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Drew Landry, in this commentary piece, looks back at the recently completed legislative session and says it was a bumpy ride from beginning to end

Instead of enjoying Memorial Day weekend, Texas lawmakers have been working through the night in a sprint to push forward several big-ticket bills before the legally-mandated closing time of the 2021 legislative session at 11:59 p.m. Monday. Most notably, the Republican-majority Legislature is still on track to...

Gov. Greg Abbott took a blow from his party’s right wing Monday when conservative millionaire and former state Sen. Don Huffines announced he’ll be challenging Abbott in the 2022 governor’s race. Just a few hours later, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick received the coveted endorsement of former President Donald Trump, in his own re-election race — an announcement sure to beef-up his hardline conservative bonafides and help stave off attacks from the right-most flank of Texas Republicans. Huffines made his mark as a reliably right-wing legislator during his four years representing Dallas in the Te...

Until just a few days ago, it looked like the legislative push to allow Texans to carry handguns without permits was on life support after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said a Texas House-backed proposal to allow permitless carry didn’t have enough support in the Texas Senate to get a full-hearing, let alone be approved by a majority of Senators and sent to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for his signature. But Patrick has now promised the bill will get a hearing before the state Senate this week as he claims to continue rallying support for it behind the scenes despite opposition from Texas law enforceme...

Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. In legislative session after legislative session late last decade, gun rights supporters pushed for a new law that would allow Texans to carry handguns without a license. Their cause did not go far in 2015 — and neither did it in 2017. In 2019, a Democratic lawmaker recalled Thursday evening, the bill didn’t even get a hearing “when folks with armed weapons were walking the streets of some of our leaders in this chamber th...