As the old saying goes, "Politics in Texas is a contact sport," and as native of the Lone Star State, it has captured my fascination from a young age.
As a child growing up in Beaumont, I remember staying up late and listening to my mother and aunts sitting around the kitchen table, chewing the fat over politics from the White House to the K.C. Hall. When my family moved to the Dallas suburbs, my favorite part of the day was the after school visit with the political columnist who lived across the street.
After graduating with a journalism degree from the University of Houston, I worked as co-host for a major morning radio show in Houston. It wasn't news, but it taught me the powerful role of media and the importance of the personal connection between broadcaster and audience.
My first job in television was working as a one-man newsroom for KRHD in College Station, where I covered the contentious race between Bill Flores and Chet Edwards for Texas' 17th Congressional District. I next moved to Waco, where I anchored the weekend Texas Report for KXXV and covered everything from commissioners courts to the Texas Legislature. When the opportunity to move to Austin to cover politics from the Capital City presented itself, it was my dream come true.
Texas was once its own nation, and in many ways still operates like one. Because of that, many look to our state as the measuring stick for others and for the United States as a whole. This job is a public trust, and I am honored and proud to serve my fellow Texans as your eyes and ears inside the Capitol.
