On Election Day, Texas voters have their say on who represents them, from the White House to the state House.
Join us at 9 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 7 at the Tribune’s Studio 919 in Austin or online as we break down the results of the 2024 Election and what it all means for Texas.
Texas Tribune Editor-in-Chief Matthew Watkins moderates the conversation with the Tribune's managing editor for enterprise and politics, Rebekah Allen, and Tribune politics reporters James Barragán and Zach Despart.
Complimentary coffee will be available.
This in-person event will be live streamed for virtual attendees and will be available to watch on demand at texastribune.org/events.
Email us at events@texastribune.org
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Watkins began serving as editor in chief of the Tribune in September 2024. Matthew is a Texas native, born in Houston and raised in Austin. He attended public schools and graduated from Texas A&M University. He’s spent nearly two decades in Texas journalism, and previously worked at The Eagle in Bryan-College Station and The Dallas Morning News. Matthew joined the Tribune in 2015 has held various roles, including higher education reporter, breaking news editor and politics editor. As a managing editor, Matthew has guided the Tribune’s award-winning journalism and other reporting of statewide significance, including coverage of elections and legislative sessions to major breaking news and ambitious storytelling about the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Texas-Mexico border, the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, the impeachment of Texas attorney general and battles over public education. He lives in Austin with his wife, Susan, and their two children.
Barragán is a politics reporter for The Texas Tribune with a focus on accountability reporting. Prior to joining the Tribune, Barragán worked as a statehouse reporter for The Dallas Morning News and had previous stints at the Austin American-Statesman and the Los Angeles Times. In 2021, he was a finalist for the Toner Prize for Excellence in Local Reporting for his coverage of Texas politics during the COVID-19 pandemic. Barragán was selected as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in 2023-24. A Southern California native, James received his bachelor’s degree in history from UCLA. He is based in Austin and is a native Spanish speaker.
Despart is a politics reporter for The Texas Tribune. He investigates power — who wields it, how and to what ends — through the lens of Texas government. He has extensively covered the Uvalde school shooting, including a groundbreaking investigation on the role the gunman’s rifle played in the disastrous police response. He previously covered Harris County for the Houston Chronicle, where he reported on corruption, elections, disaster preparedness and the region’s recovery from Hurricane Harvey. An upstate New York native, he received his bachelor’s degree in political science and film from the University of Vermont.
Allen is the managing editor for enterprise and politics at The Texas Tribune, where she previously served as the politics editor and the news editor. Before joining the Tribune, she worked as a statehouse reporter for The Dallas Morning News. Previously, she was an investigative reporter and statehouse reporter for The Advocate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and an education reporter at the Pensacola News Journal in Florida.
Cisneros is chair of the infrastructure investment firm American Triple I. He is also vice chair of the board of directors and equity owner of Shank Williams Cisneros & Co. LLC and principal of Siebert Williams Shank & Co. LLC. He was mayor of San Antonio from 1981-89 and secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Bill Clinton from 1993-97.