T-Squared: We the Texans

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Texas is a place of superlatives. We’re the second-largest state, both in size and population. We lead in job creation. We produce and consume the most energy. And our pride — in our culture, in our uniqueness, in our diversity — is unsurpassed. As many of our politicians will tell you, if we were our own country we’d be the world’s eighth-largest economy and the ninth-largest democracy.

But like American democracy itself and democracies around the world, ours has room to improve. The most recent Texas Civic Health Index, a scorecard developed by the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at UT-Austin, found that Texas ranked 44th in voter registration. In 2020, Texas came in dead last in voter turnout: 51.3%, compared with the national average of 61.4%.

This year’s presidential and congressional elections offer a fresh opportunity to examine the state of democracy in the Lone Star State. Like other Americans, Texans across the political spectrum have expressed disenchantment with politics, dissatisfaction with their choices for president and distrust of government and of public institutions. Many Texans fear that their votes will not be accurately or fairly counted; some worry that they won’t even have access to the ballot box. In a democracy experiencing hyper-polarization, doubts about the reliability and relevance of mainstream news sources have risen.

That’s why the Tribune is taking a different approach to covering 2024 — which, everyone can agree, is a pivotal year for our democracy. We won’t be focusing on the horse race, the presidential campaign, or the latest clever (or outrageous) tweet. Instead, we’ll be listening deeply to Texans — visiting communities across the state to hear from ordinary citizens about their hopes and worries. We’ll look at the health of democracy as a whole, everything from voluntarism and charitable giving, to the quality of information Texans get about their local communities, to the everyday concerns — health, education, the environment — that affect Texans the most.

The Tribune is, at its heart, a nonpartisan institution devoted to democracy. We believe that a more engaged, better-informed, healthier, better-educated and more civically aware Texas will help bring about a more productive, more prosperous and more equitable Texas. We have no ideological leaning, nor do we publish an opinion section or take editorial positions. Our only loyalty is to Texans and to American democracy. So this year, we’re throwing the full weight of our organization into listening closely to Texans about their lives and communities and how they engage in public life.

We’re calling the initiative “We the Texans,” and everyone on our staff will be involved.

• Our newsroom will produce a series of stories throughout 2024 exploring how democracy is experienced and challenged in Texas. Stories will elevate the voices of regular voters, local officials and other marginalized participants across Texas, and address voter participation, polarization, declining local media, lack of trust in institutions and more. It will highlight challenges and solutions. You can read the first story, about a small city government that’s been ground to a halt after all five of its city council members resigned, today.
• Our journalists will also produce a collection of explainers and guides demystifying important parts of voting, elections and governance for Texans, giving readers the tools to navigate Texas’ sometimes disorienting systems and participate more actively in Texas’ democracy. That first entry also went live this week, a new voter’s guide to the March primary elections.
• Our audience team and product team will collaborate to experiment with new ways to engage with Texans, from the news junkies who read us daily to the potential new voters who need help navigating the state’s complicated politics. To start, today we’re asking readers to send us their questions about Texas government and politics and what they want to see from our elections coverage.
• But our attempts to engage with Texans won’t just happen from behind our desks. We plan to spread out across the state for a series of free events designed to connect with Texans in their communities and hear their concerns and success stories. We’ll use these learnings to power our We the Texans initiative throughout 2024.
• We’ll also host a daylong free, public event dedicated to bringing together Texas decision-makers, experts and everyday people for discussions on the state of our democracy in Texas, the power of civic engagement and how Texas institutions are working on behalf of the state’s residents. We’ll follow that with a series of free in-person and online events exploring various aspects of democracy. And we’ll crescendo at the 2024 Texas Tribune Festival with programs and interactive sessions dedicated to the topic and what we’ve learned.
• Lastly, we’ll turn our scrutiny inward, because we as members of the media play a major role in our democracy, too. And we know that we and our colleagues at other outlets still have a lot of work to do to earn the attention of everyone in the state. So we’ve partnered with Benjamin Toff, a researcher at the University of Minnesota and co-author of “Avoiding the News: Reluctant Audiences for Journalism,” and The Alliance for Trust in Media to experiment and test how we can reach and earn the trust of new audiences and fight fatigue among those readers who feel overwhelmed or dispirited by the news. We’ll then share what we learn with other news organizations around the country.

The stakes are high this year — for the Tribune, for Texas and for our country. We the Texans is our attempt to rise to the occasion. Interested in joining us? Subscribe to our We the Texans newsletter, launching in February, featuring stories from around the state, guides to help you be a more informed voter and events with experts, policymakers and our own journalists.

We the Texans is supported by Common Cause Texas and the Henry Luce Foundation.