Austin, TX

GOP infighting in Austin and Washington dominated Texas politics in 2023

Published

1 year ago

December 16, 2023

GOP infighting in Austin and Washington dominated Texas politics in 2023

Defense attorney Tony Buzbee addresses the media after the Texas Senate acquitted his client Attorney General Ken Paxton of impeachment on day 10 of his trial in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas.

Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News

Republican infighting dominated Texas politics from Austin to Washington, D.C., in 2023.

When a party is as dominant as the Texas GOP has been, there are always internal feuds because the other party is less of a threat. But in the last year, those fights became vastly more public in Texas with a historic impeachment fight in Austin, outright name-calling between state House and Senate leaders, and Gov. Greg Abbott calling a record-tying four special sessions in one calendar year as he tried unsuccessfully to browbeat fellow Republicans into passing a school voucher plan.

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“The civil war which has raged along many fronts within the Texas GOP since 2010 reached a crescendo in 2023,” said Mark P. Jones, a Rice University political science professor.

And it has shown itself in Washington where U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, and other Texas Republicans very publicly blocked fellow Republican Kevin McCarthy from becoming the speaker of the house. While McCarthy eventually got in after 15 rounds of voting, it set the tone for a tumultuous year in which Republicans eventually voted to remove him from his post, making him the shortest-lived speaker in more than 140 years.

In the presidential race, former President Donald Trump hammered his one-time political ally Ron DeSantis at a campaign rally in Waco and DeSantis returned the favor in Eagle Pass as the focus of his “no excuses” tour, highlighting Trump’s failure to build border walls in Texas.

With the animosity likely to spill over into 2024, here’s a look back at some of 2023’s biggest flashpoints:

Impeachment

For only the second time in history, the Texas House voted to impeach a statewide elected official.

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In May, the GOP-led House voted 121 to 23 to impeach embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton and suspend him from office for alleged abuse of office. Paxton was already under indictment for felony securities fraud but had been seeking more than $3.3 million from the Texas Legislature to pay off a settlement with former staffers who accused him of committing bribery, abuse of office and other crimes to help an Austin real estate developer.

The Texas Senate ultimately voted to acquit him on all the charges, with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick publicly excoriating House Speaker Dade Phelan and House Republicans for the way they handled the impeachment of a fellow Republican.

“It should have never happened this year, and hopefully it doesn’t again,” he said of the impeachment. House Republicans blasted the comments, saying they showed Patrick had not been the impartial judge he was supposed to be in presiding over it all.

As for Paxton, it didn’t take long for the Collin County Republican to vow retribution, telling talk radio personalities that those Republicans who tried to impeach him needed to “get ready” for him to come after them politically in future elections. He’s aiming to help unseat dozens of House Republicans in the March primary elections.

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Voucher battle

Paxton will have company in seeking retribution in March.

Abbott is on his own revenge tour after the Texas House killed his top legislative priority — private school vouchers. The governor has endorsed a slate of GOP challengers against Republicans who voted against the program, which would subsidize private education costs through education savings accounts.

Twenty-one Republicans joined with Democrats in voting down the bill in the last special session in November. Many of those Republicans are from rural communities that have opposed the plan on the grounds it will eventually drain money from public schools.

Abbott vetoed unrelated bills in June by members who had opposed him and threatened holdouts with primary opposition during their reelections. But so far, the pressure campaign hasn’t worked.

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Dysfunctional leadership

While both Republican leaders championed handing out record tax cuts, how to do it became a monumental struggle with Patrick calling Phelan names like “California Dade” and nicknaming him “Dade Failing.” Phelan responded by largely ignoring Patrick and refusing to meet with him for most of the last two years.

Jones said issues like cutting taxes and securing the border are typically unifiers for the GOP, but “even picking the lowest hanging fruit caused conflict and consternation among Texas Republicans in 2023.”

While they eventually came to a deal, the damage was already done between Phelan and Patrick. Patrick has since said he can’t work with Phelan and wants Texans to vote against any House member who refuses to back a new speaker.

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The border

If there was one thing that mostly unified the GOP, it was border security.

Border encounters with migrants increased during President Joe Biden’s first two years as president, and this year they reached a record 2.4 million.

Abbott responded by deploying miles of razor wire and busing migrants to other cities to pressure Democrats like New York City Mayor Eric Adams. He also deployed a floating buoy barrier in the Rio Grande, which drew a pending lawsuit from the Justice Department.

Republicans still had areas of disagreement. While McCarthy was ousted for many reasons, his struggle to placate fellow Republicans like Roy, who wanted a tougher stance on the border in the federal budget, only added to the opposition against him.

That fight spilled over into the winter, leading GOP leaders to block additional military aid to Ukraine despite once broadly supporting it. Biden conceded this month that he is “willing to make significant compromises on the border,” which triggered its own backlash from Democrats.

The border is likely to remain front and center heading into the new year as Biden seeks reelection.

Presidential backdrop

For the first time in more than 40 years, Texas doesn’t have a contender in the presidential race after San Antonian Will Hurd ended his nascent campaign.

He’s not alone. Both former U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley and DeSantis — Trump’s top rivals — have spent a lot of time in the state wooing big donors and making their pitches. Shortly after DeSantis announced his campaign, he was in Texas at the border along stretches where Trump’s promise to build a wall never came to fruition. DeSantis used it as an example of broken promises that demand a new leader.

While the GOP sees Texas donors as a key to dislodging Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris made clear in a recent trip to Houston that the state’s harsh abortion laws and others like it have become a clarion call for Democrats to fight for the rights of women.

The White House was quick to seize on the plight of a Dallas woman who initially won a judge’s approval to get an abortion last week but still had to leave the state to get the procedure. The Texas Supreme Court ultimately overturned the lower court’s approval, saying the decision was up to the woman’s doctor and that the state medical board should issue better guidance.

“While extremist elected officials in Texas claim to care about the health of women and babies, they are endangering the health, wellbeing and lives of women by denying them the care they need,” Harris said in what felt like a preview of a key battle line Democrats will draw in 2024 in Texas and nationally.

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Austin, TX

2026 4-star RB Javian Osborne visited by Texas ahead of trip to Austin this weekend

Published

5 hours ago

January 22, 2025

Press Room

2026 4-star RB Javian Osborne visited by Texas ahead of trip to Austin this weekend

Forney (Texas) four-star running back Javian Osborne is set to return to Austin for his latest visit to Texas this weekend.

The 5-foot-10, 175-pounder has tripped to The Forty Acres more than any other program throughout his recruitment. On Tuesday, Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian, RBs coach Tashard Choice and assistant Chris Gilbert repaid the favor and visited Osborne:

Osborne chose a trip back to Texas over Notre Dame this weekend and is coming off a visit to Georgia last weekend. The Longhorns staff wasted no time getting in the picture for the blue-chipper and that’s paid dividends so far.

“Texas, they’ve been in the picture since freshman year,” Osborne recently told On3. “I love how Coach Sarkisian utilizes running backs in the pass game and in the run. Just being able to utilize them in different situations. His offense is crazy his playbook. Coach Choice as well, he’s been in the picture since my freshman year.”

Earlier this month, Osborne named his top 10 schools. Alongside UT and UGA, Oregon, SMU, Texas A&M, Michigan, Florida State, Tennessee, Alabama and Notre Dame all made the cut. The Wolverines have also emerged as a top contender to this point

Osborne did all he could for Forney as a junior. He had over 150 carries and ran for 1,085 yards and 21 touchdowns, according to MaxPreps. He also caught three TD passes as Forney finished with a 5-6 record. As a sophomore, Osborne eclipsed 1,000 total yards and had eight scores.

He is the No. 74 overall prospect and No. 6 RB in the 2026 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He’s also the No. 10 player in Texas.

Texas signed No. 1 recruiting class in 2025 cycle

Last month saw Texas soar to the top of the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings, closing its 2025 recruiting cycle with a bang. It signed 11 top-100 recruits, five of whom are five-stars.

So far in the 2026 cycle, the Longhorns have two commits.

Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) American Heritage five-star quarterback Dia Bell made an early pledge back in June and remains in the mix as the No. 13 recruit and No. 4 QB overall.

“They make me feel like I am home there,” Bell recently said of Texas to On3. “Those are two guys I love and I would love to be coached by. They are great to talk to, they are great coaches and those two are probably the biggest reason why I am strong with my commitment to Texas.”

He’s joined by Pearland (Texas) Shadow Creek four-star wide receiver Chris Stewart, a top-150 recruit in the On300. He pledged just eight days after Bell.

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Austin, TX

Austin airport seeing mass cancellations as winter storm wreaks havoc on Texas airports

Published

13 hours ago

January 21, 2025

Press Room

Austin airport seeing mass cancellations as winter storm wreaks havoc on Texas airports

This story has been updated to add video and photo gallery.

This winter’s harshest Arctic blast so far is coursing through Texas, stymying everyday functions like school, work, and travel. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is already among the airports with the highest number of cancellations in the world today, and other airports across the state are not faring much better.

For Austinites, Tuesday morning started with sleet and snow accumulations ranging from half an inch to 2 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Moreover, this winter storm cell has necessitated a winter storm warning that is in effect until 6 p.m. Tuesday. There is also a cold weather advisory in place until noon Wednesday as temperatures are expected to get as low as 23 degrees.

As for what this means for Austin’s airport, the organization has spent years preparing for storms like this. Despite the surge in cancellations, Austin is actually performing better than other Texas metropolises in terms of airfare on Tuesday.

From cancellations in Austin to full closures in Houston, here’s what to know about what travel will look like in the next few days across Texas.

Austin’s airport weathering the storm amid mass cancellations

At the time of writing Austin-Bergstrom International Airport has seen 69 total flights cancelled, or 16 percent of all flights, and 71 flights delayed — about 12 percent of all flights. These numbers rank Austin’s airport eighth in the world for origin airport cancellations on January 21, according to FlightAware.

While Austin-Bergstrom has remained open it the airport was forced to curb services because of the cold weather.

“Due to weather conditions, all parking trams are temporarily suspended. Please walk carefully to the terminal, as icy surfaces may exist,” the ABIA said in a social media post.

The top airlines that are seeing cancellations and delays at Austin’s airport are Southwest Airlines, with 25 cancellations and 42 delays; United Airlines with 16 cancellations and one delay; and SkyWest Airlines with 12 cancellations and five delays.

Other Texas airports are struggling with the weather as both Bush and Hobby close

Five of the airports with the most cancellations by origin airport in the world today are located in Texas. Most notably, both of Houston’s commercial airports have completely closed in what is a stunning move.

This means the top two airports affected by cancellations in the world are Bush Intercontinental Airport and Hobby International Airport in Houston. These two airports alone have generated a staggering 1,247 total cancellations, according to data from FlightAware.

In preparation for the weather, Houston had preemptively closed multiple overpasses around its airports. However, the weather was too extreme, and operations were forced to stop.

“Flight operations are temporarily suspended and our dedicated teams remain on site preparing for a safe return to operations as soon as weather conditions allow. We will provide updates as they become available,” Bush Airport said in a social media statement.

At the time of writing both Bush and Hobby remain closed. These mass cancellations are expected to have a cascading effect on air travel in the coming days, but neither airport has commented on how this will be handled.

Elsewhere in the Lone Star State Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio are all scrambling to maintain operations.

Dallas-Fort Worth International has seen 189 total cancellations while San Antonio International has seen 69 total cancellations at the time of writing.

Nationwide, Southwest and United are left holding the bag as they are the airlines with the most canceled flights, accounting for more than 900 canceled flights combined.

Beck Andrew Salgado covers trending topics in the Austin business ecosystem for the American-Statesman. To share additional tips or insights with Salgado, email Bsalgado@gannett.com.

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Austin, TX

Austin weather: Snow moves out but refreezing possible later

Published

21 hours ago

January 21, 2025

Press Room

Austin weather: Snow moves out but refreezing possible later

Austin weather: Snow and sleet as storm arrives

Hope you’re home staying nice and warm today as a winter storm hits Central Texas. Leslie London has all the details in her full forecast.

AUSTIN, Texas – A winter storm has brought snow to Central Texas.

Snow and sleet in Austin area

Austin weather: 183 road conditions at 8 a.m.

FOX 7 Austin’s Jessica Rivera has a look at the conditions on 183 as she heads towards Lampasas.

The backstory:

Snow fell in Austin and across the southeastern portions of the FOX 7 Austin viewing area.

The majority of the snow began falling at around 2 a.m. to 3 a.m.

The whole system is expected to be out of the area before 9 a.m.

You may still see isolated light snow showers in the late morning, but the main event will be done.

Why you should care:

Austin weather: TxDOT preps and conditions update

What are the roads like right now? The TxDOT has a look at what they’re doing to keep roads safe and what you can do if you have to be out driving.

Roads will continue to be slick and slippery.

A Winter Weather Advisory remains for Blanco, Burnet, Gillespie and Llano Counties until 6 p.m.

Bastrop, Fayette and Lee Counties are under a Winter Weather Warning until 6 p.m. as well.

Timeline:

Austin weather: Snow falls in Cedar Creek

Quincy Nolan shares video of snow in Cedar Creek as winter weather hits Central Texas.

9 a.m. – Most of the snow will be out of the area

10 a.m. – Temperatures expected to get above freezing

Afternoon to Early Evening – With the higher temperatures (the high today will be 40 degrees) any snow on the ground will begin to melt and help improve road conditions

7 p.m. – Temperatures will drop below freezing again, so there is potential for refreezing on roads

What’s next:

Expect another cold night, with the low dropping into the low 20s and wind chills dipping into the teens.

A Cold Weather Advisory still be in place until noon tomorrow (January 22) due to an expected cold morning.