By Daniel Dale Democrat Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman who ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate in 2018 and the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, announced last week that he is running for Texas governor in 2022. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who announced Tuesday that he had filed to run for reelection, started attacking
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EL PASO, Texas – On Monday afternoon, El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, and Mayor Oscar Leeser held a press conference to discuss the local impact of President Biden’s recently approved infrastructure law and his pending Build Back Better bill. Escobar said the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which Biden signed into law on Nov. 15,
Continue Reading CNN By Aaron Pellish Beto O’Rourke, who announced his campaign for Texas governor last week, declined to invite President Joe Biden to campaign alongside him, pushing a message of nonpartisan unity in his upcoming bid for the highest office in Texas. O’Rourke said his campaign is “not going to be about anyone from outside of
Continue Reading By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court could rule as soon as Monday on Texas’ ban on abortion after roughly six weeks. The court said on its website Friday that the justices are planning to issue at least one opinion Monday, the first of its new term. There’s no guarantee the
Continue Reading By Kevin Liptak, CNN President Joe Biden asked the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday to “immediately” investigate whether illegal activity by oil and gas companies is pushing up gas prices. In a letter to the FTC commissioner, Biden cites “mounting evidence of anti-consumer behavior by oil and gas companies.” “The bottom line is this: gasoline
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — As abortion returns to the U.S. Supreme Court’s docket, majorities of Americans support maintaining Roe v. Wade, oppose states making it harder for abortion clinics to operate and see abortion primarily as a decision to be made by a woman and her doctor, not lawmakers. Americans — 60-27% — say the high
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CANUTILLO, Texas — Some Canutillo Independent School District parents demanded Monday evening that the school board pull a book from the high school library because of its explicit content. The book titled “Gender Queer: A Memoir” is a 239-page graphic novel depicting the author’s journey of gender identity and sexual orientation. But some Canutillo parents say the book does
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Former El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke officially announced on Monday that he’s running for governor of Texas. The Democrat released a two-minute long video on his Youtube channel to make the announcement. (You can watch it in the video player below.) “I’m running for governor,” he tweeted alongside the video announcement. “Together,
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By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The executive director of New Mexico’s spaceport says operations are ramping up at the desert outpost, and he needs the Legislature to allocate another $2 million in annual funding to keep momentum going. Scott McLaughlin testified before a legislative committee Monday. Without the funding, he
Continue Reading By Ella Nilsen, CNN President Joe Biden announced Monday a proposal for a 20-year ban on new oil and gas drilling near Chaco Canyon in northwest New Mexico — one of the oldest Native American sites in the US — White House officials said. In the coming weeks, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land
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by Danielle Prokop, El Paso MattersAUSTIN, Texas — Texans could see higher fees on their natural gas bills as early as next month, an effort to reimburse nine utilities for costs incurred during Winter Storm Uri in February.The three-member Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, signed off on a settlement
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AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting mask mandates in schools violates the Americans with Disabilities Act — freeing local officials to again create their own rules. The order comes after a monthslong legal dispute between parents, a disability rights organization and Texas officials over whether the state was violating
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UPDATE, Nov. 9: El Paso City Council met Tuesday to once again discuss whether seek to obtain an updated cost estimate for the proposed downtown arena project. A pair of items were voted on following a lengthy executive session by council that ran several hours. Council voted unanimously not only to seek estimates for the
Continue Reading By Nicole Chavez, CNN Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has directed state education officials to create new standards that would keep “pornography” and “obscene” content out of public schools after Republican lawmakers have recently targeted LGBTQ books. In a letter sent Monday, Abbott urged leadership at the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Texas State Library and Archives
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Analysis by Chris Cillizza WASHINGTON, DC — The Covid-19 vaccine debate is getting weird. On Twitter, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz accused Big Bird of pushing “Government propaganda…for your 5 year old!” after the Muppet tweeted about getting the shot in his wing. It’s hard to imagine how we all missed it. After all, an
Continue Reading By PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A lawsuit over new voting laws in Texas is bringing the state into court once again with the Biden administration. The Justice Department has previously sued Texas over immigration enforcement on the U.S.-Mexico border and a law that has banned most abortions in the state
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott has a comfortable lead over potential Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke, according to a new poll from the University of Texas at Austin and The Texas Tribune. The survey of registered voters found Abbott with a 9-percentage-point advantage over O’Rourke, 46% to 37%. Seven percent of respondents picked someone else in the
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Justice Department is suing Texas over new voting restrictions that the federal government says will disenfranchise eligible voters and violate federal voting rights law. The lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in San Antonio challenges the law known as SB1 passed earlier this year to overhaul election procedures in the state. The
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TRENTON, New Jersey — New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy has won re-election over Republican Jack Ciattarelli. Murphy eked out a victory that spared Democrats the loss of a second gubernatorial seat. He’s the state’s first Democratic governor to get a second straight term in 44 years. Murphy defeated Ciattarelli, a former Assembly member. Ciattarelli
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AUSTN, Texas — After vetoing a similar measure over the summer, Gov. Greg Abbott at October’s end signed into law a bill that makes the unlawful restraint of a dog a crime in Texas. The bill, which passed during the Legislature’s third special session of the year, will take effect on Jan. 18, 2022. Animal advocates
Continue Reading By ELLIOT SPAGAT and VALERIE GONZALEZ Associated Press and AIM Media Texas McALLEN, Texas (AP) — President Joe Biden recognized migration flows would spike if he scrapped his predecessor’s hardline border policies without a new asylum system in place. He was prepared for traffic to return to highs of 2019, but arrivals exceeded expectations almost
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By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and MORGAN LEE Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Voters rallied behind incumbent progressive mayors of New Mexico’s largest city and state capital in local elections Tuesday, rejecting challenges from the more conservative wing of the Democratic Party. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller claimed victory in a speech to supporters, saying voters
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UPDATE, Nov. 3: Uncertified election returns early Wednesday showed voters overwhelmingly rejected a controversial $50 million bond measure that would’ve helped pay for a new stadium in Albuquerque, with nearly 66% voting no. New Mexico United for All — a political action committee bankrolled by the New Mexico United soccer team — had been the
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Click here for El Paso County Vote ResultsClick here for Dona Ana County & New Mexico Vote ResultsClick here for Texas statewide Vote ResultsClick here for Texas Constitutional Amendment ResultsClick here to read Election Results from races of National interestClick here to watch ABC News LIVE election coverage
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RICHMOND, Virginia — Businessman Glenn Youngkin will become Virginia’s next governor, ABC News and the Associated Press projected, after a fierce battle in the most closely watched contest in an off-year election. He’s the first Republican to win statewide office there since 2009. Youngkin defeated Democratic candidate and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe. With about 95%
Continue Reading MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — Minneapolis voters have rejected a proposal to replace the city’s police department with a new Department of Public Safety — an idea that arose from the May 2020 death of George Floyd. The initiative would have changed the city charter to remove a requirement that the city have a police department with
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EL PASO, Texas — The Nov. 2 uniform election takes place Tuesday.It’s an off-year for many political offices, but voters will be asked to weigh in on eight Texas statewide ballot measures. Some El Paso County residents will also be able to select their next city of Socorro representative or decide whether to support Canutillo
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EL PASO, Texas — State Rep. Claudia Ordaz Perez announced Monday evening that she is challenging a fellow El Paso Democrat, Art Fierro, instead of running for re-election against Rep. Lina Ortega, another El Pasoan who she was pitted against in redistricting. Under the map that Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law last week, Ordaz Perez is drawn into House District 77, the
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — If Beto O’Rourke decides to run for Texas governor in 2022, a new poll shows the former El Paso congressman is within the margin of error and virtually tied with incumbent Greg Abbott, ABC affiliate WFAA reported Monday. Abbott currently leads with 44% of support to O’Rourke’s 43%, among voters who actually
Continue Reading (Editor’s note: You can listen to the entire oral arguments in this case in the video player above.) WASHINGTON, DC — A majority of the U.S. Supreme Court signaled Monday they would allow abortion providers to pursue a court challenge to a Texas law that has virtually ended abortion in the nation’s second-largest state after six weeks
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