Joshua Blank, PhD

Yesterday, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced a plan to continue the deployment of the Texas National Guard at the border through May to the tune of $12 million. Whether or not increasing Texas' commitment to border security using the Guard is a sound policy decision is an open question, but the politics of yesterday's announcement could not be clearer. 

A map of the districts whose House members received committee chairs last week provides an interesting birds-eye view of influence in the chamber, especially within the Republican caucus.  

Given the relative harmony between mainline and Tea Party Republicans in the Texas electorate, why can't their elected officials in the Legislature seem to get along?

Texas is already at the epicenter of the 2016 GOP presidential race — and not just because four Republicans with links to the state are on most early lists of top potential candidates. 

Last night, President Obama announced an executive action that would likely shield the deportation of up to five million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States. In the October 2014 University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll, we asked Texas voters whether they agree or disagree with the following statement: "Undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States should be deported immediately." We found that overall, 60 percent of Texans, and large majorities of Republicans, Conservatives, and Tea Party Republicans all agreed. 

President Obama has regularly been scorned by Democrats for his lack of interest in raw, naked politicking, but in announcing an executive action that will likely shield just under five million undocumented immigrants from deportation, he may have simultaneously altered the trajectory of the immigration debate while increasing the probability of party system change in places with large Hispanic populations, like Texas. 

The final tallies from last week were relatively predictable, but they still raise an important question: Was there something particular to Texas this year that gave Republicans here such huge wins?

A summary of public polling on the Texas Governor's race among likely voters since June 2014.

The October 2014 University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll found Republican candidates favored over Democratic candidates by substantial margins in several statewide general election contests, with the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Attorney General Greg Abbott, leading the Democratic candidate, state Senator Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, by a 16-point margin, 54 percent to 38 percent.  Six percent of likely voters chose Libertarian candidate Kathie Glass, and Green Candidate Brandon Parmer was the choice of 2 percent.

The third wave results of the CBS/NYT/YouGov Battleground Tracker were released today, and show Abbott leading Davis by a 14-point margin, a 4-point gain for Davis since the last wave of polling.