The turnout rate dropped more than 8 percentage points compared to four years ago — a high-water mark for the Lone Star State.

Texas’ biggest single solution to providing enough water for its soaring population in the coming decades is using more surface water, including about two dozen new large reservoirs. But climate change has made damming rivers a riskier bet.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a rule earlier this week to list the prostrate milkweed, which lives along the Texas-Mexico border, as an endangered species. The rare plant is threatened in part by border security activities, scientists say.

Some landowners who sued the Trump administration say they aren't "just going to roll over and give up" now that Abbott has taken on a border wall project. Others say a wall is needed to protect people and property on the border.

After losing the county by 60 percentage points to Hillary Clinton, President Donald Trump lost it by just 5% to Joe Biden. But Stewart and other South Texas voters who spoke to The Texas Tribune said the Democratic Party as a whole does not. And a similar swing by Mexican Americans in South Texas offset some gains Democrats made in the state’s suburbs. I just think as a result, he didn’t make Latinos a priority until way later.”Some South Texas voters said they do not recognize the Democratic Party any more. Jay Peña, an attorney in Rio Grande City, said as a kid he was raised a Democrat like most people he knows.

Statewide, Texas Republicans outperformed the leader of their ticket. In several places along the Texas border, the opposite happened. If Trump had performed like the rest of the Republican ticket, the border votes wouldn’t be a topic of conversation. Some of the president’s border voters hung in there. But in Zapata County, just under 85% did, and in Starr County, about 79% made it.

In 28 counties in South Texas or near the border, Biden won by a combined 17 percentage points, according to election night returns. “While border counties in Texas are very Latino they are also very rural - and Trump improved his performance in rural communities by 400k votes across Texas,” Espinoza wrote. And Tuesday night’s results nationwide showed how Hispanic voters can’t be viewed as a monolith. Biden underperformed among Cuban Americans in the Miami area while building a strong coalition among Hispanic voters in Nevada. But in Texas, Villalba said, the Hispanic voters are much more inclined to be courted by Republicans.

Zapata County is not looking to reach an agreement, but rather challenge the authority of the federal government to do this." Now Zapata County is trying to protect a roughly four-acre tract of land thats home to a bird sanctuary in the town of San Ygnacio, which lies about 35 miles south of Laredo. We attract a lot of visitors to that area, its a habitat that we dont want necessarily to be disturbed, said Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell. Its important for the court to figure out what exactly is the plan for these areas, Rathmell said, adding that the commissioners court isn't against border security. The county also alleges the federal government failed to properly negotiate with county officials over a fixed price, as required by law.