Top political stories of 2023: Houston Democratic Party infighting and Texas GOP rifts

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- On an all-new episode of This Week in Texas, we look back at the top stories for the year 2023.

ABC13 speaks with political insiders Odus Evbagharu and Court Koenning and discusses the developments from Austin to Houston and Harris County. We also explore the dysfunction in both political parties at the local level and in the state legislature.

"I think political insiders knew there would be a rift within the Republican [Party of Texas], but I think folks paying outside, didn't realize so many folks would get a primary opponent or that Ken Paxton would be out there going against incumbent house reps who voted yes on the impeachment [of Attorney General Ken Paxton]."

Koenning added, "And now we've discovered the Democrats infighting that's here locally. When we figure out who has majority control of any one party, [we] find the infighting, where they circle the wagons and shoot inward. You've got Lina Hidalgo and Kim Ogg and the commissioner's court who sided more with the candidate who didn't win the mayor's race than the one that prevailed."

We also look ahead to what we think the big stories of 2024 will turn out to be.

Missed an episode? Catch up on previous episodes of This Week in Texas here.

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