Christopher Hooks

Jan 14, 2025 | texasmonthly.com | Christopher Hooks

Why should you, an upright, law-abiding person, pay attention to the Texas Legislature? It is a mess in the same way Sodom was a mess, and at the end of every session, for the ten years I covered it, I walked out with my gaze fixed ahead, certain I wouldn’t make the same mistake as Lot’s wife. But there are two good reasons you should look. If you’re not a Texan, you can view from afar one of the most important engines of conservative policy generation in the country.

Dec 13, 2024 | texasmonthly.com | Christopher Hooks

Former Speakers of the Texas House are starting to pile up like the wives of Henry VIII. Last week, Beaumont’s own Dade Phelan dropped his bid to reclaim the gavel—which means that when the lower chamber convenes in January, members will be under the authority of their fourth Speaker in six sessions, the fifth Speaker since the era of the permanent Republican majority began. If you’re trying to remember them all, it goes something like this: Beheaded, collapsed in scandal, retired, beheaded . . .

Nov 26, 2024 | texasmonthly.com | Christopher Hooks

If you hold a local political position, such as school board president, you can have an enormous and direct influence over the lives of many of your neighbors. Paradoxically, if you are at the very top of government, you can struggle to make any difference at all.

Oct 7, 2024 | prospect.org | Christopher Hooks

This article appears as part of a special issue of The American Prospect magazine on state policy divergence and aggression. Subscribe here. Goliad County, Texas, is a pleasant jurisdiction of about 7,000 people nestled in the state’s coastal plain, on an indirect driving route from San Antonio to Corpus Christi. It is generally unremarkable except for its historical sites, which recount centuries of resistance to central, and federal, authority.

Sep 12, 2024 | texasmonthly.com | Christopher Hooks

Beto O’Rourke spent Father’s Day six years ago in Tornillo, a tiny settlement about an hour southeast of El Paso. The federal government had set up a tent camp for migrant children who had been forcibly removed from their parents. This was at the high point of the backlash against the Trump administration’s family-separation policy.