Authors & Desks
Keep TX Red is organized around subject-matter desks and bureaus. Each byline below represents a team of reporters and editors covering a specific Texas beat.
- Newsroom
Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter is the byline used for general-assignment Keep TX Red coverage produced by the full newsroom. Stories under this byline are edited by senior staff and reviewed against our editorial standards before publication.
Breaking newsGeneral assignment - Border & Rio Grande Valley
Border Bureau
The Border Bureau covers the 1,254-mile Texas–Mexico border — from El Paso and the Big Bend down through the Rio Grande Valley. Reporting tracks Operation Lone Star, Texas DPS deployments, county sheriffs along the river, and the policy fights between Austin and Washington over enforcement.
Operation Lone StarRio Grande ValleyDPSFederal–state friction - Statewide politics & campaigns
Politics Desk
The Politics Desk covers statewide races, the Texas Republican primary calendar, and the shifting coalitions inside both parties. We focus on what drives Texas voters in March — when, in most districts, the real election is decided.
Statewide racesPrimary politicsPollingGOP coalition - Local civics & school boards
Lone Star Civics
Lone Star Civics is Keep TX Red's local-government desk: school boards, city councils, MUDs, and the May elections that decide them. Coverage centers on how Texans can actually influence the governments closest to their kitchen table.
ISD boardsMunicipal electionsCivic engagement - Capitol & Legislature
Austin Bureau
The Austin Bureau covers the Texas Capitol — the House, the Senate, the Governor's office, and the special sessions that increasingly carry the most consequential bills. We track committee calendars, floor amendments, and the conservative caucus's leverage on leadership.
Texas HouseTexas SenateSpecial sessionsGovernor's office - Data journalism
Data Desk
The Data Desk builds Keep TX Red's interactive tools and analytical reporting from primary-source filings — TEA, the Texas Comptroller, county appraisal districts, and the Secretary of State. We publish methodology with every dataset so readers can audit the numbers.
Property tax dataISD spendingElection results - Energy & the grid
Energy Desk
The Energy Desk covers the Permian, the Eagle Ford, ERCOT, the Public Utility Commission, and the Railroad Commission — the agencies and basins that make Texas the energy capital of North America. We report on grid reliability, permitting, and federal pressure on Texas producers.
Permian BasinERCOTRailroad CommissionPipeline policy - Property tax & local spending
Taxpayer Desk
The Taxpayer Desk exists to arm Texas homeowners with the data and procedural know-how to push back on rising property tax bills. We explain appraisal protests, exemptions, ISD bond ballots, and where every line on your tax bill actually goes.
Homestead exemptionAppraisal protestsISD M&O ratesBond elections - Government & process explainers
Civics Desk
The Civics Desk writes the evergreen explainers: how a bill becomes Texas law, what an Attorney General actually does, how to read a posted commissioners court agenda. Plain-English government for Texans who want to engage but were never taught the rules.
How Texas government worksVoter rightsSunshine laws - Constitutional rights
Liberty Desk
The Liberty Desk covers the constitutional rights at the core of Texas's conservative identity — carry law, religious liberty, property rights, and the limits of government power. Reporting is grounded in statute, case law, and the Texas Constitution.
Second AmendmentReligious libertyProperty rightsFree speech - Elections & ballots
Elections Desk
The Elections Desk tracks every election Texans actually vote in — federal, state, ISD, city, MUD, and constitutional amendments. We publish the calendars, ID rules, and district maps Texans need to cast an informed ballot.
Primaries & runoffsVoter IDPolling placesBallot integrity - K-12 & higher education
Education Desk
The Education Desk covers Texas K-12 — ISD boards, the Texas Education Agency, curriculum, and the school choice debate. Coverage emphasizes the policy levers parents actually control and the May elections that decide them.
ISDsSchool choiceCurriculumTEA - Policy analysis
Policy Desk
The Policy Desk handles long-form policy analysis on water rights, regulation, federalism, and the structural questions that don't fit a daily news cycle. Sourcing leans on statute, agency reports, and public-records work.
Water rightsRegulatory policyFederalism