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Californians: Help or hurt Texas?
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Californians are packing up and moving to Texas in droves. These transplants come for a variety of reasons — lower housing costs, the lack of a state income tax, and the pull of innovative industries from aerospace to technology. They also drive up real estate prices and bring big ideas on regulation, politics and education. How’s all this going for the Texans?
Join the Texas Tribune noon Central on Friday February 11th, for a provocative talk, “Californian: Are They Helping or Hurting Texas?”
Tribune Editor-in-Chief Sewell Chan moderates a conversation Kenneth P Miller, Rose Professor of State and Local Government and Director of the Rose Institute; Alexandra SuchBass, senior politics, technology and society correspondent for The Economist; Ben Rowen, Associate Editor for Texas Monthly; Jennifer Mercieca, Professor of Communications at Texas A&M University; and Sergio Garcia Rios, Assistant Professor of Government and Latino Studies at Cornell University; about what the influx of Californians means for the economy, population and politics in Texas.
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Sign up for the interview here
Through our speakers
Miller is Rose Professor of State and Local Government and Director of the Rose Institute at Claremont McKenna College. He is the author of Texas vs. California: A History of Their Struggle for the Future of America, published in 2020.
Suich Bass is senior correspondent for The Economist on politics, technology and society, covering a range of political and public issues. She is the author of a special report published in June 2019 arguing that America’s future can be understood by studying California and Texas. Previously, she ran The Economist’s coverage of technology in America for four years from San Francisco.
Rowen is the assistant news and politics editor at Texas Monthly. He recently published a story called “The Case for More Californians,” which encouraged Texans to accept California transplants. Before joining Texas Monthly, Rowen worked as an editor and fact-checker at Pacific Standard and The Atlantic.
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Mercieca is a professor of communications at Texas A&M University, where she writes about American political discourse, particularly as it relates to citizenship, democracy, and the presidency. She is the author of Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump, published in 2020.
Garcia-Rios is an assistant professor of government and Latino studies at Cornell University. His main research interests are voter turnout, political participation and public opinion, particularly among Latino immigrants.
Chan joined The Texas Tribune in October as Editor-in-Chief. He was previously assistant editor and then editor of the editorial page of the Los Angeles Times, where he oversaw reporting that won a 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing. Chan was a reporter and editor at The New York Times from 2004 to 2018 and began his career at the Washington Post, where he worked from 2000 to 2004.
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The conversation will also be available on-demand after the event at texastribune.org/events.
Tribune events are also supported by contributions from our founding investors and members. Although donors and corporate sponsors support Texas Tribune events, they play no role in determining the content, panellists, or questioning.
