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Vianna Davila

I’m deputy editor of the ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigative unit.

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What I Cover

As a reporter with the team, most of my coverage was focused on the military justice system and the intersection of state politics and power. I looked at how the Texas attorney general aggressively pursued politically charged lawsuits and investigations while repeatedly declining to represent state agencies in court, and I showed how the state’s governor exaggerated claims of noncitizens voting.

My Background

I’m now deputy editor with the ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigative initiative, after spending five years as a reporter on the team. As a reporter, my colleagues and I were finalists for the Toner Prize for Excellence in Local Political Reporting for our reporting that showed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s claims about noncitizens voting en masse were severely inflated and, in some cases, simply wrong. Our military justice reporting showed that Army soldiers accused of sexual assault were less than half as likely to be placed in pretrial confinement than those accused of offenses such as drug use and distribution. A year after our story on how hundreds of soldiers charged with violent crimes were administratively discharged from the military instead of facing a court-martial, the Army said it would no longer allow military commanders to decide on their own whether soldiers accused of certain serious crimes can leave the service rather than go on trial. My colleagues and I also received the Investigators Reporters & Editors Award for Investigations Triggered by Breaking News for our coverage of the deadly 2021 Texas winter storm.

I was previously a reporter with, and later editor of, The Seattle Times’ Project Homeless initiative, which examines the causes and effects of homelessness in the Seattle region. My work with the project was named some of the Best Solutions Journalism in 2018.

Before that, I spent a total of 13 years as a reporter for my hometown newspaper, the San Antonio Express-News, covering growth, city politics, regional transportation and criminal justice. My colleagues named me reporter of the year in 2013.

I took a brief break from the Express-News to get my master’s in journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, where I graduated with a specialty in documentary film. My master’s thesis film, “In His Blood,” about the lives of overnight television news photographers, was named the best documentary short at the 2009 San Antonio Film Festival. I graduated from Rice University in Houston with a degree in English. I’m a 10th-generation Tejana, a Texan of Mexican descent, which means my family has been in this land we now call Texas for a very long time.

A Trump DOJ Could Bring an End to the Yearslong Investigation of His Ally Ken Paxton

Donald Trump and the Texas attorney general have forged a friendship over the years, one that has been cemented in their shared political and legal struggles and their willingness to come to each other’s aid at times of upheaval.

She Supports Trump’s Anti-Immigration Policies. Texas Incorrectly Flagged Her as a “Noncitizen” on Its Voting Rolls.

Mary Howard-Elley is the 10th U.S. citizen identified by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and Votebeat whose registration was canceled after her citizenship was questioned. Her saga shows how tough it can be for eligible voters to get reinstated.

Greg Abbott Boasted That Texas Removed 6,500 Noncitizens From Its Voter Rolls. That Number Was Likely Inflated.

At least nine U.S. citizens across three Texas counties were incorrectly labeled as noncitizens or removed from voter rolls because they did not respond to letters asking about their citizenship.

Judge Denies Texas Attorney General’s Efforts to Use Consumer Protection Law to Shut Down a Migrant Shelter

Annunciation House is one of more than a dozen organizations Ken Paxton has investigated using the state’s powerful consumer protection laws.

Ken Paxton Has Used Consumer Protection Law to Target These Organizations

Attorneys general have increasingly used their power to pursue investigations targeting organizations whose work conflicts with their political views. Texas’ Paxton is among the most aggressive.

Texas’ Attorney General Is Increasingly Using Consumer Protection Laws to Pursue Political Targets

Ken Paxton has repeatedly used laws that are supposed to protect people from fraudulent or deceptive practices to pursue entities he disagrees with politically, including hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and LGBTQ+ groups.

Soldiers Charged With Violent Crimes Will Face More Scrutiny Before They Can Leave the Army

The change comes after reporting from ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and Military Times.

What ProPublica Is Doing About Diversity in 2024

Here is our annual report on the breakdown of our staff and how we’re working to create a more diverse news organization and more inclusive journalism community.

Under Ken Paxton, Texas’ Elite Civil Medicaid Fraud Unit Is Falling Apart

After the chief of the attorney general’s Civil Medicaid Fraud Division was forced out last year, two-thirds of attorneys have quit the unit, leaving it at its smallest size since Paxton took office.

The Many Times Ken Paxton Refused to Defend Texas Agencies in Court

The Texas attorney general said he’s “back to work” after his recent acquittal, but his office has repeatedly declined to fulfill one of its key duties: representing state agencies who are being sued.