fourth of July weekend, Texas had its deadliest four-day stretch since the pandemic started, and he warned of things to come.“My concern is that we may see greater fatalities going forward as we go into the...…Gov. Greg Abbott is warning of even “greater fatalities” from COVID-19 as the number of people in hospitals with lab-confirmed cases hit a record 8,698 on Monday.During a television interview in Dallas, Abbott agreed that at one point even as new coronavirus infections were rising, the state’s deaths were decreasing — which could have been seen as good news. But he said heading into the Fourth of July weekend, Texas had its deadliest four-day stretch since the pandemic started, and he warned of things to come.“My concern is that we may see greater fatalities going forward as we go into the...WW…

Gov. Greg Abbott called on police across Texas to step up enforcement of his mask order amid the mounting pandemic, explaining Friday that they can either “be part of the problem or part of the solution.”Facing a revolt within his own party, the Republican governor tried again to sell the measure, acknowledging that face coverings can be inconvenient but saying the alternative of locking the state down again is far worse. The state on Friday reported 10,002 COVID-19 hospitalizations, almost twice as many as two weeks ago and seven times the total on Memorial Day.Also Friday, Texas officials...…Gov. Greg Abbott called on police across Texas to step up enforcement of his mask order amid the mounting pandemic, explaining Friday that they can either “be part of the problem or part of the solution.”Facing a revolt within his own party, the Republican governor tried again to sell the measure, acknowledging that face coverings can be inconvenient but saying the alternative of locking the state down again is far worse. The state on Friday reported 10,002 COVID-19 hospitalizations, almost twice as many as two weeks ago and seven times the total on Memorial Day.Also Friday, Texas officials...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateNot even the worst pandemic to hit Texas in a century was enough to stem the surge in voter registrations that has remade the state’s electorate over the past four years.Just since March, Texas has added nearly 149,000 voters even as the political parties and voter registration groups face new obstacles in signing up people in a world of social distancing and stay-at-home orders.The state now has a record 16.4 million voters, 2.1 million more than it had just over four years ago — a 15 percent increase in registrations that is...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateNot even the worst pandemic to hit Texas in a century was enough to stem the surge in voter registrations that has remade the state’s electorate over the past four years.Just since March, Texas has added nearly 149,000 voters even as the political parties and voter registration groups face new obstacles in signing up people in a world of social distancing and stay-at-home orders.The state now has a record 16.4 million voters, 2.1 million more than it had just over four years ago — a 15 percent increase in registrations that is...WW…

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott slammed local officials in Houston and Dallas on national television on Wednesday night for being too quick to threaten people with jail time during the coronavirus pandemic for not wearing masks and trying to operate their businesses — even though his own executive orders allowed incarceration for Texans who violate them.Then on Thursday morning, Abbott announced he is taking that threat of incarceration out of his own executive orders, and making it retroactive to ensure a Dallas salon owner would be released from jail.Abbott’s new order comes as Dallas hair salon...…Texas Gov. Greg Abbott slammed local officials in Houston and Dallas on national television on Wednesday night for being too quick to threaten people with jail time during the coronavirus pandemic for not wearing masks and trying to operate their businesses — even though his own executive orders allowed incarceration for Texans who violate them.Then on Thursday morning, Abbott announced he is taking that threat of incarceration out of his own executive orders, and making it retroactive to ensure a Dallas salon owner would be released from jail.Abbott’s new order comes as Dallas hair salon...WW…

Two months after Beto O’Rourke endorsed Joe Biden, the former vice president is putting him to work on the campaign trail in Texas.O’Rourke is scheduled to lead a virtual “Turn Texas Blue” on Wednesday.During his 2018 campaign for the U.S. Senate, O’Rourke was able to drive out young voters and students — a group that Biden has struggled to connect with, according to public polling.After dropping out of the presidential race, O’Rourke wound up endorsing Biden the day before Texas voted in the March 3 presidential primary, as Biden won Texas over U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.…Two months after Beto O’Rourke endorsed Joe Biden, the former vice president is putting him to work on the campaign trail in Texas.O’Rourke is scheduled to lead a virtual “Turn Texas Blue” on Wednesday.During his 2018 campaign for the U.S. Senate, O’Rourke was able to drive out young voters and students — a group that Biden has struggled to connect with, according to public polling.After dropping out of the presidential race, O’Rourke wound up endorsing Biden the day before Texas voted in the March 3 presidential primary, as Biden won Texas over U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.WW…

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick lashed out at Dr. Anthony Fauci on Fox News, saying the nation’s top infectious disease expert has “been wrong every time on every issue.”“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Patrick said . “The only thing I’m skipping over is listening to him.”Patrick was upset after hearing Fauci testify at a U.S. Senate hearing in which he said that more than.Fauci didn’t directly criticize Texas’s reopening but said state officials may have been “going too quickly and skipping over some of the checkpoints” as they lifted stay-home orders.As COVID cases surge, TX Lt Gov...…Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick lashed out at Dr. Anthony Fauci on Fox News, saying the nation’s top infectious disease expert has “been wrong every time on every issue.”“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Patrick said . “The only thing I’m skipping over is listening to him.”Patrick was upset after hearing Fauci testify at a U.S. Senate hearing in which he said that more than.Fauci didn’t directly criticize Texas’s reopening but said state officials may have been “going too quickly and skipping over some of the checkpoints” as they lifted stay-home orders.As COVID cases surge, TX Lt Gov...WW…