South Texas immigrant rights attorney Jessica Cisneros is running for Congress in 2022, Federal Election Commission filings show. Cisneros made headlines during the 2020 election cycle after mounting an insurgent campaign against Henry Cuellar, one of the most...
Fernando covers Texas politics and government at the Texas Signal. Before joining the Signal, Fernando spent two years at the Houston Chronicle and previously interned at Houston’s NPR station News 88.7. He is a graduate of the University of Houston, Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, and enjoys reading, highlighting things, and arguing on social media. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93 or email at fernando@texassignal.com
Biden, Veronica Escobar speak on two-year anniversary of El Paso shooting
President Joe Biden and Texas lawmakers are among those honoring the memories of the 23 victims lost in the 2019 mass shooting in El Paso. “To the families of the 23 souls lost on this day two years ago in El Paso, Jill and I send you our love,” Biden wrote in...
More than 100 state legislators gather in Washington for voting rights
Members of Congress and more than 100 state legislators from across the country will be rallying in Washington D.C. on Tuesday to urge lawmakers to delay the August recess and pass federal voting rights legislation. The legislators hail from more than 30 states,...
How Harris County’s top lawyer keeps polluters in check
In July alone, the Houston area suffered at least three chemical disasters. Most recently, a deadly leak at a LyondellBasell chemical plant in La Porte released 100,000 pounds of acetic acid, killing two workers and sending thirty people to the hospital. Less...
Time is running out to fund Texas’ legislative branch
More than 2,000 employees working for Texas’ legislative branch could find themselves with no source of income on Sept. 1, the start of the 2022 fiscal year in Texas. The self-inflicted budget crisis began in June when Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed $410 million in funding...
Texas House Democrats to testify before Congress over voter suppression
Texas House Democrats breaking in quorum in Washington D.C. recently announced that they will be testifying before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in a Thursday hearing. The hearing will focus on the assault on voting rights in Texas...
Texas Democrats: Abbott must restore funding to legislature to kickstart negotiations
Texas House Democrats breaking quorum in Washington held a press conference on Friday to mark the halfway point of the special session ending Aug. 6. Democrats said they were committed to staying another 15 days until the end of the special session in order to...
Voting rights ‘worth going to jail for,’ says Senfronia Thompson
In a virtual press conference with Texas House Democrats from Harris County, members gave updates about their activities in the nation’s Capitol. The lawmakers fled Austin last week in order to break quorum and prevent Republican legislation that would restrict access...
At long last, Abbott gets sucker-punched for voter suppression
Texas Democrats have shown incredible restraint. The minority party has fled the state to break quorum only three times, disrupting legislation that would help keep Republicans in power on every occasion. That’s no fickle standard — it may even be too...
An inside look at Texas Democrats in Washington with Trey Martinez Fischer
On Wednesday evening, the Signal spoke with state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, a San Antonio Democrat and longtime veteran of the Texas House who has joined fellow Texas Democrats in Washington to break quorum and fight for voting rights legislation. The...