Lead Stories

Is Dan Patrick’s new consulting gig legal? Experts say it’s unclear.

Less than a week after losing his reelection bid, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick launched a political consulting firm to help clients navigate the upcoming legislative session. “I’m going to focus on getting our conservative pro-business bills continued to be passed,” Patrick said Monday, when announcing his next steps on a conservative radio show. “And knock down some of these crazy things that are going to come out of the left in the Texas House over to the Senate.” Ethics experts say the unusual move to launch a consulting career while still in office could conflict with state law. Officeholders cannot register as lobbyists for two years after their most recent political donation, which for Patrick was in October.

While legislators are allowed to work in the private sector, a state law says their private work shouldn’t create a substantial conflict with the public interest. Patrick’s spokesman Steven Aranyi said Patrick won’t sign any clients until he leaves office Jan. 19. The firm’s new website includes a disclaimer that says Patrick won’t engage in lobbying, only “strategic consulting." But lawyers said it will be hard not to cross the line. To refrain from lobbying, he can’t have “direct communications” with the state’s legislative or executive branches to influence bills or administrative actions. Lobbyists must register with the state and disclose their clients and how much they’re being paid, while consultants do not. “His whole draw is that he knows everybody, and he’s still got power, and he has a personal cell phone of every senator that's existed in the last 15 years,” said political attorney Andrew Cates. “So, the idea that he would not be personally directly communicating with anybody is a hard pill to swallow.”

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Blue wave could swamp Texas Supreme Court if GOP justice bails: report

A Republican on the Texas Supreme Court is leaving open the possibility of stepping down early, which Bloomberg Law reports would likely flip control of the court to Democrats. Justice Debra Lehrmann told the outlet she hasn’t ruled out retiring before her term is up. Republicans currently hold a one-seat majority on the high court. Four GOP justices lost to Democratic challengers in last week’s elections, as part of a massive blue wave that saw every statewide partisan office up for election won by Democrats. A mid-term vacancy from Lehrmann's theoretical retirement would be filled by Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa, the Democrat who defeated Gov. Greg Abbott. Democratic control of the Texas Supreme Court could have monumental policy implications on everything from redistricting to voting rights to abortion rights.

Lehrmann, the longest-serving justice on the court, is one of the most moderate of the Republican wing. She was the sole dissenter in a 2024 ruling upholding a GOP-passed ban on certain types of gender-affirming care for children, calling the law "cruel" and "unconstitutional." In addition to their wins in statewide office, Texas Democrats gained control of the state House of Representatives, though they came up short of a majority in the state Senate, potentially setting off deadlock and drama in the upcoming session. Senate Republicans are already discussing removing long-standard powers of the lieutenant governor to direct the chamber, now that office will be held by Democrat Vikki Goodwin.

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Democratic senators show signs of discontent with Schumer

Democratic-aligned senators across the ideological spectrum expressed discontent with party Senate leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday as their sweeping midterm victories ignited calls for bold action. Still, it wasn’t clear whether Schumer is in danger of losing his position as party leader. Allies of Schumer, who has led Senate Democrats for nearly a decade, projected confidence he’ll remain the top Senate Democrat after they won big victories last week. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a progressive independent who caucuses with Democrats, and mainline Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin stood together Tuesday to argue Schumer hasn’t met the moment.

“I think whoever wants to run this caucus should come forward with a plan on how they’re going to govern differently, what they’re going to do in the first 100 days to put money in people’s pockets,” Slotkin said. The Michigan senator said she is a “no” on re-electing Schumer as party leader unless he provides a “concrete plan” of action. Sanders bluntly called for replacing the Democratic leader. “I like Chuck,” Sanders said, praising his work ethic. “But in my view, the time is now for change.” Many Democratic party activists have criticized Schumer for being too close to corporate donors and too cautious in confronting President Donald Trump. There is also pressure for generational change away from the 75-year-old New Yorker. Several incoming Democratic senators — including Adam Hamilton of Kansas, Troy Jackson of Maine and Annie Andrews of South Carolina — have said they wouldn’t support keeping Schumer in his leadership post. Newly elected Senator Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan said he would prefer Progressive Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland as party leader. Still, Schumer occupies an advantageous position. Democrats, who have 47 Senate seats currently, will have at least 54 in the new year — and possibly as many as 56, as races in Alaska and Mississippi have yet to be called with Democratic candidates leading. And it would be historically unusual to change leaders after a big election win.

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Texas Lt. Gov.-elect Vikki Goodwin announces transition team including 2 former GOP state senators

Texas Lt. Gov.-elect Vikki Goodwin announced her transition team to help her prepare to take office in January, after she defeated the current Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick last week. Goodwin held a press conference at the Texas State Capitol in Austin on Tuesday. Like with Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa, who announced her transition team last week, Goodwin’s transition team is bipartisan. “Over the past week, we have put together an exceptional transition team that will help me build a great staff and hit the ground running,” Goodwin said. “We're focused on ensuring the Senate will operate effectively, and my office stands ready to work with all senators to accomplish the business of the state.”

The transition team includes two former Republican state senators, Tommy Williams and Kel Seliger. Former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips, a Republican; Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, a former Democratic state senator; and former Democratic state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte are also part of the group. Seliger said he believes it is important that Goodwin has a bipartisan transition team. “Starting on January 19, 181 members of the legislature, lieutenant governor and the governor all have issues of importance to them and agenda, and if they're going to be successful in any measure, they have to cooperate, and hopefully that cooperation begins through this transition,” Seliger said. During his time as Lt. Gov., Patrick has tailored the Senate rules to give him the power to decide which bills reach the floor.

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State Stories

After a historic blue wave, what's next for the 'Texas Miracle'?

Opportunity Austin Chairman Casey Dobson, after a "blue tsunami" crashed over Texas during the Nov. 3 midterm elections, assured that Democrats? in the longtime conservative stronghold "want the Central Texas economy to grow and prosper." "I should know. I am one," said Dobson, the economic development leader who is also a seasoned trial attorney and partner at Austin-based Scott Douglass & McConnico LLP. That assurance came hours after an election that proved to be a historic one for Texas. Democrats won some statewide seats for the first time in more than three decades, and in the process took over a large block of political control at the federal and state levels.

The Austin Business Journal spoke to more than two dozen sources, most on background, in the hours after the election results to gauge what impacts they could have on economic development in Texas. The resounding answer was that while it's still too early to know for sure, the state's strong business reputation, good economic climate and approach to courting investments should mean companies continue to flock Texas and Austin regardless of who's in charge. "There shouldn't be, and I don't expect there to be, a lot of difference because we are so good at local economic development," said Carlton Schwab, who for nearly 30 years served as the president and CEO of the Texas Economic Development Council. Abbott and his team were very hands-on with economic development. But Texas has always been a state built on collaboration that starts at the local levels, Schwab emphasized, with infrastructure on that front that's been built for 40 years. "I think the opportunity for that is there and I think we are just uniquely situated to where that can happen and will continue to happen," he said. "I still think that in most states, the governor should be the No. 1 salesperson for the state, and I think that the governor-elect will be able to do that." Change breeds uncertainty, but it would largely be met with optimism in the Austin area. Gov.-elect Hinojosa, Senator-elect James Talarico and a number of other statewide and local electeds are from the area and have long-held relationships with economic development leaders. They've also supported previous initiatives. "Three Austinites just got elected to the top offices in Texas. They have supported our efforts to grow the Central Texas economy throughout their careers and I expect that to continue," Dobson said in a statement.

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Who could replace Mike Morath at leader of the Texas Education Agency?

Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa has been clear for months that she will fire Texas education Commissioner Mike Morath on her first day. Whoever replaces him could be in line for one of the new administration’s toughest jobs. The first Democrat-appointed Texas education commissioner in 35 years is likely to be someone who already has credibility with superintendents and Republican state senators alike. It’s someone who can navigate politics and byzantine school finances. And it’s someone who might be willing to take a pay cut to do it. “The job is a grind. You’ve got to be prepared for it,” said former education commissioner Robert Scott, who served under former Gov. Rick Perry.

Hinojosa has not said who she’s eyeing for the job, but at her first news conference last week she said her team was "actively interviewing people” for the position. So far, the only hint Hinojosa has given about her selection is that it must be an “educator.” That’s partly a dig at Morath, a software developer who served on the Dallas ISD Board of Trustees before being tapped by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2015. Since then, Morath has dramatically expanded the power of the commissioner and the Texas Education Agency he leads, such as imposing a new A-F school accountability rating system and creating the nation’s first line of state-created curriculum, known as Bluebonnet. The size of TEA has also grown, and the agency’s takeovers of school districts have angered local officials across the state. Undoing — or sharply limiting — Morath’s changes is likely going to be the primary mission for his replacement. Hinojosa, who got her start in politics on the Austin ISD Board of Trustees, has pledged to return school districts to local control and scrap the state testing system. Interviews with more than a dozen top school officials in Texas describe the ideal candidate as someone with experience leading large organizations, and someone who can navigate a slew of political constituencies.

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Joy Sewing: Black women helped win a historic Texas victory. Don’t forget it.

(Joy Sewing is an award-winning news columnist for the Houston Chronicle, reporting and opining on issues, including social justice, politics, education, health care and inequity.) Like so many Texans celebrating Tuesday’s historic election, Frida Adame took to social media to share her excitement. The election broke the Republican chokehold on Texas and delivered a sweeping Democratic victory for the first time in decades. But Adame had a special message for Black voters: “To the Black women and men who showed up for us: Thank you. Y’all stood on business and I love you all,” she said. “As an immigrant and as a Latina, thank you. You more than anyone else came in and showed up for us. Right now, as a DACA recipient, I feel hope.” I've interviewed Adame several times over the years about her fight for immigrant rights. She is a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, who earned her protection at age 19. Now she’s 30, using her voice to advocate loudly and unapologetically for other immigrants.

Adame’s gratitude speaks to something that deserves a closer look: the role Black voters, particularly Black women, played in this election. In the governor’s race, 90% of Black women voted for Gina Hinojosa, compared to 70% of Latina women and 42% of white women, according to a CNN voter poll. Among men, about 85% of Black men supported Hinojosa, compared with 59% of Latino men and 38% of white men. Those numbers reinforce a point I explored in February, when I wrote about how Black women continue to be overwhelmingly loyal Democrats, even when the party does not demonstrate the same loyalty in return. Take what has happened to Black women in the workplace. More than 300,000 Black women were laid off, pushed out or left their jobs in 2025 as the Trump administration thinned out the federal workforce. Yet there was hardly a whisper from elected officials about the scale of that economic setback and how it impacts the overall economy. At the start of 2025, Black women had an unemployment rate of 5.4%. By the year's end, it increased to 7.3%, the highest rate in four years.

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Texas blue wave prompts San Antonio Mayor Jones to revisit city's legislative agenda

Less than two weeks after San Antonio City Council approved its priorities for the upcoming state legislative session, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is calling for changes to the agenda following Democrats’ sweeping victories in the Nov. 3 election. In a memo to council members Thursday, Jones outlined six additional legislative priorities, including expanding Medicaid, repealing state laws restricting local government authority and removing barriers to voting and reproductive healthcare. The proposals represent a shift from the city’s previously approved legislative agenda, which largely focused on protecting San Antonio’s publicly-owned utilities, securing funding for major infrastructure projects and preserving local control. “Elections matter, and as we prepare for the 90th Legislative Session, we are going to ask for more,” Jones said in a video posted to social media. “We have not had this opportunity in a generation, and we have some time to make up for.”

The push comes after Democrats won control of the Texas House and statewide offices, including the governor’s office, where Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated Republican incumbent Greg Abbott. Republicans retained control of the Texas Senate, meaning many of the proposed changes would still require bipartisan support to become law. Jones has asked her colleagues to submit proposed amendments to District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, who chairs the city’s Intergovernmental Relations Committee, before it convenes to develop an amendment to the legislative agenda. The amendment is expected to go before City Council for approval Dec. 3. Lawmakers began prefiling bills Monday ahead of the legislative session, which begins Jan. 12. Speaking on Texas Public Radio’s The Source on Monday, Jones said the election results present an opportunity for cities to pursue policies that have faced opposition from Republican state leadership for decades. “I don’t think the message from Tuesday was, you know, ‘hey, take your time, go slow,'” Jones said. “No, I think that the message was on Tuesday was we want change and we wanted it yesterday.” At the top of her proposed additions is expanding Medicaid coverage to approximately 1 million Texans and addressing a backlog of more than 210,000 applications awaiting processing by the state.

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George W. and Laura Bush voted for Highland Park Methodist to leave the UMC

Two of Highland Park Methodist Church’s more famous members quietly weighed in on the conflict between the church and the United Methodist denomination in a New York Times piece published late last week. On October 25 and 26, 4,775 of the church’s approximately 15,000 members cast votes, with the majority voting to leave the denomination. Among those who voted to leave were former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush. “The Bushes ‘are grateful to Reverend Matt Tuggle for so faithfully guiding the congregation through these rough waters,’” Bush’s chief of staff, Freddy Ford, told the Times. Tuggle, Highland Park Methodist Church senior minister, has become the face of the effort to leave the denomination, along with former senior minister Paul Rasmussen.

The 110-year-old church on Mockingbird Lane voted 77 days after the United Methodist’s Horizon Texas Conference sued the church after it changed its bylaws and articles of incorporation in 2022 and again in 2023, removing references to the United Methodist Church, the Horizon Texas Conference, and the denomination’s governing principles known as the Book of Discipline. On October 29, Horizon Texas Conference Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. announced that Tuggle and Rasmussen had been “reappointed…from all positions” at Highland Park United Methodist Church. He appointed Rev. Andy Lewis as senior pastor, and those who wished to remain in the denomination began meeting as Highland Park UMC at University Park UMC that weekend.

Read this article at D Magazine - Subscribers Only

Ibanez defeats Gates, Morgan survives 105-vote challenge in Fort Bend House races

Democrat Sandy Ibanez has defeated Republican state Rep. Gary Gates, while Republican state Rep. Matt Morgan narrowly won reelection by just 105 votes in two closely contested Texas House races that remained undecided for days after the Nov. 3 election. The latest unofficial results from Fort Bend County, updated Nov. 9, show all precincts reporting in both races. The results have not yet been formally certified. Ibanez defeated Gates by 1,608 votes in House District 28, ending the incumbent's bid for a fourth term. In House District 26, Morgan held off Democratic challenger Elizabeth “Eliz” Markowitz in a contest decided by just 0.14 percentage points. Both races became clearer as additional ballots were counted following Election Day.

Ibanez, a real estate agent, received 45,529 votes, or 50.90%, compared with 43,921 votes, or 49.10%, for Gates, a developer and property manager who was first elected to the Texas House in 2020. The 1,608-vote victory represents a significant political shift in a district Gates won comfortably two years earlier, when he received approximately 60.6% of the vote. House District 28 includes Fulshear, most of Rosenberg, much of Sugar Land and Weston Lakes. Gates had been seeking his fourth term in the Legislature. His defeat means the district will have a new representative when the Legislature convenes in January. Morgan, seeking his second term, survived an exceptionally close challenge from Markowitz. The final reported count showed Morgan with 36,818 votes, or 50.07%, compared with Markowitz's 36,713 votes, or 49.93%. Morgan thanked his supporters after the additional votes were counted. “The results are final. I am honored by the people of HD 26 to send me to Austin to represent them,” Morgan wrote on social media. “Thank you to all the voters, volunteers, and most importantly my family. I am looking forward to serving.” Markowitz acknowledged the disappointment of losing but emphasized how close her campaign came to unseating an incumbent in a district she described as a Republican stronghold. “Y’all, this is not the outcome we worked for, and I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t hurt,” Markowitz wrote in a lengthy social media statement.

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Entergy Texas exec shares plan to meet industrial, residential growth in Southeast Texas

Stuart Barrett has been going to work for Entergy for nearly 30 years. And even after all that time, the scale of the work his employer performs is the spark that keeps him going. “We own the generation, we own the high-voltage lines, the low-voltage lines, the interaction with the customer,” Barrett said. “I’m a product of that — 29 years learning various disciplines within the company. Every three to five years, you can do something different but still work for Entergy, so you’re always learning.” And Barrett walks the walk — he’s currently vice president of customer service for Entergy Texas, but he also was director of resource planning and market operations and previously held roles within the broader Entergy Corp., headquartered in Louisiana.

What are some of Entergy’s near-term ambitions in Texas? "We’re seeing significant growth in Southeast Texas in residential, commercial and industrial (spaces). From a short-term perspective, what we’re having to do is build infrastructure. We have a marketing plan called STEP Ahead, and what that stands for is Southeast Texas Energy Plan. That is how much generation we need to add to be able to meet the peak loads of our customers while maintaining a focus on affordability. We’re about 8%-10% below the regional average from a cost perspective, and part of that reason is we are strategic and comprehensive in how we invest and when we invest," he said. The HBJ then asked, where and when have you noticed that growth taking off? "The past five years coming out of Covid-19, we're seeing tremendous growth, and we're seeing business investment because of the business in the state of Texas. It's a good place to raise a family. You get more for your money than other parts of the country. I don't have a specific number for you, but we're consistently seeing the growth, and therefore, requiring more infrastructure to serve it."

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Tarrant Libertarians take GOP ballot board fight to Texas Supreme Court

The Tarrant County Libertarian Party elevated its complaint about Republicans’ unfair advantage on the Early Voting Ballot Board to the Texas Supreme Court. The petition asks the court to balance the number of members across the three participating political parties, as required by state election code. Texas election code gives the ballot board the responsibility to process early voting results. Chairs of the participating political parties — which in Tarrant County are the Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians — submit a list of nominees to the county election board to approve or deny the individuals. The county election board includes the Democrat and Republican Party chairs along with elections administrator Clint Ludwig, Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare and Republican Sheriff Bill Waybourn.

When the county election board convened in July, it approved nine members from each party to the ballot board. On Oct. 29, it added 20 more members: 14 Republicans, three Democrats and three Libertarians. The board did not discuss why the additional members were necessary, but it did clarify with the body’s attorney that it could approve the unequal lists as provided by the parties. The Tarrant County Libertarian Party disagrees with that notion and asked the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth to limit the number of Republicans on the ballot board to 12, the number of approved Democrats and Libertarians. The court denied the request on Election Day without an opinion. Now, the Libertarians are escalating their case to the Supreme Court of Texas in an emergency motion. The filers have asked the court to respond by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, and rule by noon Thursday, Nov. 12. If the court agrees with the Tarrant County Libertarian Party, the Republicans would have 11 fewer members on the ballot board and the same amount as the other two participating parties. The change would be in place for any ballot board work required, including a hand count audit, after the Commissioners Court canvasses the votes on Friday. Sean Sparkman, chair of the Tarrant County Libertarian Party, said though there is not much work left to do on the Nov. 3 election, the legal action would set a precedent for the rest of the state that there can’t be an unequal number of appointees across parties added to the ballot board in future elections. “It’s sort of fire prevention instead of firefighting,” Sparkman said. “We don’t want to have to go back after an election, and there are questions about the integrity of the election. We don’t want to have to go back and audit it. We want to make sure that we’re clear from the beginning and accountable.”

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Can the blue wave turn the tide against border wall construction in Texas?

Border communities voted in overwhelming numbers for Democratic candidates in the midterm elections last Tuesday. Come January, every U.S. House member representing the U.S.-Mexico border—from San Diego to Brownsville—will be a Democrat. After a three-decade drought, Democrats swept all 18 statewide races in Texas. Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa and Sen.-elect James Talarico were among the Democratic candidates who vowed to fight the border wall in Big Bend. Now comes the challenge of delivering on their campaign promises. While Democrats chalked up major victories in the election, the Trump administration still has the funding and statutory authority to continue border wall construction through ecologically sensitive areas, including Big Bend.

For more than a decade, Donald Trump has vowed to complete border wall construction from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act turbocharged these efforts, appropriating $46.5 billion for border barriers. Advocates on the border said in interviews that Democrats must seize the tools at their disposal to push back on border wall construction. With majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, Democrats will have the authority to investigate Department of Homeland Security officials and compel them to provide contracts for border wall construction that have been confidential. In Austin, state legislators have already introduced bills for the upcoming session, when Democrats will control the state House for the first time in 24 years, to prohibit border wall construction in state parks. Incoming Texas Land Commissioner Ben Flores, a Democrat, told Inside Climate News he would not grant access to land managed by his office in the Big Bend sector for border wall construction. “There is a renewed sense of hope and optimism,” said Martin Castro, watershed science director at the Rio Grande International Study Center in Laredo. “We had been telling landowners to please hold out until the midterms to potentially turn the tide against this project.”

Read this article at Inside Climate News - Subscribers Only

What effect will incoming Democrats have on Y'all Street?

On Monday, the Texas Stock Exchange and Texas Capital Banchsares Inc. celebrated the latter’s new ticker symbol, TXCP, with a flashy closing bell event at Klyde Warren Park. While the Dallas-based Y’all Street pioneers have each held bell ringing ceremonies for arguably bigger milestones, none of the past events have delivered quite as much spectacle as Monday did, complete with red, white and blue daytime fireworks, catering from Mi Cocina and live music from the Josh Abbott Band. Another difference: Monday was the first bell ringing event in Blexas.

Though yet to be sworn in, Democrats will assume the reins of power in a bluer version of Texas, winning the governor’s office, the House and more in last week’s election after decades of Republican governance. Many Y’all Street allies, including its architect Gov. Greg Abbott, weren’t reelected, leaving questions of what could happen to the North Texas financial sector’s recent boom once the new administration, led by Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa, begins implementing its agenda. “We have a long history of working with both sides of the aisle on legislation and regulation. I’m excited about the new administration. I was supportive of Abbott and everything he did for the economy. He built one of the best economies in the country, actually in the world, there’s no denying that,” Texas Capital chairman, president and CEO Rob Holmes said in an interview Monday. “I fully expect the new administration to embrace the good things that the governor’s done, and then maybe consider other things that would certainly support [Hinojosa’s] agenda, but I don’t see it being detrimental to the economy whatsoever.”TXSE declined in an email last week to comment on the results of the election, as did competitor Nasdaq Texas, while NYSE Texas didn’t respond. However, TXSE founder and CEO James H. Lee appeared to address it with his on-stage remarks at the bell ringing Monday.

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Texas lawmaker renews push to expand medical examiners

A renewed effort to overhaul how Texas investigates unexpected deaths is underway, with a Dallas lawmaker filing legislation Monday that would require more counties to establish medical examiner offices instead of relying on elected justices of the peace. House Bill 864, filed by Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, would lower the population threshold requiring counties to operate a medical examiner office from 2.5 million to 1 million residents. It would also clarify how counties can work together to create regional medical examiner districts. The proposal comes after similar legislation nearly passed last session and follows a recent legislative hearing where medical experts and justices of the peace described a death investigation system struggling to keep up with Texas’ growing population.

The proposal revives a measure that came close to becoming law during the 2025 legislative session. Senate Bill 1370, authored by Sen. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, sought similar changes. Anchia carried the proposal in the House and filed an identical companion bill. The legislation passed the Senate and advanced through House committees but died before receiving final approval in the lower chamber. Afterward, Anchia told KXAN the state needed to continue studying the issue, particularly the shortage of physicians qualified to conduct forensic death investigations. “I think we should have an interim charge to look at this issue to bring more medical examiners to the state,” Anchia said. House Speaker Dustin Burrows subsequently included the issue among the interim charges assigned to lawmakers ahead of the 2027 session. Most of Texas’ 254 counties rely on elected justices of the peace to investigate deaths, determine their cause and manner and decide whether autopsies are necessary. Unlike medical examiners, who are physicians with specialized forensic training, justices of the peace are not required to have medical or death investigation experience before taking office. They also handle numerous other court-related responsibilities.

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Mayor's immigration order could ease workforce fears after a year of employees avoiding work

After Democrats swept the midterm statewide elections this month, Mayor John Whitmire ordered the Houston Police Department to reduce its collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The move could help local businesses after a year of workers fearing to come to work, a prominent immigration attorney told the Houston Business Journal. Whitmire issued an executive order on Nov. 6 that ordered police to contact ICE only if they arrest someone who has an administrative Immigration and Customs Enforcement warrant versus a lesser administrative warrant. “For example, if our police officers pull someone over for a minor traffic infraction and they write a citation, that person receives a citation and goes about their day. HPD will no longer contact ICE if they have an administrative warrant and they are not arrested,” Police Chief Noe Diaz said.

The Houston Business Journal asked the mayor’s office if he was considering further action or expecting pushback from the current state government or federal government. Whitmire’s office of communications provided this statement: “Mayor Whitmire stands by his executive order as the city’s approach to addressing these challenges. He believes that amending the ordinance to include additional provisions would put the City of Houston at even greater risk of violating state law. We must have confidence in the new leadership in Austin to revisit SB4 and in Congress to pursue meaningful immigration reform.” Texas Senate Bill 4, which created state penalties for illegal immigration, was passed in 2023 but because of court challenges was not fully implemented until May 2026. Earlier this year, Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to pull $114 million in public safety funding from Houston after a city ordinance initially directed officers to wait 30 minutes for ICE to arrest someone with an administrative warrant rather than the Houston Police Department making the arrest. The city removed that language in response. On Nov. 9, three members of the Houston City Council — Tiffany Thomas, Edward Pollard and Alejandra Salinas — put forth a Prop A proposal to codify Whitmire’s executive order so that it would stand no matter who is mayor.

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National Stories

House Republicans thwart Massie’s effort to impeach Hegseth

House Republicans blocked the impeachment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for US military actions in the Middle East and Latin America, effectively killing the effort until Democrats take over Congress in January. GOP leaders forced a procedural vote to block quick consideration of the impeachment measure introduced on Monday by Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie. That procedural step, which sends the measure to the Judiciary Committee where it’s expected to languish, passed 211-204. President Donald Trump hailed the vote, saying in a social media post that Democrats and Massie had “miserably FAILED!” in their attempt to oust Hegseth. He added that the House’s action amounted to the “EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot.”

Massie accused Hegseth of waging the Iran war without congressional authorization, committing extrajudicial killings through strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, ignoring laws designed to minimize civilian casualties including with a strike on an Iranian school, and unlawfully kidnapping Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro. Massie has regularly sparred with the president and lost his Republican primary to a Trump-backed candidate earlier this year. Hegseth called a rare Pentagon news conference early Tuesday and cast the impeachment motion as a politicized attack on US troops and on lawful military operations ordered by Trump. The president has repeatedly offered support for Hegseth, signaling that the embattled defense secretary’s job was safe for now. “The reality is, we’re not indicting him for being bad at his job. In fact, he was very effective at killing school children in Iran,” Massie told reporters Monday. “He was very effective at extrajudicial killings. There’s no argument in these impeachment articles that he’s ineffective. The argument here is that he’s broken laws, and he’s violated the Constitution. And so, that’s the question put in front of my colleagues.”

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Democrats now control majority of state legislatures. Here’s the 6 they flipped

Democrats are poised to take control of a majority of state legislatures for the first time in 16 years after the party secured sweeping wins in the midterm elections. Twenty-four state legislatures will be under full Democratic control starting in January, with the party flipping 12 total individual chambers. Republicans will control both chambers in 22 states, down from 28 states prior to the election. Two states — North Carolina and Texas — will both have divided legislatures, after Democrats flipped control of the lower chambers only. Control of the Alaska and Georgia legislatures hangs in the balance pending final election results. The Peach State appears to be headed toward a split legislature, while Alaska is controlled by a bipartisan coalition.

Arizona: Both chambers in Arizona’s legislature are expected to switch from Republican to Democratic control, breaking the hold the GOP’s had on the state capitol for more than 60 years. Democrats will now have a 37-23 seat majority in the state’s lower chamber and a 20-10 advantage in the upper chamber, according to the Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (ADLCC). Michigan: Michigan’s House flipped blue and Democrats maintained their majority in the state Senate chamber on Election Day, establishing full Democratic control. With Gov.-elect Jocelyn Benson (D) at the helm, Democrats in the Wolverine State have secured a trifecta they lost when Republicans took the House majority in 2024. Minnesota: Minnesota Democrats broke a tie in the state House in the midterms and kept their control of the state Senate chamber this election cycle. The lower chamber has held its 67-67 balance since the 2024 election, with special elections giving each party brief advantages since. Republican state Rep. Lisa Demuth has served as the Minnesota House Speaker since 2025.

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Jim Jordan becomes new House GOP leader after closed-door vote, defeating Steve Scalise; Emmer defeats Pfluger as whip

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, will be President Donald Trump's top defender in Congress next year after winning a closed-door election for minority leader on Tuesday, sources told Fox News Digital. Jordan defeated Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., currently the House of Representatives' No. 2 leader, in what's believed to be a narrow race. Jordan received 106 votes to Scalise’s 73, sources in the room told Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital heard loud, sustained applause from outside in the hallway when Jordan’s win became official. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., also handily defeated Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, for the No. 2 leadership job of minority whip. The final vote count was 103 to 76, per sources.

Sources said House GOP Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Mich., meanwhile, also survived a challenge and kept her job. Republicans huddled for a candidate forum on Tuesday morning where all GOP lawmakers running for leadership positions were peppered with questions by their colleagues. Sources inside the room for their Tuesday morning leadership forum said Scalise and Jordan both pitched themselves as the best person to unify the conference, but also signaled they would give a wide berth for lawmakers to "vote their districts," as one person put it. The question-and-answer session for House Republicans before electing their leader was largely cordial, Fox News Digital was told. Several people inquired about how both prospective leaders would unify the conference after their midterm losses and how they would handle leaks to journalists, Fox News Digital was told.

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Stephen Miller’s appointment energizes RFK Jr. and his MAHA allies

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his Make America Healthy Again devotees are setting sky-high expectations for the White House now that Stephen Miller is running the show there. Since President Donald Trump named Miller to replace Susie Wiles as his chief of staff, Kennedy and his supporters have celebrated Miller as a steadfast ally. “Next to me, Stephen Miller is the strongest MAHA supporter in the administration,” Kennedy wrote on social media platform X Friday. “It’s time to unleash the Kraken.” If Kennedy’s right, it would be quite the comeback. Most MAHA-backed candidates lost in last week’s election amid the movement’s mounting frustration with the GOP and as other issues like the economy took priority over MAHA’s concerns. The disappointment of Kennedy’s supporters with the White House reached a flashpoint when Trump moved to bolster the production of a pesticide they think causes cancer in February.

Their suspicions that corporations were influencing White House policy were reinforced when administration aides delayed the release of Kennedy’s plan to define ultraprocessed foods. Last week, former Kennedy adviser Calley Means confirmed their fears in an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan. Means accused Wiles of doing industry’s bidding by holding Kennedy back. A spokesperson for Wiles has rejected Means’ accusations. Miller is best known as the architect of Trump’s mass deportation campaign, but he’s also been an enthusiastic supporter of Kennedy’s agenda in White House conversations with MAHA activists. “It’s like somebody hit the UNO reverse button. …This is the restart that was needed if [MAHA] was going to have a fighting chance,” said Alex Clark, a MAHA influencer at Turning Point USA, a conservative group. At an April White House meeting during which officials sought to calm MAHA activists angry about Trump’s February order protecting the pesticide glyphosate, Miller spoke candidly about his concerns about water contamination, according to Kelly Ryerson, a MAHA influencer on pesticide issues known online as Glyphosate Girl, who attended the meeting.

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The techlash has finally arrived

The first Democratic Texan to claim a U.S. Senate seat in nearly 40 years won in part by running up astonishing numbers in Elon Musk’s “Starbase” company town. In Michigan, where Flock camera opponents won crucial races for Congress, residents also overwhelmingly voted to ban electric companies from making political donations after the companies partnered with Big Tech firms to power data centers. Mississippi’s first Black senator-elect since Reconstruction called for a pause on new data center construction in the last stretch of his campaign, joining other successful Southern Democrats in linking the imposing, controversial facilities to the rising costs of power bills. In his triumphant reelection speech, Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff called for bringing “Big Tech to heel” as his fellow Democrats gained a majority on the state’s utility regulation board (thus granting them oversight over new data center connections, as well as the ensuing electricity costs), and Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms beat a former data center executive. Two state lawmakers from California and Colorado won their bids for Congress by touting their legislative work pushing for artificial intelligence regulations.

Among the many takeaways from the Democratic Party’s historic midterms sweep Tuesday night: The techlash is real. The hundreds of millions of dollars that Musk and his fellow “broligarchs” splashed upon these races—whether on behalf of the crypto sector or the A.I. industry—largely did not shift the American political landscape further in their direction. Americans made it plain that they’re tired of unelected Big Tech executives forcing their products into their communities and everyday lives, in alignment with an autocratic president who’s helped boost their oversize fortunes (bits of which were erased during last week’s tech-stock crash). Now the people on the receiving end of this thumping sound quite worried. As with the immigration crackdowns and the Iran war, much of the opprobrium over the A.I. buildout is a reaction to the sheer pace and scale of the action. Trump-allied techies primarily embraced an “accelerationist” approach to artificial intelligence: Their companies poured millions into building data centers across the country, while the Trump administration tried to override state regulations that stood in the way. American rage over this sudden, widespread overreach transcended partisan and ideological lines; hints as to how the midterms would go were on display in local-level elections throughout the year, as pro–data center officials at all levels overwhelmingly lost their seats. Last Tuesday, voters across the country approved dozens of ballot initiatives calling for moratoria, reduced tax credits, or outright bans on data center projects. Ohio alone had 18 such measures on the ballot—and all of them passed.

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U.S. received $12 billion from Venezuela’s oil, report shows

The U.S. government received more than $12 billion in revenue from Venezuela’s natural resource exports in the first nine months of this year, according to a confidential report by the global financial services firm KPMG. The vast majority of the funds were distributed back to Venezuela soon after they were received, the report shows. It is unclear if the money stayed in the country or who the ultimate recipients were. The report, provides the most detailed portrait so far of the financial control exerted by the United States government on Venezuela since U.S. forces toppled the country’s president in January. The report was reviewed by The New York Times and its contents have not been previously reported. The Trump administration installed a pliant interim government and charged it with opening up Venezuela’s oil industry to American investment.

The report was written just days before the midterm elections and Democratic lawmakers had repeatedly vowed to bring more transparency and accountability to Washington’s policy toward Venezuela. Now that Democrats have won control of Congress in the midterm elections, several aides to Democratic lawmakers said they would continue pressing the Trump administration to describe what it was doing to prevent corruption in Venezuela after taking control of the country’s finances. The report, which KPMG compiled on behalf of the U.S. government, describes the activity of the “Venezuela Custody Account,” which was set up by the U.S. Treasury to manage the flow of Venezuelan export revenues following the ouster of former President Nicolás Maduro. The account was initially based in Qatar but was moved to Citibank in New York in late January. The report falls short of a formal audit of the Venezuelan oil finances that State Department officials promised to conduct regularly earlier this year. KPMG describes its role in the report as assisting the State Department in administering the account, helping to trace transactions and conducting other financial integrity measures. The company does not describe itself in the report as an auditor. The report provides little information about how U.S. officials and KMPG employees sought to prevent the money from falling into wrong hands or how they ensured that Venezuela’s oil and other natural resources were sold at fair prices.

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Judge weighs lawsuit over absentee ballot data in Alaska Senate race

A state judge said Tuesday that he expects to issue a swift decision in a lawsuit filed by the campaign of Alaska Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola, which is seeking a list of absentee voters whose ballots have been rejected in one of the most closely watched races of the midterm elections. Peltola’s campaign also said it wants to know the reasons for the rejections and said its intent is to ensure that all qualified voters have their ballots counted. Attorneys for the state say the information requested would violate voter privacy. The campaign sued Friday, three days after the ranked choice election in which Peltola and two-term Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan are the main contenders. Absentee, early in-person and other ballots are still being tallied.

Alaska’s is one of two U.S. Senate races, along with Mississippi’s, that remain too early to call. In arguments before state Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews, Peltola attorney Abha Khanna said the campaign isn’t seeking to disrupt the ongoing ballot counting process and it has seen no cause for concerns. “As far as we can tell, the absentee ballot review process is going incredibly smoothly and we plan to keep it that way,” she said. But Khanna argued the information the campaign seeks is a matter of public record and is in line with what campaign observers have access to in locations where absentee review boards are meeting. The campaign wants access to that information in a more centralized way, she said. Absentee review boards meet at the state Division of Elections’ regional offices, and campaigns and parties can have observers on hand to watch the process. State law includes provisions for challenging absentee ballots if there is “good reason to suspect” that a challenged voter is ineligible to cast a ballot.

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Inside the fight to build — or block — Trump’s triumphal arch

President Donald Trump is poised to begin building a 250-foot-tall arch — the moment a federal court lifts an order pausing its construction. Trump continues to want the arch, potentially emblazoned with his slogan, “Golden Age of America,” built outside the gates of Arlington National Cemetery, administration officials say. To do so, however, he’ll have to navigate new roadblocks: an incoming Congress that has vowed to oppose his projects, federal judges wary of how Trump outraced the courts to build his White House ballroom and growing resistance from Washington’s residents and leaders. “The people of D.C. do not support this 250-foot arch,” Mayor-elect Janeese Lewis George said in a statement to The Washington Post, adding that the arch could harm local traffic, emergency evacuation routes and the “sacred” military cemetery itself.

George’s statement sharply contrasts with Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s silence on the topic for most of the last year. Trump is set to visit the cemetery on Wednesday to mark Veterans Day. His motorcade’s likely route will take him around Memorial Circle, the traffic roundabout tucked inside Washington’s boundaries where the president hopes to build his arch. Since he was first pitched on the idea last year, the president has prioritized the arch more than most of his other construction plans, placing it alongside the ballroom in his pantheon of legacy projects. Administration officials say he’s drawn to the arch by its size, dramatic sweep and comparison to the Arc de Triomphe, the 164-foot-tall Parisian monument that the president has long admired and hopes to surpass. Administration officials sometimes refer to the project not as the “Triumphal Arch,” but by a different name: the Trump arch. “It’ll be one of the great things we’ve ever done,” the president said in remarks last week.

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Lead Stories

Supreme Court says border wall construction can continue in west Texas

In September, Texas landowners filed a separate lawsuit over the federal government's border barrier plans in the Big Bend area, claiming their constitutional rights are being violated. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to continue with its plans to construct hundreds of miles of border barrier and security infrastructure in west Texas, while a court hearing over the effort moves forward. The federal government’s plans have stirred bipartisan backlash for its inclusion of Big Bend National Park, a beloved stretch of public land known for its sweeping canyons and unspoiled desert landscape. In a five-page decision issued Monday, the high court wrote that the federal judge who ruled on the order didn’t have the authority to weigh in.

“The injunction thus impedes the Government from advancing its ‘compelling interests’ in border security and integrity,” reads the unsigned decision. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the lone dissenter in the decision. The court wrote that federal law allows the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to waive environmental protections and conservation laws, which they called a “clear preference for expeditious border construction over the very harms respondents assert.” In an emergency application to the high court in late October, the federal government urged the justices to intervene and allow the work to begin again, saying that a gap in “border defenses” in the Big Bend region “would act as “a dangerous magnet for cartels and other bad actors.” A federal judge in El Paso issued the temporary injunction that halted the construction of 30-foot-tall steel barriers, patrol roads, surveillance systems and other border infrastructure. The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy group, brought forward the lawsuit, along with an area nonprofit working to preserve a historic church near the U.S.-Mexico border and a landowner who stands to lose his border property.

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Gooden likely misused taxpayer dollars, spent extravagantly on travel, congressional watchdog says

Congressional investigators found “substantial reason to believe” Texas Republican Rep. Lance Gooden used taxpayer dollars for personal luxury travel and may have misreported his campaign spending. The nonpartisan Office of Congressional Conduct’s findings, made public Monday in a report, identified a pattern of “extravagant expenditures” by Gooden that appear to be outside his official duties. The report also highlights that Gooden sought more in reimbursements — $140,000 in 2025 alone — than any other House member. Gooden is the latest in a line of House members facing ethics allegations this year, with several forced to resign. Midterm polling showed voters citing corruption in Washington as a key reason for souring on the Republican party, although Democratic lawmakers have also faced allegations.

The OCC report was referred to the House Ethics Committee, which is the entity that can discipline members. The Ethics Committee’s investigation remains ongoing. Gooden in a statement called the report “bogus,” criticized the OCC and called for the House Administration Committee to investigate the office. “There’s a reason the Senate doesn’t have an OCC—because of insane, bogus referrals like this one,” Gooden said in a statement. “The Ethics Committee will expose this witch hunt, and I’m calling on House Administration to launch an oversight investigation into the OCC’s target selection and record of failed inquiries.” The OCC declined comment. Gooden also provided a response to OCC from his lawyers. The OCC said in its report that Gooden and several members of his team did not cooperate with the inquiry.

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Hegseth to hold rare news conference as impeachment vote looms

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth plans to hold a news conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday morning to address a looming impeachment vote over his handling of the war against Iran and other military operations. That he scheduled the event appears to be a measure of how much he feels the pressure to defend himself. Mr. Hegseth has not addressed reporters at the Pentagon since May, not even when a Navy commander was killed in a helicopter crash in the Arabian Sea on July 1 or when two U.S. soldiers were killed in an Iranian missile attack on a base in Jordan on July 17. The impeachment push is being led by Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky.

Mr. Massie introduced articles of impeachment on Monday that accuse Mr. Hegseth of violating the Constitution and federal law by ignoring the will of Congress in waging the war against Iran. Other charges accuse Mr. Hegseth of unlawfully carrying out strikes against suspected drug traffickers in boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific; capturing Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro; conducting unauthorized military operations in Yemen; and using his office to conduct political retaliation against his critics, including Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona. Mr. Hegseth has vowed to fight for his job. “If you want to take issue with what we did in Epic Fury or Rough Rider or nabbing Nicolás Maduro, you’re taking issue with the troops and what they accomplished, which is historic,” he said on Monday, using the Pentagon’s monikers for the war in Iran and U.S. strikes on Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.

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Dan Patrick says GOP senators should strip Vikki Goodwin of power

Defeated Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who has ruled the Texas Senate for three terms in a my-way-or-the-highway style, urged Republican senators on Monday to trim the sails of the Democrat who defeated him and take control of the chamber that is now the GOP's only base of power in Austin. "If you lose the statewide offices and you still have the majority in the Senate, which we do, you shouldn't give up your your majority because the governor lost or the lieutenant governor lost," Patrick told conservative radio host Mark Davis. "Vikki Goodwin won, but she doesn't have the majority of votes on the floor. So I believe and I support the Republicans standing up for their voters."

Patrick, himself a product of conservative radio before entering politics 20 years ago, said that once he leaves office in January he'll launch a political consulting firm to promote the sort of legislation that he was able to push through the Senate during his 12 years atop the Senate. He also said that although a victory by Democrat James Talarico in the U.S Senate race had appeared more likely than not, the annihilation of the GOP statewide caught many by surprise on election night. "Everyone was shocked that day. The polling was based on bad data," Patrick said, noting that pre-election surveys undercounted Democratic strength in the suburbs and South Texas. "We still won rural Texas handily, but not by as much." During his time in office, Patrick expanded on the Senate's longstanding tradition of ceding authority to make committee and chairmanship assignments and to control the flow of legislation to the chamber floor. Each legislative session, he laid out a list of conservative priorities for the Senate to consider, and his agenda was generally followed.

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State Stories

Gina Hinojosa’s call for resumes draws 6,000 in two days

Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa’s call for resumes from those interested in working in the first Democratic gubernatorial administration in three decades had drawn more than 6,000 responses by Monday afternoon, her transition team told Hearst Newspapers. The flood of resumes comes as Hinojosa works to build out an administration ahead of the state’s first transfer of gubernatorial power in 12 years — and the first from one political party to another since Ann Richards handed the governor’s office over to George W. Bush in 1995. “This Administration will be by and for the people of Texas,” the governor-elect wrote in a Saturday morning post on X. “We are building a government that opens the doors of the halls of power to hardworking people who want to secure the American Dream.”

The thousands of resumes her team received since then is far more than the number of jobs Hinojosa will need to fill when she takes over the governor’s office. The governor’s last budget request asked for funding for 120 full time positions in the office of the governor and another 197 in the trustee programs it oversees, such as economic development offices. "Thousands of Texans are ready to fulfill Gov.-elect Hinojosa's commitment to building an administration that is ready to secure the American Dream, save public schools, and put money in Texans' pockets," said Joseph Madden, executive director of the transition team. "We are hard at work learning about all of these candidates so we can build a government that is truly by and for the people." Hinojosa has not said if she plans to do a full overhaul, or just replace the heads of offices, which range from appointments and budget and policy offices to a nuclear energy office, public safety and economic development teams. Hinojosa last week announced the first members of her transition team, led by Madden, a Houston-based consultant and longtime figure in Harris County politics. Madden has served with multiple commissioners and led Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s transition into office in 2019. The team also includes Tamala Barksdale, a former Austin school trustee who served alongside Hinojosa on the school board before she became a state representative; Ryan Pollock, who heads the Texas Building Trades Council, which represents dozens of unions across the state; and Ernest Bailes, a rural Republican former state representative whom Gov. Greg Abbott had worked to oust for opposing school vouchers. “Please understand, this is a transition for the whole state of Texas, and as such, we will have many opportunities for people to weigh in with their ideas, send in resumes,” Hinojosa said at a press conference last week where she introduced the team.

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John Cornyn: The case against the Big Bend border wall

One of the federal government’s primary responsibilities is to protect the American people. Under President Joe Biden’s four years of reckless open-border policies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered more than 10 million illegal immigrants at the border, and nearly 2 million so-called “gotaways” evaded the Border Patrol. President Donald Trump reversed course on day one in office, resulting in record-low border crossings. We should continue building on this success, but we must also be clear-eyed on what makes sense and what doesn’t. This is especially true in parts of the Border Patrol’s Big Bend Sector of Texas, which accounted for only 1.3% of all border apprehensions in fiscal 2025.

A Border Patrol agent once told me that border security is like a three-legged stool: You need to strike the right balance between personnel, technology and infrastructure. There’s no one-size-fits-all, silver-bullet strategy. An all-of-the-above approach means implementing the right tools in the right places, and a border wall can be one piece of that puzzle. Beginning in late 2025, under authority granted to the Department of Homeland Security through the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, then Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem issued waivers of dozens of federal statutes to build a 30-foot-high steel bollard wall along 517 miles of the Rio Grande River. Since then, DHS has awarded about $7.5 billion for border wall and border-related infrastructure projects in the Big Bend Sector. Under the act, such waivers require a determination that a region is “an area of high illegal entry.” But the facts on the ground about parts of the Big Bend Sector tell a different story.

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James Talarico meets with John Cornyn in Washington

Senator-elect James Talarico sat down with U.S. Sen John Cornyn Monday to discuss areas in which the two Texas politicians could work together. The pair met in Washington following Talarico's victory last week over Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, making him the first Democratic senator from Texas since 1993. "(Cornyn) has served our state honorably, and I’m grateful for his advice and guidance," Talarico said in a statement. "Now is the time for us to come together — Democrats and Republicans — to deliver for Texas." Cornyn's office said in a statement the pair had discussed "transition planning and related matters."

Talarico, who will replace Cornyn in Washington, had campaigned on working with Republicans. The morning after his victory he appeared on Fox News to discuss comprehensive immigration reform and lowering housing and energy costs as areas of mutual interest with the Trump administration. "Give the president credit where credit is due. He has done a better job than the previous administration in securing our border," he said. Cornyn, a fourth-term senator, lost to Paxton in the Republican primary earlier this year. During the run up to the general election this month, he criticized Paxton and said his history of scandal was likely hurt Republican's chances. The night of the midterm elections, Cornyn congratulated Talarico on social media and offered his assistance. "The voters have spoken," he wrote.

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After nearly 3 years, AG Ken Paxton drops fight to shut down El Paso’s Annunciation House

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has dropped a suit seeking to shut down Annunciation House after demanding two years ago to examine the records of the nonprofit network of migrant shelters in El Paso, including information about the people it served. “It’s very gratifying that this has now ended. It’s over,” Ruben Garcia, founder and executive director of Annunciation House, told El Paso Matters. “What I would want next is for the state Legislature to say, ‘We have to find a way to prevent this from happening.’” The Attorney General’s Office on Monday filed a notice of nonsuit with prejudice, meaning the office will never again file a lawsuit with similar allegations against the organization in the future. Paxton’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move comes as Paxton, a Republican who unsuccessfully sought a U.S. Senate seat in the Nov. 3 midterm election, prepares to leave the AG’s Office in mid-January. Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson, a Democrat who now serves in the Senate, has said he intends to review cases brought by Paxton. The AG’s Office first delivered a demand letter to examine Annunciation House records on Feb. 7, 2024. The next day, the organization sued Paxton challenging the demand. Within days, Paxon sought to revoke the Annunciation House’s nonprofit registration in Texas and shut down its operation, alleging harboring, human smuggling and stash-house activity. Garcia vehemently denied the claims, stating the organization serves migrants processed and released by U.S. immigration authorities. The case wound its way through the courts, with an El Paso district judge blocking the AG’s attempt, and Paxton appealing to the Texas Supreme Court. In May 2025, the Texas Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s decision and later denied Annunciation House’s request for a rehearing.

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After Huffines’ defeat, Austin ISD halts cooperation with state investigation

The Austin school district has halted its cooperation with a state investigation into its spending, challenging the comptroller’s authority to question district employees and demanding answers about why investigators are seeking information about library books, sex education and student identification. The move comes just days after Texas voters ousted Republican Comptroller Don Huffines, whose office launched the investigation after Gov. Greg Abbott requested audits of up to four school districts. State investigators did not arrive for a scheduled visit Monday after Austin ISD notified the comptroller’s office Friday that it would suspend its participation, a district spokesperson confirmed.

The confrontation threatens to derail Austin ISD’s participation in one of four school district investigations Huffines’ office launched in October. The reviews were intended to determine whether taxpayer money was being directed toward students, classrooms and teachers rather than administrative expansion, with findings due Dec. 31, ahead of the next legislative session. In a four-page letter sent Friday, Austin ISD General Counsel Kenneth Walker questioned whether the comptroller had the authority to conduct extensive employee interviews, whether the investigation could be completed fairly on such a short timeline and why investigators were requesting records that appeared unrelated to school spending. “Consequently, we respectfully discontinue our participation and will not be available next week, November 9-13 for any site visits or interviews,” Walker wrote. The election has also cast uncertainty over the investigation’s future. In her first news conference after defeating Huffines, Austin-area Sen. Sarah Eckhardt said last week she would limit the reviews to school finances rather than examining library books and hiring policies, according to KERA, the Dallas-area NPR affiliate.

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New Camp Mystic lawsuit alleges owners knew of flood warning gaps years before disaster

A new lawsuit filed by the parents of an 8-year-old girl killed in the Camp Mystic flood alleges camp leadership had years of knowledge about critical gaps in the area’s flood warning system, including the removal of an upstream river sensor that could have provided approximately 30 minutes of additional warning before floodwaters reached the property. The 106-page petition, filed Monday by Clarke and Katherine Baker on behalf of their daughter, Mary Grace, also details allegations that camp administrators prioritized moving equipment and protecting adult employees over evacuating hundreds of sleeping girls as floodwaters rose, despite receiving warnings of life-threatening conditions hours before the disaster.

The lawsuit provides additional details about the Eastland family’s involvement with regional flood warning infrastructure, the camp’s emergency procedures and the responsibilities of individual employees. It also alleges the camp had dozens of adults on its property who were not assigned specific roles in an emergency evacuation. Mary Grace was among the 25 campers who died when catastrophic flooding swept through the camp along the Guadalupe River on July 4, 2025. The Bakers are pursuing claims against camp entities and individual members of the Eastland family, as well as several employees. Attorneys representing each of the defendants named in the lawsuit are not yet listed. KXAN will reach out once that information is available. One of the most significant allegations involves Dick Eastland, Camp Mystic’s longtime executive director, and his involvement with the Upper Guadalupe River Authority. According to the lawsuit, Eastland served as treasurer of UGRA’s board and acknowledged in a 2018 email to family members that a critical river sensor located upstream from Camp Mystic had been removed years earlier. The sensor, which monitored the South Fork of the Guadalupe River, could have provided approximately 30 minutes of advance warning before floodwater reached downstream locations, the lawsuit alleges.

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Harris County DA’s chief of staff leaving office after scrutiny over dismissed DWI case

The chief of staff for Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare is leaving the office weeks after KHOU 11 Investigates exposed her involvement in the quick dismissal of a DWI case involving a prominent Houston attorney and former prosecutor. In an email to staff Friday, Teare announced that Lauren Byrne “will be leaving the office.” He praised her work, writing that she had “given it her heart, pursuing justice at every turn and advocating for changes that make our criminal justice system fairer for everyone.” Teare has not said whether he asked Byrne to resign or whether she decided to leave on her own. The district attorney’s communications director said the office could not confirm details about personnel actions.

Byrne’s departure follows questions about her role in approving a pretrial intervention agreement for attorney William “Wes” Rucker, whose DWI and unlawful carrying of a weapon charges were dismissed less than 72 hours after his Oct. 9 arrest. Chief Justin Wood of the arresting agency, Hedwig Village police, previously said the speedy dismissal “didn’t pass the smell test.” “I think it shows favoritism and poor decision-making on the part of the district attorney’s office,” Wood said in an Oct. 27 interview. KHOU 11 Investigates has now confirmed that the Tier 1 DWI pretrial intervention program had been paused since December 2025 when Byrne negotiated Rucker’s agreement. A notice to prosecutors said the Tier 1 program was “currently closed” and that no applications would be considered. The district attorney’s office said that pause was intended to give participants time to complete the program so the office could review their progress, make adjustments and consider a more permanent structure under a second phase of the program during the fourth quarter of 2026.

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SpaceX plans $24 billion gas power plant, data center project in Texas

SpaceX is planning a roughly $24 billion gas-fired power plant and super-compute facility in Starbase, Texas, according to a public hearing notice. The rockets-to-AI company's request ?comes as opposition to data centers grows, with voters rejecting them ?in 40 of 41 local ballot measures and Democrats, some of whom had campaigned on pausing new projects, taking control of the US Congress and the Texas governor's office ?in the midterm elections.

The filing shows SpaceX, which bought Elon Musk's ?AI lab xAI earlier this year, has applied for a property ?tax abatement for the project. The Starbase City Commission will consider the ?abatement, plus a related economic development agreement, at a public meeting on December ?9. The notice describes $24 billion as the estimated capital investment for the project's initial phases. It said the work may be done in multiple phases and could include future expansions. SpaceX ?would construct, own and operate the facilities. The project would be among ?the largest private investments in the Rio Grande Valley. Building its own power plant could let ?SpaceX ?skip a years-long wait to plug a project into Texas' main power grid. The notice did not say how large the abatement would be or how long it would last. It also gave no details on the plant's generating ?capacity or the scale ?of the computing ?operation. SpaceX affiliate Lone Star Mineral Development has filed plans for an 8-mile natural gas pipeline to Starbase, called Starpipe, ?that is scheduled for service by January 2027. It ?will feed ?a planned plant to turn the gas into liquid methane for Starship rockets, according to filings Reuters reviewed in June. The company last month reported a 161% jump ?in ?revenue and a ninefold increase in AI revenue ?for its third quarter. The company has been renting out computing capacity to Google, Anthropic and others. Bloomberg News first ?reported on the development.

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Dallas Stars arena rejection raises bigger questions for North Texas

The rejection of a key funding measure for a proposed Dallas Stars arena in Plano has thrown the project's future into uncertainty, raising a bigger question: are North Texas voters becoming less willing to foot the bill for major developments? On Nov. 3, Plano voters rejected Proposition A, a series of taxes intended to help cover the city's $700 million support package for the proposed $3 billion arena and entertainment district at the Shops at Willow Bend. The outcome has complicated the project's financing, leaving the Stars and city officials searching for another way to move forward. The Stars have maintained their commitment to the relocation, stating plans to continue working with Plano as the city pursues a project finance zone that would require action by the Texas Legislature?. The team, whose CEO Brad Alberts previously said intends to "get married" with the city, is currently on a tight timeline to find its next home with its lease at Dallas' American Airlines Center set to expire in 2031.

Steven Haynes, a finance professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, said a special taxing district could help fund the project by using tax revenue generated in the surrounding area. But that money could take years to build up, potentially forcing the Stars to seek more private investment, contribute more of the club's own money or reconsider the scale of the development. "The problem is that's kind of a pay-as-you-go and when we're looking at a development project of this size, in the billions of dollars, it's not something that you really want to do because it's not quick," Haynes said. Haynes said the approach could still shift some costs to Plano residents who shop and dine within the district. While visitors from outside Plano would also contribute, local residents who frequent the area would ultimately foot the bill, meaning "in some ways it is a pass-on to the residents of Plano." The voters' disapproval also reflects growing concerns about the financial risks of publicly supported projects, Haynes said, particularly as housing, insurance and other living expenses continue to strain household budgets.

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Austin photojournalist Robert Godwin dies of cancer at 72

Photographer Robert Godwin, who documented the evolution of Austin’s social scene and philanthropy for decades, died Wednesday of small-cell lung cancer at home after extended treatment at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He was 72. “He was a happy soul right to the end,” posted Austin native Forrest Preece, who, among many other projects, writes the column, “Westside Stories,” for West Austin News. “Five days ago, he posted a photo on Facebook of the trick or treat candy he'd left out for kids in his neighborhood, with some comments parsed in his usual jovial manner.

Because of his long, watchful exposure to the worlds of nonprofits and philanthropy during a time when both forces matured in Austin, Godwin was called upon to advise groups such as the St. David’s Foundation on fundraising tactics. He witnessed firsthand the growth of the philanthropic sector from old-fashioned charitable efforts that survived on meager donations to Austin’s current thousands of nonprofits, some with annual budgets in the tens of millions of dollars and secure endowments doing effective work at home and around the world. “It was as vanilla as you can imagine,” Godwin told the American-Statesman in 2015 about socializing during the 1970s. “There was a degree of exclusion by demographics if nothing else. And a $5,000 fundraiser was big back then. Nowadays that’s postage for invitations.” His professional advice was always delivered gently, kindly and humorously, except when it came to food. Something of a home gourmet, Godwin could be quite frank about what edibles were offered to event guests, whether at backyard barbecues or glittering galas, and how important it was to make a hospitable impression.

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Musk admits Tesla doesn’t have enough talent to build more than one car at a time after exodus

Elon Musk now says Tesla can’t build the Cybertruck and the Cybercab at the same time because there are only so many “smart, dedicated people” to go around. Half the executives he showed off in 2023 as proof of Tesla’s “bench strength” have since left the company. It’s the most honest explanation yet for how Tesla went from five consumer vehicle programs at the start of 2026 to a single platform, Model 3 and Model Y, by the middle of 2027. On Friday, Musk said Tesla would wind down Cybertruck production at Giga Texas around the middle of next year “to make room for increased Cybercab production.” As we pointed out at the time, Giga Texas isn’t short on space. The Cybertruck line runs at a fraction of its installed capacity because the truck sells a fraction of what Tesla planned.

A day later, replying to a user on X, Musk gave a different reason: “The biggest thing most people fail to understand is that there are a very limited number of smart, dedicated people! They can only do so many things.” He added that if Tesla has to “maintain a complex production line, supply chain and allocate engineering for Cybertruck, we can’t use those people” for scaling Cybercab. By Monday morning, the explanation had shifted again, to the “opportunity cost of the complexity of Cybertruck.” But the Saturday version is the one that matters. Musk is telling us the bottleneck at Tesla isn’t factory space or money. It’s people. The Cybertruck is the second casualty this year. In January, Musk announced the end of the Model S and Model X on Tesla’s Q4 earnings call and summed up the reason in one word: “Autonomy.” The Fremont line is being converted to build Optimus robots, and by April, only inventory was left. The flagships had been on life support for years. Their last real update was the 2021 interior refresh. The June 2025 “refresh” brought a new paint color, a front bumper camera, a bit more range, and a $5,000 price increase. That’s not how you treat a vehicle program you care about. Tesla painted a very different picture just two years ago. At its 2024 shareholder meeting, it showed this slide of its lineup: the Model 3, Model Y, Model S, Model X, Cybertruck, and Semi, plus three vehicles under covers that Musk said were “going to be pretty special.”

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Dallas council members seek audit over $800K GOP convention bill

Some Dallas City Council members are calling for an audit after the city was left with an $800,000 bill from President Donald Trump’s GOP event in September. “This is unacceptable to us and raises serious questions concerning why the City did not in advance obtain financial security for the anticipated costs and efforts to collect the money owed,” said a memo signed by council members Paul Ridley, Adam Bazaldua, Paula Blackmon and Bill Roth. The push comes nearly two weeks after city officials told the finance committee that the police and fire department had over $800,000 in costs.

Council members said the city has not received any money for convention spending, leaving taxpayers to bear the burden. A bulk of the costs had been absorbed by the city’s budget, and several council members were concerned that no reimbursements had been finalized in the two months after the event. “When people use our city and facilities, it comes with a deposit, and integrity says, 'Pay your bill,’” Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Maxie Johnson said during an October meeting. The two-day midterm pep rally arrived in September amid the city’s budget deliberations, furloughs and spending cuts. City officials said recently they will pursue a Department of Justice grant to cover expenses outside of the arena. They gave a special event permit to manage street closures and traffic management. American Airlines Center, though a city-owned facility, books its own events.

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National Stories

GOP’s hold on Florida could chart the future of data centers

Many voters nationwide flat-out rejected data centers — and candidates who were linked to them — during last week’s midterm elections. But in Florida, the industry got its wish. GOP Rep. Byron Donalds, a pro-business Trump ally whose campaign was flush with millions from the data center and tech industries, narrowly won the election for Florida governor over Democrat David Jolly, a staunch data center opponent. Donalds’ win was one of the GOP’s few major victories of the night, as Democrats took control of Congress and ousted Republicans in red-leaning states. The data center industry also took an electoral beating, after data center-critical Democrats flipped governor’s races in states that have been industry hot spots. In Texas, Georgia and New Mexico, where tech giants like Google and Microsoft have planned massive data centers, Democratic governors-elect have pledged moratoriums on new projects. In hubs like Ohio and Nevada, the governors-in-waiting support tightening guardrails on the industry. The results reflect a burgeoning anti-data center sentiment nationwide: Voters have spurned the industry and the AI companies driving its booming growth.

“[AI companies] are going to have to cure cancer to convince people this is a good thing,” said Brendan Steinhauser, CEO of the Alliance for Secure AI, an AI safety group. After last week’s wipeout, Florida is the most populous Republican-led state — and one still without a hyperscale data center, despite the industry’s efforts. Yet while Donalds has supported certain restrictions on data centers, he hasn’t gone as far as governors-elect in other states and has not been as hard line an opponent as outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). His victory could change the data center industry’s views about the Sunshine State’s viability, just as other states are pumping the brakes on development. In the lead-up to the election, state Democrats sought to paint Donalds as a Big Tech ally. Campaign ads, social media memes and a statewide blitz of press conferences labeled him “Data Center Donalds.” Jolly, who made data center opposition a key pillar of his campaign, promised to institute a moratorium and said he’d be willing to outright ban hyperscale facilities. Donalds’ critics blasted his donor base, which included data center developers and AI companies. It wasn’t enough — Donalds eked past Jolly by less than 2 percentage points.

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Exxon takes first step toward investing in Venezuela

ExxonMobil is moving forward in Venezuela. The U.S. oil giant signed a preliminary deal Monday to explore investments in Venezuela’s oil patch, negotiating a potential return to the country nearly two decades after its exit. In a 38-word statement that was sparse on details, the company said it signed a memorandum of understanding to evaluate drilling opportunities with the Venezuelan government and its state-run oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela. It didn’t specify which oil fields the agreement covers but said it wants to see further progress on regulatory reform and other conditions necessary for a profitable investment. “This memorandum is a meaningful first step,” an Exxon spokesman said. “But any future investment would require stable policies, clear regulations, strong investment protections and competitive returns.”

The Wall Street Journal reported in September that Exxon was closing in on a preliminary agreement to invest in a number of developed and undeveloped fields. At the time, the company was evaluating a deal that could encompass fields with more than 50 billion barrels of oil buried underground, according to a person familiar with the talks. Venezuela says it has some 300 billion barrels of proven reserves, which would be the largest in the world. Exxon sent teams to Caracas earlier this year to negotiate a possible deal after President Trump pushed American oil companies to plow $100 billion into the country to revitalize its energy sector. It had left Venezuela in 2007 after Hugo Chávez seized control of its oil assets there. As a result, the company has approached Venezuela with more caution than some of its smaller rivals. At a White House meeting in January, shortly after the U.S. ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Exxon CEO Darren Woods said Venezuela was “uninvestable” without significant changes to its commercial frameworks, legal system and hydrocarbon laws.

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Fed Governor Waller sees December hike likely, opens door to possible half-point increase

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said Tuesday the central bank needs to follow through on expectations for additional interest rate hikes or risk its credibility, even suggesting that a larger-than-usual half-percentage-point increase could be warranted in December. Speaking in London, the policymaker said he “is leaning toward” a rate increase in December even if the October inflation data comes in softer than expected — and would support “more robust action” if readings come in higher than forecast. “In that case, I believe a 50 basis point hike in the policy rate should be considered at the December meeting,” he said. “Hiking only 25 basis points would put our credibility at risk, a risk I am not eager to take.”

Waller said Fed communications prior to and at the October meeting led markets already to price in additional rate hikes. Following through, Waller added, is what’s important, even if the hikes come intermittently. “When this communication is clear and credible, what really matters is that those hikes are eventually carried out — it is not necessary, for example, to raise rates at consecutive meetings,” he said. “If, however, the hikes are not carried out, markets will reduce expectations of rate hikes and rates will immediately fall, which would loosen monetary policy in an undesirable way.” Waller added that higher rates “will be needed, sooner rather than later.” “So, while the precise timing of the hikes doesn’t matter, ensuring that the promised hikes are implemented in a reasonable period of time does,” he said.

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California voters reject Prop. 40 billionaire tax

Billionaires spent $378 million to defeat Prop. 40, exposing a rift among California Democrats on taxing the rich. California will not become the first state to levy a wealth tax on its richest residents — at least not this election. Voters rejected Proposition 40, a proposal to tax billionaires based on their net worth and financial holdings, by 52.8% to 47.2%, according to The Associated Press Monday. The measure had trailed behind for days before The Associated Press confirmed results. Leaders for Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, the union pushing the measure, seemed to concede the race minutes before the polls closed but vowed to try again in 2028 if California’s Legislature “fails to deliver a real solution” to fund healthcare hammered by recent federal law. “That’s not a hypothetical. That’s our plan,” said Dave Regan, president of SEIU-UHW.

Election Day was projected to be an all-around defeat for the union, known for aggressively pursuing ballot measures. Voters defeated union-backed Proposition 44, an effort to control how clinics spend money. Proposition 42, a billionaire tax countermeasure prohibiting future wealth taxes, was leading Monday evening by 51.6% to 48.4%. That measure could get in the way of SEIU-UHW’s future plans to try taxing wealth again. The billionaire tax would have generated $100 billion for healthcare and education through a one-time, 5% tax on billionaires, according to SEIU-UHW. Opponents of the measure celebrated its defeat. “Proposition 40 was a reckless experiment conducted on our state’s economy with little regard for the harms it would cause,” according to a statement from Evan Westrop, a campaign strategist for No on Prop. 40. The opposition campaign, which was backed by wealthy tech investors and healthcare organizations, argued the measure had already driven billionaires from the state and permanently harmed income tax revenue. On Monday they said the state still faces “enormous pressure” to find other ways to fund healthcare hit by federal cuts.

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‘No business having a gun’: Some ICE recruits had a record of red flags

One officer in Detroit fired multiple shots at a fleeing teenage suspect, fatally striking him in the back in an incident that led to a $2.5 million settlement with his family. An Arkansas officer was castigated by his supervisor for showing “unreasonable anger” while on the job, and fired after his boss expressed concern about what he might do “when he faces a civilian who he feels has disrespected him.” Some officers went viral for embarrassing incidents, including a New York City detective who stole nearly $3,000 worth of high-end champagne at a music festival and a Mississippi officer who said under oath that he couldn’t remember core rights bestowed by the U.S. Constitution. All of them share one thing in common: They were later hired as federal immigration officers to carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. The Trump administration has onboarded thousands of new officers in an accelerated recruitment effort that has bypassed traditional background checks in favor of quickly putting people onto the streets to arrest undocumented immigrants.

In recent months, at least two of those hires were involved in shootings, including one that resulted in the death of a 25-year-old Colombian father. Some have been fired after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement discovered red flags in their backgrounds that initially went undetected. The names of the officers hired to scour residential streets, courthouses and airports have been shielded by the Department of Homeland Security, which cites privacy policies designed to protect them from harassment, even in incidents where they are involved in fatal use of force. But that cloak of anonymity was pierced in late October when activists hacked a DHS employee database and released information about thousands of workers, including about 1,500 ICE officers and agents hired since Trump took office in 2025. The Washington Post performed background checks on about 300 of the new hires using standard public record searches to uncover information. While most of the officers were chosen at random, others were selected for review after being flagged by artificial intelligence. The Post has verified the authenticity of the database with current and former DHS officials. The review offers the most comprehensive look yet at whom DHS hired when it urged people to apply to “defend the homeland” and offered a signing bonus of up to $50,000 for top recruits.

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Israeli opposition eyes deal with ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties to oust Netanyahu

As he seeks to crack the complicated math of building a new Israeli government coalition that will oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ex-military chief Gadi Eisenkot is eyeing a potentially controversial alliance with ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties. A deal with the ultra-Orthodox would bring a sea change to Israeli politics. And the push for it shows the bloc led by Eisenkot, a centrist security hawk known as a pragmatic battlefield tactician, seeking every option to avoid a potentially even more controversial partnership with Arab parties. For more than a decade, the ultra-Orthodox — many of whom reject secular jobs, military service and even the Zionist concept of a Jewish state — have backed the right wing led by Netanyahu in exchange for state financing of their seminaries and exemptions from the draft.

Now, Eisenkot and his allies are exploring whether they could flip the support of the ultra-Orthodox, also called Haredi, by reaching a deal on military conscription. It is a politically risky move after the ex-general spent months on the campaign trail vowing to enlist Haredi men. Religious exemption from military service is one of the most divisive and emotional issues in Israeli society, especially after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, with the Israel Defense Forces and many families with service members saying they are stretched to a breaking point. As he accepted the mandate from Israeli President Isaac Herzog to form a new government on Sunday, Eisenkot reiterated that he would welcome the support and partnership of every parliamentary faction that accepts his four conditions, which include mandatory service for all. But he also hinted that compromises might be necessary. “We must form a national emergency government,” Eisenkot said in a speech at the president’s residence. “This will require creative and ?unconventional political steps.”

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Lead Stories

Takeaways from Trump's 60 Minutes interview

Days after Republicans faced a series of bruising midterm election losses, President Trump stood by his handling of the economy and the Iran war — but he acknowledged some "bad messaging" on economic issues and said his immigration crackdown was "too tough" at times. In a sitdown with 60 Minutes correspondent Ross Douthat, the president also suggested some top administration officials could be on their way out. One hour later, he announced White House chief of staff Susie Wiles would depart her role and be replaced by Stephen Miller. Here are the biggest takeaways from the interview: Republicans lost more than 40 House seats and at least seven Senate seats on Tuesday, with some races still uncalled, including in places that Mr. Trump won by double-digit margins two years ago. About 63% of midterm voters disapproved of Mr. Trump's job performance, and 44% said one reason for their vote was to express opposition to him, according to CBS News exit polling. Asked for his analysis of the midterm losses, Mr. Trump told 60 Minutes that voters "didn't like the war" with Iran or the soaring gas prices that it triggered. Some of the candidates were picked by the president. He endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the Lone Star State's bitter GOP Senate primary, and he endorsed Sen. Darline Graham, who was appointed to fill her late brother's South Carolina Senate seat — encouraging her to run for a full term.

Mr. Trump argued that "Cornyn would have lost also." The president defended his stewardship of the economy in his 60 Minutes sitdown, which came hours after a stronger-than-expected jobs report. He said "the numbers are phenomenal." "We're doing numbers that have never been done before. 401(k)s are at their all-time high by a lot. Under other presidents, they were a disaster. 401(k)s have made people rich," the president said. Pressed on the fact that not all Americans have large retirement accounts, Mr. Trump responded: "But a lot of people do." But exit polling shows three-fourths of midterm voters viewed the condition of the economy as either poor or not so good — and 70% of that group voted for Democratic House candidates. Voters were especially concerned about prices of gasoline, food, utilities and healthcare, and two-thirds of voters believed that Mr. Trump's tariff policies hurt the country's economy. The morning after the election, Vice President JD Vance argued on social media "the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone" — the broadly unpopular Iran war." Mr. Trump said Vance told him about his plan to write that post, and he responded: "You write what you want." The president said "I don't disagree" with the vice president's diagnosis for why the Republicans lost the midterms, "other than one thing." "The one thing he left out is — that I would say, and maybe he wouldn't say it, I don't know. I've never asked him really. But, if you had … to do again, would you do it? And that's Iran. Would you go and attack Iran?" he said.

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Congress returns for crowded lame-duck session as Hegseth impeachment, government funding deadline loom

Following the historic midterm election sweeping Democrats into majority control of the House and Senate, Congress returns Monday for a five-week lame-duck session, with a long to-list to tackle before the end of the year and dozens of lawmakers ending their tenure in the House, and at least 17 senators heading home as well. The lame-duck session kicks off Monday with a two-week legislative period wrapped with freshman orientation for members-elect who will be seated in the 120th Congress on Jan. 3. There are still several races that are too close to call, but as it stands Friday, at least 109 incoming House freshmen will be seated -- the largest pre-convening freshmen class in the lower chamber in almost 100 years -- since the 73rd Congress convened in 1933.

On the floor, House Speaker Mike Johnson is already hearing it from his own conference after GOP leadership plans to advance just one piece of legislation under a rule next week -- continuing the frustrations voiced by some of his members earlier this fall when the speaker dismissed lawmakers for a six-week campaign blitz rather than put Republican legislative wins on the floor. Johnson's designs for the lame-duck session could be quickly derailed as Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who lost a GOP primary months ago, is expected to reintroduce a privileged resolution to impeach Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Massie has a resolution with eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, who is staring down consternation at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue in the wake of Tuesday's Democratic victories. President Donald Trump said Thursday he intends to keep Hegseth in his job amid assessments from several Republicans -- including Vice President JD Vance -- that the Iran war led to the party's midterm losses. In a video posted Thursday, Hegseth proclaimed that he will not back down -- doubling down on the Iran war and his cultural agenda at the Pentagon while drawing a parallel to Trump. Massie could move as early as Monday, teeing up a showdown midweek on Hegseth impeachment.

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The new political era: Less party loyalty, big election swings

President Trump’s Republicans just found out the hard way what other political parties are seeing across western democracies: Voters are fed up, they have lost trust in political parties and they don’t have much patience when they feel politicians aren’t listening. The massive shift in the midterm elections is a sign of a new political era taking hold from Paris, Texas, to Paris, France. Voters are becoming less attached to the parties their parents voted for and are more likely to try out new parties or new political pitches, on the left and right. And while they are willing to give insurgent parties or populist figures like Trump a shot, they will also lose patience quickly if they don’t deliver. The upshot means greater volatility in elections, and bigger swings from one party to another that leave a sense of political whiplash.

If the Republicans were to lose the next presidential election, it would be the first time since the late 1800s that four consecutive presidential elections have ousted the incumbent party after just one term. In Europe, the disaffection has overturned politics, causing many traditional parties in places such as France and Italy to fade, and new parties, especially populist nationalist ones, to rise up in both countries as well as Germany and the U.K. France’s far-right National Rally is the clear favorite in French elections next year and, later this month, a nationalist party, Vox, is likely to gain a share of power for the first time in Spain since its return to democracy. Far-right parties are also set to do well in Italy and Poland next year. “Voters are clearly less attached to a party and far more willing to switch,” said Tony Travers, a political scientist at the London School of Economics, who compares it to a retail shopping experience, and attributes part of the change to a fast-paced digital world where people expect fast results and simple explanations for complex problems.

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Nvidia opens investigation into Jensen Huang’s relationship with Chinese spy

Nvidia said on Sunday that it was opening an investigation into Jensen Huang, its chief executive and co-founder, after he acknowledged to the company’s board that he had been intimate with a business executive who U.S. intelligence determined was a Chinese spy. Mr. Huang’s relationship with the woman, who goes by Alice Huang, became a U.S. government concern after surveillance revealed that she was feeding information directly to Beijing. The revelation raised troubling possibilities because Mr. Huang is one of the most powerful figures in the A.I. revolution as well as an influential ally of President Trump. In a message to the company, Mr. Huang apologized. “I was unfaithful to my wife,” he said. “My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.” Nvidia’s board said that it had “no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised,” but that “the board’s inquiry will examine all available information.” It said Mr. Huang “fully supports the review and has committed to cooperating with it.”

The independent board members will choose an outside counsel to investigate. John Rizzo, a company spokesman, said Mr. Huang wouldn’t be part of the selection process. Mr. Huang, 63, will continue to lead the company during the investigation, the board said. As a co-founder, he has set up a unique structure at Nvidia where he dictates all aspects of its business while overseeing some 60 people who directly report to him. “Today’s news will not slow Nvidia,” Mr. Rizzo said. “Jensen is committed to continuing to lead Nvidia as C.E.O. without interruption.” In a brief comment to reporters on Sunday evening as he was about to leave Florida, Mr. Trump defended Mr. Huang. The president said he would “certainly take him” on his upcoming trip to China. “I haven’t heard he’s done anything wrong,” Mr. Trump said. “He dealt with somebody, but you know, so does everybody else.” Mr. Trump said he had not spoken to Mr. Huang about the situation. “I just know he’s a fine person, but you never know what’s going on,” Mr. Trump said. He added that he had no regrets about his own lack of action when he was told about a year ago that the U.S. intelligence community was electronically surveilling Ms. Huang.

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State Stories

Delek CEO downplays White House refinery expansion announcement

Delek US Holdings Inc. won’t add crude oil processing capacity at its Tyler, Texas, refinery despite US Vice President JD Vance’s October announcement that the facility would be expanded using Defense Production Act funds. “We are still talking to the administration, but to make it very, very clear, Tyler is going to stay at 75,000 barrels a day,” Chief Executive Officer Avigal Soreq said on a Friday earnings call, referring to the refinery’s current processing capacity. “There is no material capex that we need to disclose.” The company is discussing “shifting between different kinds of products and that’s it,” Soreq said. “There is not much more to it.”

The CEO’s tone differed notably from Vance’s Oct. 13 campaign stop in Tyler, where he announced Trump administration plans to work with Delek to expand the refinery using the 1950 Defense Production Act. The disconnect complicates Trump administration efforts to boost US refinery capacity amid high fuel prices, exacerbated by conflicts in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine. White House efforts to show progress on lowering energy prices ultimately proved unsuccessful in swaying voters in Tuesday’s midterm elections, in which Democrats swept to decisive victories across the country. Soreq said during Friday’s call that Delek is “very thankful” to the Trump administration, noting the company’s appreciation for a commitment to helping rural refineries. The Tyler facility is far smaller than some of the large-scale facilities owned by the country’s oil and refining giants. The White House and Delek didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Abbott’s defeat is personal for DA José Garza, who may have more room to act

At an Election Day watch party in a crowded East Austin bar, Travis County District Attorney José Garza watched as early results showed Gina Hinojosa pulling ahead of Gov. Greg Abbott. Through his black-rimmed glasses, he squinted at the TV and smiled. For Garza, Abbott’s defeat is personal: It could mean less state intervention in his office. The three-term Republican governor, whose loss to Hinojosa on Tuesday sent shock waves across the nation, had proposed creating a chief state prosecutor who could monitor cases and take them over from local prosecutors. “For the last six years, statewide Republicans have attempted to make me a central theme of their politics,” Garza told the American-Statesman. “I think what we saw on Tuesday is overwhelming evidence that that failed.”

After years of being in the GOP’s crosshairs for the way he has at times prosecuted cases involving violence — with Republicans often asserting that Garza delivered lenient or questionable sentences — the two-term district attorney may face less resistance from the Capitol as he continues pursuing the progressive agenda voters elected him to carry out: police accountability and criminal justice reform, including less incarceration for people accused of lower-level crimes. Some challenges of his work have cost county taxpayers thousands of dollars to defend. Twice, he overcame attempts to remove him from office under the state’s 2023 “rogue prosecutor” law, which the Texas Legislature passed to remove district attorneys who refuse to prosecute certain crimes, such as abortion-related offenses or low-level marijuana possession. Both complaints, filed by Travis County residents, were dismissed: The first was dismissed because the complainant had an active drug-possession charge; the second was dismissed by a Republican judge, who found no evidence that Garza had broken the law. In one high-profile case, Abbott pardoned a defendant convicted of murder by a Travis County jury. Garza has characterized many of these challenges as political theatrics, which he is eager to leave behind. But not all of his criticism has come from Republicans. Comptroller-elect Sarah Eckhardt and Democratic judges have expressed concerns about missed deadlines for grand jury indictments, an issue that was the focus of ongoing reporting by the Statesman last year. Garza said, “I’m confident that we have addressed it.” County records show that prosecutors are no longer missing deadlines. Soon, Democrats in power and outside groups will be responsible for oversight. Both pledge to provide it, but for different reasons.

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Tom Giovanetti: This election was terrible — and wonderful — for conservatives like me

(Tom Giovanetti is the president of the Institute for Policy Innovation.) It was a terrible, wonderful election for conservatives like me. It was a terrible election for my preferred policy outcomes. The Democratic Party is generally hostile to individual liberty, economic growth, wealth creation, innovation, to families and to the cause of life. Antisemites who refused to denounce the murderous Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel were popularly elected to Congress, including to the formerly august Senate. There are more in Congress than ever who won’t give straight answers to simple questions like “what is a woman?” and “is it okay to surgically sterilize pre-adolescents?” And if we need to replace a sitting Supreme Court justice, it won’t be easy to put another nominee committed to the original meaning and text of the Constitution on the bench. The crew in charge of Congress for the next two years will want to raise taxes, obliterate the senate filibuster, pack the Supreme Court, and maybe even add Democratic-leaning U.S. territories to our list of states. For certain they will prevent the passage of any legislation contributing to freedom, innovation and growth.

For the next two years, folks like me will be fighting to oppose new regulation on AI, data centers, energy abundance, financial privacy, individual liberty — the list goes on and on. About these things, I am concerned but not worried. It’s harder to make major changes in our system than people think, even when one party holds healthy majorities. There will be a lot of forces pushing back. But if some do happen, that’s the price you pay for political malpractice. Which is what Republicans have been guilty of for the past two years. That’s why it was a wonderful election for our constitutional system, if not for my preferred policy outcomes. In our political system, there are no mandates. The people give you an opportunity to govern the country reasonably and prudently — to steward political power well. If you fail, the people get to throw you out. If you don’t like that, blame the politicians who squandered their duty, not the people who judged them for it. Throwing out people who are abject failures at their jobs is the healthy response of a self-governing people. In 2024, in full knowledge of his many incompetencies, vices and transgressions, voters nonetheless elected Trump and Republicans to return the country to its pre-Covid robust economy. Somewhere in there they assumed that congressional Republicans would deter Trump from his worst impulses, as often happened during Trump’s first term. Instead, congressional Republicans became his catamites — enabling, defending and praising his many abuses. Worst still, the speaker of the House exchanged his role as steward of the constitutional duties of the House for chief catamite, and undertook to protect Trump from any and all attempts at congressional oversight. As one of the worst House speakers in American history, Rep. Mike Johnson rightly finds himself speaker no more.

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Texas women face barriers despite the narrowing wage gap, report finds

A typical Texas woman working full-time made 81 cents for every dollar her male counterpart earned, up from 79 cents in 2014, according to a new statewide index report. While the foundation estimates women could make up the majority of the state’s workforce by 2040, the report, authored by Texas Women’s Foundation, reveals that their economic opportunities aren't keeping pace with their growing population. In October, the foundation worked with data scientists at Every Texan to release the report examining women’s economic security, stability and success in Texas. Every Texan is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institute that uses research and data analysis to advocate for policies that support economic opportunity and access to health care.

In the report, a Texas Women’s Economic Opportunity Index compared conditions for women in more than 200 Texas counties, finding disparities in pay, leadership opportunities, overall well-being and childcare. “Texas women and their families need to not just survive, but to thrive,” foundation president and CEO Karen Hughes White said. “We believe that investing in women and their families will create a strong and vibrant Texas for everyone.” The foundation hopes lawmakers and community leaders will use the index to guide future state investments. Since 1985, the nonprofit foundation has invested millions in grants to eliminate the barriers to women’s economic security, stability and success through advocacy and research. Coda Rayo-Garza, senior director of research and data at Every Texan, said the wage gap may be smaller, but it doesn’t mean change is happening overnight. “In 10 years, the gap has only moved 3 cents,” Rayo-Garza said. “It's not going to take years to close that gap; it's going to take generations to close that gap at that rate.”

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What a Blue Texas could mean for Dallas

Every statewide seat up for grabs on Election Day will be filled by a Democrat come January, and the Texas House will have a Democratic majority for the first time in 24 years. That, of course, means a few things just might change once everyone is sworn in. Bills that would’ve died in committee might make it to the House floor, even if they face an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled Senate, where the “Blue Wave” didn’t quite take over. Lawsuits filed by the attorney general’s office could be dropped, and the incoming attorney general has already said he won’t continue suing out-of-state doctors who mail abortion pills to Texas. Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa will also have fellow Democrats in two key leadership positions: Vikki Goodwin, who will preside over the Republican-majority Senate as lieutenant governor, and, likely, Houston Democrat Senfronia Thompson as Speaker of the House. Thompson said Friday that she has enough votes for the job, although the House won’t formally elect its speaker until January. Here are a few things that could change in light of Tuesday’s election results.

The crosswalks might get gay again: After its appeals were denied, the City of Dallas began removing crosswalks that TxDOT and the U.S. Department of Transportation said were “nonstandard.” Included were the city’s Black Lives Matter crosswalks and the rainbow crosswalks in the Oak Lawn neighborhood. Given that some “nonstandard” street markings remain, many said the move by Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Transportation Secretary/former MTV Real World roommate/Airport Sartorial Choice Critic/Human Jock Jams CD/champion lumberjack/speed climber/CNN guy Sean Duffy was more about erasure. With a new slate of leaders, might we also see the return of the crosswalks (which also included Black Lives Matter and other themes related to neighborhood or cultural identity) on Dallas streets? Stay tuned. Court strategy: Democrats won 21 appellate court races on Tuesday. That includes the Texas Supreme Court, where the currently all-GOP bench will become five Republicans and four Democrats, including Maggie Ellis, who will become the first LGBTQ+ person to serve as Chief Justice. Judges are expected to apply the law impartially, but their interpretations of that law can differ, sometimes along ideological lines. Attorneys often factor potential appellate success into their strategy, even before a case goes to trial. Take, for instance, the suit between the Highland Park Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church’s Horizon Texas Conference. In its lawsuit and public statements, Highland Park Methodist Church has repeatedly cited previous Texas Supreme Court rulings as being among the reasons for the moves leading up to the suit. “Would you reconsider your strategy if you were a lawyer for Highland Park?” I asked one attorney, who is not representing the church but is familiar with these types of cases. He responded with a meme of Dwight Schrute saying, “Yes! Agreed! Yes! Absolutely!” More Democratic justices on the Texas Supreme Court don’t necessarily mean the court will be friendlier to the denomination than the church. But it’s hard to imagine lawyers on either side aren’t already considering what the new composition could mean.

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League City covers more than 50 Flock cameras after election results

League City crews spent the day Thursday covering over 50 Flock Safety cameras with nylon trash bags to block them from taking photos or videos after voters rejected the city's use of them in Tuesday's election. Officials are now required to remove Flock cameras, which are automated license plate readers, within 72 hours of the official canvassing of the election results, which is on Nov. 17, per a resolution city council members approved in October. However, League City Mayor Nick Long asked city staff to cover the cameras immediately. Long said the city plans to physically take down the cameras once officials sort through contractual issues with Flock Safety, the company that provides Flock cameras.

"We’re moving ahead right now, showing that we are committed to following the will of the voters and removing the cameras starting today," Long said Thursday. Long said that while it's important to listen to the will of the voters, he has safety concerns now that the city's lost the cameras. According to Long, they have helped solve over 300 cases and led to over 120 convictions in the past three years. "I think it’s safe to say that we are less safe without the cameras, but that is what the voters have weighed and they’ve made their decision," Long said. Long said the city spent about $120,000 a year on the cameras out of a $400 million budget. "It’s not a lot of money. One police officer costs more than $120,000 a year. ... Simply reallocating that to one more officer will not produce the same results," Long said. City officials decided to leave the fate of Flock cameras up to citizens after hearing concerns from League City residents about the use of Flock cameras. Fifty-six percent of voters rejected the cameras, while 46% of voters opted to keep the cameras in place.

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Central Texas’ only pediatric program ends

Pausing a Taylor Swift concert film, Shannon McLennan sets up a drip stand into the living room. The mom/nurse prepares an IV bag for her daughter, Oliana Gardner, better known as “Oli,” who lays on the couch. The Leander home’s transformed into a makeshift clinic as McLennan helps with Oli’s hospice care. But prior to entering the treatment, the daughter’s faced a life of medical challenges. Born at 35 weeks, Oli had bilateral microphthalmia — a condition where eyes aren’t developed at birth. Then at 4-years-old, doctors diagnosed her with nonverbal autism. “I am her voice. I’ve always been her voice,” McLennan told KXAN. The latest medical fight arrived following complications brought on from toxic megacolon in 2023.

“We found out her stomach didn’t work at all,” described McLennan of the condition. “It was basically paralyzed.” Since March, Oli’s been in hospice by way of the Dell Children’s Medical Center home hospice program. “I wanted her to stay home,” reasoned McLennan, who said Oli faced enough trauma from hospital visits to put her on high blood pressure medication. “She lived a completely normal life [before toxic megacolon], and then she went from that to being extremely sick, being poked and prodded.” But a call from a Dell doctor three weeks ago informed McLennan their home hospice care would end November 6. “I was shocked,” recalled the mom. “It was the only pediatric program I had ever heard of [in central Texas].”

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At the dawn of a new Texas frontier, advocates consider possibilities for abortion rights

When Gina Hinojosa’s victory in the Texas governor’s race was announced at her election night party Tuesday, 21-year-old Ava Marchant dissolved into tears of mascara-smeared happiness, trading embraces with various members of her family. For Marchant, the win provided hope that laws restricting reproductive rights in Texas could change. “I’m feeling just overcome with joy and relief,” she said. “When Abbott’s been governor, you know, I’ve just felt pressure as a woman in Texas, and I felt scared.” Texas has one of the tightest bans on abortion in the country, restricting the practice except in narrow medical circumstances when the mother’s life or a major bodily function is at risk. Over the past five years, the state’s conservative legislature has passed laws that pioneered new methods to crack down on abortion, while Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton doggedly pursued their enforcement.

Now, Texas will have its first Democratic governor in more than three decades. The Texas House of Representatives has a blue majority, and Democrats were elected to the influential roles of lieutenant governor and attorney general. For voters like Marchant, it feels like a new frontier. Anti-abortion advocates feel it, too. “I’ve been working on pro-life legislation for the last 22 years, and this is the biggest shift I’ve seen in that amount of time,” said John Seago, president of Texas Right to Life. “We expect that dynamics across the board will be significantly more difficult for the pro-life movement in Texas.” Still, the Texas Senate remains red, with Republicans holding 19 of 31 seats. That means legislators interested in expanding abortion rights in the state will have to seek common ground across the aisle, and that champions of the anti-abortion movement in the Senate still have a strong position to block sweeping changes to Texas’ laws. For Texas abortion rights advocates who are accustomed to navigating a highly unfavorable political environment, the changes to the makeup of the state government feel dramatic and surreal. “I’m pretty sure we’re being punked,” joked Kaitlyn Kash following Tuesday’s election.

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With Democrats in charge of Texas, what’s next for UT Austin?

Under Texas Republicans’ leadership, UT Austin has been undergoing a sea change. In just the last two years, the school installed new top leadership, slashed numerous majors, launched an overhaul of its core curriculum, and intervened in the governance of KUT Public Media – Austin’s NPR station that the university has housed for decades. What could happen now that Democrats, who have harshly criticized many of those changes, are about to take charge? The state controls Texas’ public universities in two crucial ways. The governor appoints everyone on their oversight boards, including nine voting members of the Board of Regents for the University of Texas System, which includes UT Austin and a dozen other public institutions. And, the Texas Legislature controls their budgets and the policies they operate under. Both levers of control could transform following the midterm elections, though not immediately.

UT Austin did not respond to a request for comment. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has packed the UT System Board of Regents, who serve six-year staggered terms, with conservative donors and allies. Gina Hinojosa, who defeated Abbott to become the state’s first Democratic governor in more than three decades, will now be in charge of filling those seats. But six of the nine regents are not up for reappointment until 2029 or later, unless they choose to leave sooner. Hinojosa does not have the power to fire them outright. The Texas Senate, which still has a Republican majority, must also confirm Hinojosa’s picks — if she makes them while the Legislature is in session. UT’s former top spokesman Gary Susswein said that could limit Hinojosa’s ability to make sweeping changes right away. Susswein, who now runs a strategic communications firm in Austin, pointed out that former Texas Gov. Rick Perry repeatedly clashed with the regents he had chosen. He wanted them to fire then UT President Bill Powers, and for years, they resisted.

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Without property taxes, school districts on military bases find ways to survive

Back in 2011, three San Antonio school districts were left without 50% of their funding until two months before the school year ended. They made due by pulling from their fund balance, a rainy-day fund they have grown accustomed to using given their unique funding situations. Randolph Field Independent School District, Fort Sam Houston ISD and Lackland ISD are confined entirely to their respective military bases; only seven districts like this exist in the country. Unlike other public school districts, they receive no money from property taxes. In 1950, President Harry S. Truman established the Impact Aid Program to fund local school districts that lose property tax revenue because they include tax exempt areas, like Indian reservations, national parks or military bases.

But the last time the Impact Aid Program was fully funded was 1969. Despite being the nation’s oldest K-12 federal education program, it is one of the only major K-12 federal education program that is not funded at the start of each fiscal year. Impact Aid funding contributes to roughly half of these district’s budgets, creating somewhat of a precarious situation as they hope the funds come through each year. “If we didn’t have those funds, we’d have to shut our door,” said Gary Bates, superintendent of Fort Sam Houston ISD. Each year, the superintendents of the three districts find themselves in the same position: begging lawmakers to continue to fund the program they desperately rely on. “There have been presidents and Congresses that have tried to either eliminate Impact Aid altogether or just severely reduce it,” said Burnie Roper, superintendent of Lackland ISD. “That’s one of the reasons why we go to D.C. at least twice a year to advocate for Impact Aid, because without that funding piece, we won’t be able to survive.” Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Donald Trump have all attempted to cut the program in one way or another. It currently has a $1.6 billion price tag. Under Trump administration changes to the Department of Education, it was recently relocated to the Department of Labor.

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Dorazio is the lone GOP survivor in San Antonio’s Texas House delegation

Republican state Rep. Mark Dorazio (R-San Antonio) has long been part of the conservative wing that pushed out then-Texas House Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio), wanted only Republicans to chair committees in the Texas House and spent years working to cut Democratic colleagues out of the legislative process. When he returns to the state capitol in January, however, he’ll be on his own in a Texas House dominated by Democrats. Democrats have a majority in the chamber for the first time in many years, Dorazio is the lone Republican left standing in a Bexar County’s 10-member delegation. Suburban Republicans had a tough night on Tuesday, when a blue wave swept out many GOP state lawmakers who didn’t expect to face tough races.

Even in Dorazio’s Texas House District 122, Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Gina Hinojosa carried the district with 52.7%, according to San Antonio political data analyst Bert Santibañez, and a majority of voters even came back to support Democrat Ron Nirenberg in the Bexar County Judge race. When the AP finally called Dorazio’s race this week, he was holding off little-known Democratic challenger Shelly Nickels by about 1,800 votes. San Antonio’s other two Republican state lawmakers, state Reps. Marc LaHood (R-San Antonio) and John Lujan (R-San Antonio), were already long gone. Lujan waged an unsuccessful bid for Congress instead of seeking reelection this year, and the Republican running in his swingy Southside Texas House District 118 was defeated handily by Democrat Kristian Carranza. LaHood conceded on election night to Democratic challenger Zack Dunn — the first Democrat to win his Northside Texas House District 121 since 1981. His 54-46% victory marked a 13-point swing from LaHood’s win there just two years ago.

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The unlikely college football powerhouse fueled by Texas gas money

From the moment James Hurley arrived as president of Tarleton State University in 2019, he made it his mission to spread the word about what he considered the best-kept secret in America. He has driven tens of thousands of miles across Texas, meeting with hundreds of high school administrators and eating more burritos in his car than he would care to remember. There were stops in places without cell service and towns with one stoplight. But nowhere was too small to visit if he could put Tarleton State on the radar of college applicants. Hurley knew that more students could also mean more cash from a $46 billion state endowment flush with Texas oil money that backs certain public universities. And if there was one surefire way to boost the school’s profile—beyond endless drives around the state—it was college sports and the Tarleton State Texans.

“Athletics will never be the most important endeavor we embark upon,” Hurley says, “but it is the most visible.” As enrollment surges, Tarleton State has committed $1.5 billion to campus infrastructure projects, many of them backed by the Permanent University Fund that generates money from Texas oil fields and distributes money to some public schools. And it’s no coincidence that an athletic program that traditionally prided itself on its national-title winning rodeo team is making waves across college sports. This season, the undefeated Tarleton State football team reached No. 1 in the Football Championship Subdivision for the first time in school history, and it’s planning the leap to the sport’s highest level. Meanwhile, the basketball teams that recently made the move from Division II to Division I are beginning their seasons in a new $130 million arena that would be the envy of many of the richest programs in the country. On the baseball diamond, a program that was also Division II a few years ago has already made the NCAA tournament for the first time and won a game.

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Cullen Davis, millionaire oilman acquitted in Fort Worth mansion killings, dies

Cullen Davis, who was one of the richest men in America when, in the summer of 1976, he was accused of wearing a black wig as he used a revolver to fire upon four people at a mansion on a remote hilltop in southwest Fort Worth, killing two of them, has died. He was 93. Davis, who was acquitted at his four-month capital murder trial and professed his innocence ever since, died Friday at his home in Colleyville, a stepson, Trey Davis, said on Sunday. The cause was not clear. Slain in one of Fort Worth’s most infamous crimes was Andrea Wilborn, the 12-year-old daughter of Davis’ estranged wife Priscilla. Also killed was Stan Farr, a former TCU basketball player who was Priscilla Davis’ live-in boyfriend.

Priscilla Davis was shot once in the chest and survived, and Gus “Bubba” Gavrel Jr., a chance visitor to the mansion off South Hulen Street, was left paralyzed by a bullet in his spine. Priscilla Davis insisted from the outset that the gunman was her estranged husband, Cullen Davis, a multimillionaire oil heir. A judge had ordered him that morning to increase Priscilla Davis’ support payments to $5,000 per month and to pay her attorney’s fees. Cullen Davis had earlier been barred by a court order from going onto the property. A man dressed in black broke into the home. Andrea was shot once in the chest and was dragged or chased into the basement, where she bled to death in the utility room. Priscilla Davis, who was locked in a bitter divorce dispute with her husband, arrived home later with Farr. They confronted the killer in the house. Shot in the chest, as she lay wounded, Priscilla saw Farr get gunned down. She fled the house when the killer stepped outside to confront another couple.

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Grand Prairie ISD responds to theater play cancellation lawsuit, says ‘uncertainty’ guided decision

Grand Prairie ISD has responded to a lawsuit filed by a female student who’s casting as a male character in a play led to it being cancelled. The district said an “uncertain legal landscape” and “enforcement environment” played into their decision. 17-year-old Ana Mota was cast last month to play Seymour, the lead male role, in “Little Shop of Horrors” at South Grand Prairie High School, but then district officials told her it might violate state law if she played the character. Mota was told she would have to share the lead female role with another student. When Mota refused, the play was cancelled and replaced with Disney’s “Frozen.” Mota sued in federal court last week, arguing the district violated Title IX — a federal statute that protects students from being discriminated against for their sex. She requested the court reinstate “Little Shop of Horrors” and her lead role.

Mota’s initial lawsuit stated that SB 12 “contains no text that can reasonably be read to require an actor’s biological sex to match the sex of a fictional scripted character.” The lawsuit also argues that even if SB 12 barred Mota from the role, federal antidiscrimination law supersedes state law. The district’s response, which states AI was used to assist in some portions, said it was complying with Texas Senate Bill 571 – which requires school officials to report ‘educator misconduct’ and lays out penalties if they don’t – and a section of SB 12 that bars schools from providing “instruction, guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation or gender identity to students.” “While Plaintiff’s role as Seymour was to remain a male character, not a transgender character, and the intent was to portray Plaintiff as a male,” the response states. “The concern was that the audience or other third parties may not view Plaintiff as a male, and that supporting a production featuring two females engaged in a romantic relationship might place the educators involved in the production of the musical in peril of committing ‘educator misconduct’ and cause the District to run afoul of state law.” The district said there’s no guidance from regulators or legal precedent on if SB 12 would bar a girl from playing a male character with a female romantic interest, creating legal uncertainty.

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National Stories

Trump says he was kidding about hiring Dana White as press secretary

President Trump said Sunday that he was joking about Ultimate Fighting Championship Chief Executive Dana White becoming his next White House press secretary. “You would have thought that people would have said he’s having a good time,” Trump told reporters. “I will tell you I was only kidding.” Trump posted online Saturday that he had asked White to be his White House press secretary, but didn’t indicate whether White had accepted. In the social-media post, Trump said that he requested White bring “assistants,” including mixed martial artists Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje and others, to “defend us against the Lunatic Left.” Trump said Sunday that the list of fighters he mentioned was an indication that he was joking.

“I was kidding but I think Dana likes the idea and he is a very capable guy,” Trump said. “That was an example of something where I was kidding and then people said ‘you know that’s actually a pretty good idea.’” White said that he would be meeting with Trump in Washington on Monday. Trump confirmed that he and White would meet in person, but said that White was coming “for other reasons.” Trump has approached White before about the job, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

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Democrats amp up Trump investigation threats, Blanche counters he may probe lawmakers

Top Democrats are ramping up oversight of the Trump administration and businesses it has partnered with, while Attorney General Todd Blanche warned he could counterinvestigate lawmakers conducting probes. Democrats romped to majorities in both the House and the Senate during Tuesday’s midterm elections, putting them in position to seize control of committee gavels and subpoena power in January. The electoral rout leaves Democrats with at least 54 Senate seats and 254 seats in the House of Representatives as votes continue to be counted in several states. Democrats vowed to investigate both President Donald Trump’s White House and businesses that have worked with the administration. CNBC reported on Thursday that Democrats are expected to take an aggressive approach to probing businesses, especially those companies with ties to the Trump family. The technology, cryptocurrency and prediction market industries, among others, could immediately be in the crosshairs.

“If you’ve been making your profits by cheating American families and scamming your investors, you better get ready for some investigations — serious ones,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the incoming chair of the Senate Banking Committee, on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “The American people are just damn sick of this.” Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, whom the Senate narrowly confirmed as the nation’s top cop earlier this year, took umbrage at the Democrats’ plans for investigations and said he may launch his own investigations against members of Congress. “There could be,” Blanche said Sunday when pressed on CNN’s “State of the Union” about whether the administration will counterinvestigate Democrats. “When the threats become so vile and so dangerous that you are telling people in college that they better be careful if they want to work in the Trump administration because somebody will come after them, at some point you have to draw the line.” Blanche was referring to comments made by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who said during a University of Chicago event that she wants “young people coming out of school to say, ‘Should I go work for the Trump administration?’...I want them to be like, ‘Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want. And so let me avoid participating in that.’ I want that deterrence message sent.”

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Schools are closing more quickly in US. Research shows it's not enough

Minutes before first bell, Penny Núñez-Brandão scanned the crowd outside Glen Cove Elementary School, looking for familiar faces. “I don’t see any,” the fifth grader told her mom one morning in August. “None of my friends are coming.” The start of a new school year can be nerve-wracking under any circumstances. But for Penny and thousands of students across the U.S., this academic year brought the added difficulty of adjusting to an entirely new school after their previous ones shuttered. As U.S. birth rates continue a multidecade slide and state and federal education funding dries up, an increasing number of cash-strapped school districts around the country have resorted to closing campuses to save money. A total of 1,156 schools closed during the last academic year — the highest number since the pandemic, according to an analysis of federal data by Big Local News at Stanford University. At the same time, new research shows student enrollment has fallen much faster than schools are closing, suggesting more painful financial choices lie ahead.

The Vallejo City Unified School District, a working-class district near San Francisco, serves half as many students as it did two decades earlier. District leaders have closed five campuses since 2025 — a quarter of its schools. They’ve also placed up to a third of all staff positions on the chopping block to help plug a staggering $36 million deficit. Still, research shows closing schools rarely yields the financial relief districts hope for. Busing students to their reassigned schools, severance for pink-slipped staff and security for empty facilities often eat up any savings. School closures can also set students back academically and make it harder to attract teachers, who may worry the jobs aren’t stable. Closing schools can also trigger a downward spiral, as frustrated families flee to charter or private schools or other districts. In Vallejo, some parents said they chose to homeschool this fall or were planning to sell their homes and move to neighboring districts. “Families are literally packing up their kids and moving away,” said Penny’s mother, Kimberly Núñez-Brandão, who already moved her older son to a competing charter school. She recently attended Glen Cove’s curriculum night for families and shared her shock at learning Penny’s new teacher had 32 students in his first class. “They already overwhelmed teachers with 30-plus students,” she said. “Who’s winning here?”

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'Nerve-wracking' wait in Mississippi for US Senate vote result

Mississippi residents faced a "nerve-wracking" wait to see whether the southern state elects its first Black senator in more than a century as vote-counting dragged on Sunday after this past week's US midterms. Voters who spoke to AFP in the state capital Jackson on Saturday anticipated that history could be in the making in the whisker-close race between Democrat Scott Colom, an African-American man, and Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith, a white woman. With 97 percent of the vote counted by Sunday afternoon, Colom was 2,574 votes ahead of Hyde-Smith -- a gap of just 0.3 percentage points. Mississippi has not elected a Democratic senator since 1982, and Colom would be its first Black senator in nearly 150 years -- since the Reconstruction era following the American Civil War that ended slavery.

Gregory Glass, a 47-year-old restaurant owner, himself an African-American, said a victory for Colom would be "historic" but admitted to having "bittersweet" feelings about that. "It should have happened sooner than that, especially in Mississippi, in a state that has so many African-Americans in it," said Glass. According to the US Census Bureau, more than one-third of the state's population, long viewed as a bastion of Republican politics, is Black. A victory for Colom would also put another staunchly Republican state -- including Texas, South Carolina and Kansas -- in the Democrats' column for Senate in Tuesday's election. The midterms were a resounding win for Democrats, who seized control of both houses of Congress as voters nationwide delivered a stinging rebuke to Republican President Donald Trump. But the count is not over yet. The unusually long wait reflects Mississippi's election procedures, which allow officials several days to process mail-in and provisional ballots -- potentially enough to decide the contest. Jermal Clark, election commissioner for Hinds County, which includes the city of Jackson, said that they were still going through so-called "affidavit" provisional ballots.

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Biden says cancer fight means he will scale back book promotion tour

Former president Joe Biden said on Sunday that his battle with an aggressive form of prostate cancer will prevent him from doing as many promotional appearances as he had hoped for his upcoming presidential memoir. “Some days are better than others. It hasn’t stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down,” Biden, 83, said in a statement about the Nov. 17 release of “Promise Me, America.” “What that means is, unfortunately, I won’t be able to do as many conversations about my book as I’d hoped. However, I’m hopeful the words on the page speak for themselves.” The book chronicles Biden’s four years in the White House, the challenges his administration confronted and the decisions that shaped his presidency.

Biden’s publisher, Little Brown, initially announced that he would do a publicity tour accompanying the release of the memoir, something that is common for books written by former presidents. A spokesperson for Biden declined to provide additional details. Biden announced in May 2025 that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. He subsequently underwent radiation and hormone therapy. In August, his son Hunter Biden said the cancer had spread further and was causing significant pain. The illness has sharply curtailed Biden’s post-presidential life, leaving him increasingly reliant on a small circle of family members and longtime aides even as he has sought to shape his political legacy. Questions about Biden’s age, stamina and mental acuity dogged his presidency and ultimately derailed his reelection bid. Those concerns crystallized during his June 27, 2024, debate against Donald Trump, when a weak-voiced Biden repeatedly lost his train of thought, struggled to finish answers and failed to mount a forceful case against his opponent.

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Mysterious request scrambles major Supreme Court gun case

The Supreme Court received an unusual request late last week in one of its biggest cases this term, a challenge to state and local bans on AR-15s and other semiautomatic weapons. In a one-paragraph filing, the lead plaintiff, Cutberto Viramontes, asked to be dismissed from the case. The 36-year-old Illinois resident had sued officials in Cook County in 2021, arguing that a local ban on semiautomatic rifles violated his Second Amendment rights, a dispute that spiraled into the Supreme Court case the justices have agreed to hear next month. Mr. Viramontes’s court filing offered no explanation for his decision. It is also unlikely to derail the challenge, in which the justices will weigh the constitutionality of such gun bans. That’s because the court agreed to consider two similar cases, Mr. Viramontes’s challenge to Cook County’s restrictions and a parallel case from Connecticut.

But the last-minute shake-up, less than a month before the Dec. 2 argument, injects questions and chaos into what is shaping up to be a landmark Second Amendment case. In recent years, the court’s conservative majority have announced a series of rulings expanding gun rights, and people on both sides of the debate have long been anticipating the showdown over assault weapons bans. “It’s unprecedented for a gun-rights plaintiff to abruptly pull their name from a major Supreme Court case with zero explanation,” said Janet Carter, managing director of Second Amendment Litigation at Everytown Law, the legal arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, which advocates tighter guns laws. She added that “in a case with stakes this high,” she thought that “the public deserves to know why the lead plaintiff is suddenly walking away.” Reached by phone, Mr. Viramontes declined to say why he wanted to drop out of the case. “I would not like to make a comment,” he said. Mr. Viramontes is represented by Cooper & Kirk, a law firm that has litigated other Second Amendment challenges. The firm declined to comment.

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Rubio sees little hope of diplomatic breakthrough to Mideast deadlock amid 'outrageous' Iranian demands

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused Iran of “outrageous and ridiculous” demands as efforts to reach a lasting resolution in the Middle East war appeared stalled. Speaking with reporters in Florida on Sunday evening before traveling to Paris for the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting, Rubio indicated the two sides remain far apart on negotiations, after Tehran proposed shortening the timetable for restarting talks from seven days to two. Rubio said President Donald Trump would prefer to solve “this and every problem diplomatically,” but added that “sometimes that’s not possible, unfortunately.” Energy prices moved lower on Monday morning after President Trump said Sunday that further strikes were “highly unlikely” if negotiations progressed toward a strong agreement. Brent crude, the international price benchmark, was down 0.75% at $97.58 per barrel by 5:25 a.m. ET. Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for December delivery were trading 0.42% lower at $90.45.

Trump said in a CNN interview prior to Rubio’s comments that a resumption of hostilities in the more than eight-month-long conflict was unlikely, provided that talks to constrain Iran’s nuclear ambitions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz can progress. “I wouldn’t say we’re on the verge of a breakthrough,” Rubio said. “Right now, it hasn’t been very productive because the Iranian demands are simply not just unacceptable but, in some cases, outrageous and ridiculous and really not realistic.” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday that Tehran wants U.S. sanctions lifted and the war ended on all fronts before negotiations begin.

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Lead Stories

With Susie Wiles’s departure, big business loses a sympathetic ear

Lobbyists and surrogates for some of the world’s largest companies had a go-to strategy when they saw no other path to head off a damaging policy from President Trump: call Susie Wiles. Throughout her tenure, Trump’s departing chief of staff became a sounding board for corporations and advocacy groups trying to influence the administration, according to people familiar with the matter. Her departure, announced Friday, will leave many businesses searching for a new interlocutor within the White House. Leading Wall Street executives have often turned to Wiles and her staff. JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and his team have been in regular contact with her, as well as her former deputy, James Blair, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser has also had some interactions with both Wiles and incoming chief of staff Stephen Miller, according to people familiar with the matter.

It was Wiles, along with Vice President JD Vance, who helped broker a truce between Trump and Elon Musk after their public falling out. Musk recently poured roughly $500 million into Republican midterm efforts. Wiles was known to encourage companies to invest domestically. After a foreign auto manufacturer announced a new plant was being built in the U.S. earlier this year, Wiles texted “thank you” to officials at the company, according to a person who received the text message. But while Wiles was viewed as a sympathetic ear by corporate titans, their entreaties to her sometimes failed. Shortly after Trump imposed sweeping tariffs last year, a healthcare-trade group contacted Wiles and advocated for the administration to pare back the trade levies, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The tariffs continued despite the lobbying effort, the person said. White House spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez said both Wiles and Miller have “tremendous” relationships. “This administration will continue building powerful partnerships, advancing the president’s America First agenda, and delivering historic wins for the American people,” Alvarez said. Wiles didn’t return requests for comment.

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Houston police to stop alerting ICE during traffic stops

The stunning wave of Republican defeats is already having an effect in Texas. Mayor John Whitmire of Houston said he was directing city police officers on Friday to limit their cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement during traffic stops, bucking a policy imposed on Texas’s largest city by Gov. Greg Abbott. Under an executive order from the mayor, Houston police officers will no longer alert ICE agents when they encounter an unauthorized migrant during routine traffic stops or in connection with other low level infractions. Instead, officers will only alert ICE in cases where a person has been arrested and is being brought to, or has already arrived at, a county jail. “If they’re charged with a new crime, we’ll let ICE know as we get them to the jailhouse,” Mr. Whitmire said in an interview with The New York Times. “We just are not going to deal with the nonviolent contacts.”

The change in how Houston officers interact with immigration agents was a direct result of Tuesday’s election, Mr. Whitmire said. Mr. Abbott lost his bid for re-election to what would have been a record fourth term as governor. Sign up to get J. David Goodman's articles emailed to you. J. David Goodman is a Houston-based reporter covering the people and politics of Texas. “The governor was requiring us to contact ICE,” Mr. Whitmire said. “It created a lot of anxiety” among Houston residents. He added that the shift was “certainly consistent with the new leadership in Austin,” referring to the slate of Democrats elected to every major statewide position in Texas on Tuesday. “We won’t have new leadership until January,” Mr. Whitmire said. “But I’m willing to make a responsible decision that in the next two months we’re going to go to a more effective policy.” A spokesman for Mr. Abbott’s office declined to comment. The change comes as prosecutors in Harris County are pursuing a criminal case against an ICE agent who struck a Mexican construction worker in October with a vehicle in Houston, injuring him. A grand jury indicted the agent, Mario Alberto Morales, late last month. The county’s prosecutors were also investigating the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo who was killed during an encounter in July with ICE agents in Houston.

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Justice Department intervenes in Planned Parenthood lawsuit in Texas

The Trump administration is intervening in a high-profile Texas lawsuit against Planned Parenthood, taking ownership of a case that could fall by the wayside under the state’s newly elected Democrat attorney general. The Justice Department outlined its intention Friday night in a court filing in the five-year-old lawsuit, which had been championed by outgoing Republican attorney general of Texas Ken Paxton. The suit accused Planned Parenthood clinic operators in the state and the national umbrella organization, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, of committing Medicaid fraud. The move, just days after an election loss in deep red Texas, was a signal that the Trump administration could seek to supplant the Democrats’ power in former Republican strongholds, where officials had used litigation to further their agenda on social and policy issues. Under President Biden, the Justice Department in 2021 declined to step into the Planned Parenthood case.

The Texas suit accused Planned Parenthood of fraud for collecting Medicaid reimbursements while Texas had sought to remove it as a Medicaid provider. Planned Parenthood has denied the claims, noting that courts did not bar it from collecting payments during the litigation. The state is seeking to recover $1.8 billion, which includes Medicaid reimbursements, interest and penalties. Planned Parenthood, which recently reported annual revenue of $2.1 billion, said that such a payout could result in its closure. A lawyer for Planned Parenthood said that the Justice Department’s intervention showed that President Trump was “undeterred by the election results.” “This is an effort by the Trump administration to shut us down,” said Susan Baker Manning, general counsel for Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “It is going to weaponize the Department of Justice against us.” Representatives of the Texas Attorney General’s office and the Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.

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Trump signals combative next two years with elevation of Stephen Miller

After a brutal election that gutted Republican power in Washington, President Trump has chosen one of his most loyal and divisive advisers as the new White House chief of staff, signaling a combative posture for the final two years of the Trump era. Stephen Miller, a fierce political operative who has been at Trump’s side for more than a decade, has been a vocal advocate of the no-holds-barred style of governing that delighted the president’s most die-hard MAGA supporters—and was repudiated by much of the rest of the country on Election Day. He succeeds Susie Wiles, who was seen as a moderating force on a sometimes impulsive president. Miller, 41 years old, was the architect of the aggressive immigration enforcement policies that turned off many voters, according to polls, contributing to Republicans’ historic losses on Tuesday. His elevation signals that the president has no intention of backing away from the immigration agenda on which he built his political brand.

Miller is expected to push a maximalist approach to executive power now that Democrats control Congress. In the days after the election, Trump sent early signals that he would work with Democrats, but Miller has long advocated for a confrontational response to the wave of investigations that the newly ascendant opposing party is expected to launch. Though Miller has at times pushed for a muscular foreign policy, particularly in South America, he has suggested they wind down the deeply unpopular war in Iran, according to people familiar with the discussions, and called for refocusing on policies like immigration that made Trump popular with his base. Miller, when contacted Friday, directed questions to the White House. “He’s going to do a great job,” Trump told reporters after arriving at an event in Florida. An early test for Miller, according to associates of the president, is whether he can satisfy Trump’s desire to punish his perceived political enemies. One of Trump’s biggest frustrations with Wiles, according to administration officials, is that she and the Justice Department weren’t doing enough to go after people seen as leaking classified material, to jail reporters who publish such material and to prosecute his opponents. Though Miller was influential during Trump’s first term, his purview has greatly expanded in the second one. He has overseen policy rollouts concerning the president’s trade war and targeting of elite universities, along with spearheading the Pentagon’s unprecedented campaign of striking alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean, killing many on board.

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Sotomayor sees U.S. in ‘rough patch’ for rule of law

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Saturday that the U.S. is experiencing a “rough patch” for rule of law and civic discourse, but one that can be overcome through a greater commitment to civility, equality and educating young people about America’s enduring values. “I think we're in a rough patch right now. There's so many challenges to it on so many different levels. This is a really critical point in our history,” Sotomayor said. “Is it going to end tomorrow? No.” “It's going to take some hard work. I don't know how long it's going to take to put us back on an even keel,” the Obama appointee said during an appearance at a conference in Virginia exploring the history and future of American democracy. “I'm hoping it's … in my lifetime. But even if it's not in my lifetime, I genuinely believe it will happen.” During an hourlong appearance at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate, Sotomayor did not comment directly on the outcome of this week’s midterms.

However, she did mention the “outpouring of voters” Tuesday as a positive sign of civic engagement. Voter turnout was about 49%, a figure exceeded in modern midterm elections only in 2018. Sotomayor lamented the fact that in recent years the electoral choices have seemed so stark to many people that they are scared by the possible outcome. “Every election now seems really important to people because they are, and that sense of fear, I know, is not comfortable for many people,” the justice said. ”I think we'll come out of this.” Sotomayor also pointed to a decline in civility as contributing to a fraying of America’s civic engagement. “That someone disagrees with you doesn't make them a bad person, and that's something we've forgotten,” the justice said. “Our politics today have devolved into personal name-calling, which is something that wasn't quite what I was used to when I was growing up … It was always a debate about ideas, rarely about people's personal motivations or about people's personality or personal peccadilloes."

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State Stories

Secretary of State's office to audit voter registration system

The Texas Secretary of State’s office is auditing its voter registration system after a massive backlog of applications sent counties scrambling ahead of the midterm election. “While there is still work to do to wrap up our 2026 election cycle, it is important that we continue to think ahead about the needs of our Texas election community,” Director of Elections Christina Adkins wrote in an email to election officials Friday. “And to create a plan of action on how to address the ongoing concerns with the TEAM system.” The TEAM system has been around since the early 2000s, but was overhauled in July 2025 by the state and a Louisiana-based vendor called Civix. Since then, county officials have complained of major glitches they said slowed their work ahead of the midterm.

Adkins said the state’s TEAM system, which stands for Texas Election Administration Management, will undergo an audit beginning in mid-December. The results will be available during the upcoming legislative session. In the office’s request for the third-party audit, it wrote that it had identified “critical areas of concern.” “These continued areas of concern pose a direct risk to election officials’ ability to meet its legal obligations for statewide election administration in an efficient manner,” the request from the secretary of state’s office said. Election officials across the state reported smooth and successful elections, but said they had to work overtime throughout the season to rectify issues with system errors — including the backlogs of voter registrations reported in September. During early voting, turnout numbers lagged on the state’s own website because counties had to manually enter mail voter data into the TEAM system, one by one.

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State-appointed managers in Texas takeover school districts brace for imminent removal

Appointed school board managers in some of Texas’ districts under a state takeover said Friday that they are preparing to be out of a job as soon as January. Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa campaigned to stop state takeovers in public schools and to replace Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath with an educator on her first day in office, which would be Jan. 19. The new commissioner could immediately change the governance of the eight districts that were taken over by the state because campuses persistently failed academic standards. During a state takeover, a commissioner appoints managers who assume the authority of locally elected trustees. Hinojosa’s appointee could replace any or all appointed board managers at any time with new appointees, education experts said. Although Hinojosa hasn’t said if or when a new commissioner would replace appointed leaders, presidents of Houston and Fort Worth ISD’s board of managers said they’re making plans now.

That includes speaking with elected trustees about what transition of power would look like to ensure they best serve students, they said. Ric Campo, the Houston ISD board of managers president, said some of the state-appointed managers plan to meet with the elected trustees Monday to lay out a “robust” plan. Campo said he’s making the assumption that the trustees must be ready by January. “I’ve always said — in public and to the elected trustees — that we’re working ourselves out of a job, and we’re happy to do it,” Campo told the Tribune. “What we really want to make sure happens is that we have a great, smooth transition, and that the elected trustees, when they do come back, are prepared and have the information they need to do the best job they can.” Trustees in districts under such state intervention remain in office but do not have the power to vote on anything, including to pass a budget or change board policy. The state takeover of HISD began in 2023, and Morath already planned to announce the timeline for the district to return to elected control by June.

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Audio: 911 calls reveal confusion, chaos after Florida jet crash

When a Learjet 60 plummeted to the ground near a residential area in Florida on Nov. 1, people nearby frantically called 9-1-1, though they weren’t quite sure what they’d seen. On Saturday, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office released recordings of several calls alerting authorities that the Learjet 60 bound from Austin to the Bahamas had crashed into the ground near Cresthaven. “An airplane or a rocket – something fell from the sky,” one caller said. “We felt our house shake and then we heard an explosion when we ran outside.” Another caller thought a bomb had gone off, reporting that the impact caused a crater that still appeared to be on fire. “I would say take everybody out of it,” the caller said, seeming to suggest that officials evacuate the area. Meanwhile, a 9-1-1 caller who said she was a retired police officer reported a motorist near where the plane crashed into the ground, noting she was unsure of his involvement.

Soon, first responders swarmed the scene, finding a crater where the plane crashed, killing all nine people on board. Debris was flung onto roofs and homes of nearby buildings. The crash killed Austin entrepreneur Adam Robinson, 45, his wife Helen Sharp their children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2, and Anita Maria Cetina, the children’s nanny. Also killed were their friends, Charmi Fehr and Rachael Reed, the pilot, 55-year-old Jeff Gregory, and copilot Nathalia Filgueiras, 20. While the National Transportation Safety Board has not determined the cause of the crash, investigators found pieces of the plane’s tail some 3.8 miles away from the crash site, indicating the parts broke off before impact.

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Ted Cruz says Democrats are ‘drunk on their own power’ after midterm wins

Senator Ted Cruz said Democrats are "drunk on their own power" after their midterm victories, predicting the party will overreach despite what he described as a "generationally damaging" defeat for Republicans. Speaking on his Verdict podcast Friday, the Texas Republican argued Democratic leaders will interpret their gains as a mandate for a broader progressive agenda, even though he believes voters were primarily expressing frustration over economic concerns. "These guys are drunk on their own power," Cruz said. "They are high on their own supply."

Cruz claims Democratic leaders are already misreading the election results. "The radicals are running the Democrat Party," he said. "They believe they have a mandate." The comments came as Cruz assessed the scale of Republican losses nationwide, which handed Democrats control of both chambers of Congress and expanded the party's Senate majority. "We're already at 54 Democrats. We could be at 56," Cruz said. "That is generationally damaging." Cruz argued Senate defeats are particularly difficult to overcome because senators serve six-year terms, potentially locking in Democratic gains for years. "It will take six years to have the chance to turn them around," he said. "Retaking the majority in the Senate is very, very difficult." Texas political analyst Scott Braddock, editor of Quorum Report, offered a different interpretation on his show, arguing Democrats won because James Talarico, Gina Hinojosa and other candidates remained focused on voters' economic concerns. "Republicans kept trying to bait them into having arguments about culture wars," Braddock said on his podcast. Instead, he said, Democrats stayed "laser focused" on affordability and the economy. "It's the economy, stupid, and guess what? It still is."

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Democratic-majority Tarrant County Commissioners Court could redefine relationship with Republican sheriff

Newly elected Tarrant County Judge Alisa Simmons and Sheriff Bill Waybourn haven’t seen eye to eye when it comes to how the Sheriff’s Office runs the Tarrant County Jail. The two had a heated discussion during September’s commissioner court meeting over a jail death earlier this year. Waybourn told Simmons she was releasing incorrect information about what happened surrounding that jail death. “You keep saying these things and you keep putting rhetoric out there that was not true,” Waybourn said. Simmons answered, “When you get to the truth, you have to share the truth.” It’s among one of several clashes the two had during Simmons’ tenure as commissioner. Waybourn has been the focus of criticism from Simmons and other Democratic leaders over accountability from jail deaths. In the past, Simmons has requested a full review of jail operations by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Now, as several seats in Tarrant County flipped blue, including Simmons’ victory as county judge in the midterm election, the sheriff’s office could be facing more calls for transparency and accountability from the new commissioners court Democratic majority. In a statement Wednesday, Waybourn congratulated Simmons and other newly elected officials. “Public safety is not a political issue; it is a fundamental duty that requires cooperation, transparency, and professional collaboration across all levels of county government,” Waybourn said. “As we prepare for this upcoming administrative transition, my office is fully committed to working constructively and professionally with the incoming elected officials in our county.” KERA News reached out to Simmons and will update this story with any response. In the past Simmons has been vocal in her concerns over jail deaths, the lack of details provided about those deaths and the legal troubles brought upon the county. She’s also called on Waybourn to resign, calling him “unqualified to serve.” “Families deserve more than that,” Simmons said. “And people in custody, many of whom have not been convicted of any crime, deserve more than that. This jail is not the execution chamber.”

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Tarrant County went blue in a historic election. Is the shift here to stay?

Tarrant County voters chose a Republican over a Democrat in only five of the 58 contested races at the federal, state and county levels. Is the shift to blue here to stay? Democrats without a doubt had a stellar election on Tuesday, Nov. 3, SMU political science professor Cal Jillson said. The results were overwhelmingly blue, and far better for Democrats than anyone could have imagined, Jillson said. But it doesn’t mean Tarrant County, or Texas, is officially blue. “This is just an opportunity for the Democrats to govern, and they will be evaluated just as Republicans have,” Jillson said. “Republicans were found wanting and replaced. If Democrats are found wanting, they could be replaced too.” In the 2018 midterm election during President Donald Trump’s first term, Tarrant County went for Democrat Beto O’Rourke over Republican incumbent Ted Cruz by less than 1 percentage point, about 4,000 votes in the U.S. Senate race.

Though O’Rourke did not win, he was one of nine Democrats to win in Tarrant County of the 47 contested federal, state and county races. His success in Tarrant County was remarkable for Democrats of the reliably red county, but Republicans continued to take the majority of the wins until this year. The GOP losses on Tuesday were so widespread and historic that the election will be studied for years to come, Texas Politics Project research director Joshua Blank said. No one imagined Democrats sweeping the statewide ticket, he said, but Blank is still wary to call Texas blue. “Texas is not blue, Texas is competitive,” Blank said. He isn’t willing to call Tarrant County blue either. Tarrant saw the same pattern as many parts of the state, where fast-growing areas near urban centers swung heavily to the left. Though the turnout was historic, there are still more Republican voters out there who didn’t cast a ballot, Blank said.

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Bobby Pulido, the new scion of South Texas Democrats

Tejano star Bobby Pulido crushed the incumbent Republican Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz by 24 points last night in a fierce blue backlash against gerrymandering, immigration crackdowns, and the high cost of living in South Texas’ Congressional District 15. With 30 years of touring and two Latin Grammys under his belt, Pulido was a formidable opponent for the lesser-known congresswoman from the start. His nostalgic 1990s hits became the soundtrack to a moderate, good-vibes campaign pushing back against the extremism of President Donald Trump, who previously won the predominantly Hispanic district by a stunning 18 points in 2024. The red ripple and gerrymandered maps that ushered in De La Cruz as the first Republican to represent the 15th district proved to be a short-lived and failed experiment, one of countless casualties in last night’s blue tsunami. The congresswoman’s last-ditch efforts to distance herself from the immigration raids that have disrupted life across South Texas proved futile as Pulido’s star status propelled him higher and higher in the polls.

He performed at countless quinceañeras, the Texas Democratic Party convention, and at rallies alongside Gina Hinojosa and James Talarico. On October 17, the 53-year-old musician gave his final performance, La Ultima Desvelada, at a sold-out arena in Edinburg. But now that the music’s over, constituents will see what kind of congressman Pulido will be. Asked about how he connects with voters on important issues, Pulido told the Texas Observer in a July interview, “Issues are more important to journalists than they are to people. I think the people don’t look at it as ‘How do you stand on this issue?’ It’s ‘Can I trust that you care about me?’” He’s spent more time performing “Desvelado” for local audiences and taking pictures with fans than diving into his vaguely populist, centrist platform. “For over 30 years, you played my music at your weddings, your quinceañeras, and your carne asadas, and the past year you welcomed me into those same celebrations on the campaign trail,” Pulido said in a statement to the Texas Tribune. “Tonight, you trusted me with something even bigger than a song. You trusted me with your future, and I will work hard everyday to honor it.” The beloved figure will be joining the ranks of a not-so-beloved coalition that helped fund his campaign: the Blue Dog Democrats. The conservative Democratic group established in the 1990s is notorious for siding with Republicans in Congress on critical issues like abortion, gun control, and border security. Their numbers have been dwindling over the past decade, but Pulido’s victory alongside that of Johnny Garcia in Texas Congressional District 35, fortifies the group’s hold on South Texas—alongside Henry Cuellar of Laredo and Vicente Gonzalez in Brownsville, who both also handily fended off the GOP’s attempts to take them out last night.

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A conservative billionaire, film studio and years long Texas fraud

Mindy Raymond thought she had found the job of her dreams. The veteran film and TV producer was given the chance to be president of a burgeoning movie studio in her home state of Texas. It was 2017 and the company was called New Republic Studios, which had just taken over the former Spiderwood Studios lot outside Bastrop. The nascent production house was led by John Robison, a charismatic, smooth talker with influential connections throughout the Republican party and a big vision. “Huge. It was massive,” Raymond recalled. “We had architects and designers … We wanted to be the biggest studio in Texas.” But it may have been little more than a dream. Over more than two years in business, employees at times went months without being paid, Raymond said.

County records show the property was ceded back to its prior owner in early 2020. Former employees said the property was lost because of nonpayment, and Raymond was out $100,000 in wages and investments in other Robison companies. New Republic Studios stands as just one episode in a pattern of Robison companies that took money from investors in Texas with visionary promises that went undelivered. Robison, 63, was convicted of four federal counts including wire fraud and money laundering in July and sentenced in late October to 41 months in federal prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to make $1 million in restitution for what a federal judge called a “brazen” scheme to defraud conservative billionaire Joe Lonsdale on the promise of building a campus for the University of Austin. The New Republic episode is just one of several since Robison landed in Texas that call into question whether his conviction for the $1 million swindle of Lonsdale was the first time the silver-tongued pitchman was accused of fraud — or was just the first time he got caught. Neither Robison nor his attorneys commented for this story. In 2013, Robison relocated to Texas from California, often telling people the move was at the behest of then-Gov. Rick Perry. He said Perry — who championed expanded incentives for film and TV projects — asked him to come home to build out the state’s media industry.

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This MAGA Republican was abandoned by his party. He feels vindicated.

As Texas Republicans were left stunned by their losses in Tuesday’s midterms, one of them, who had been warning party leaders of possible Democratic victory for months, felt vindicated. Sid Miller, Texas’ outgoing Agriculture Commissioner, wasn’t on Tuesday’s ballot. But for months he had urged Republican leaders’ to crack down harder on the data center boom — particularly zeroing in on Gov. Greg Abbott and, ultimately, not voting for him. A Stephenville rancher, Miller said a GOP loss — especially among rural voters — became clear to him a year and a half ago. “I saw how upset they were over vouchers, how upset they were over THC, and then the data centers came along, and it was just, ‘oh my God, this is, maybe, the final nail in the coffin,’” Miller said in an interview.

Clayton Tucker, a Lampasas rancher, defeated Republican nominee Nate Sheets in the race to succeed Miller and became the first Democrat to claim the office in 40 years. He campaigned on promises to stop data centers, address New World Screwworm and make food affordable for Texans. Miller, who had been requesting either a special session or a one-year moratorium on data centers so the Legislature could act, often campaigned with Tucker. In an election where every county swung towards Democrats, rural ones that had traditionally been safe for Republicans were no exception. Analysts said a Republican win in the top-of-the-ticket U.S. Senate race would require strong turnout from the state’s most reliably red regions, like the Panhandle, East Texas, and parts of West Texas, but turnout fell in almost every county in those regions of the state. Sheets, the founder and former CEO of a raw honey company, defeated Miller in the March Republican primary with backing from Gov. Greg Abbott and others in the GOP establishment. Abbott criticized Miller’s “character flaws,” and said he "has never felt an obligation to tell the truth."

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No. 10 Texas pulls away from No. 19 Missouri for crucial 34-20 road win

No. 10 Texas overcame early mistakes and a second-half deficit to secure a crucial 34-20 victory over No. 19 Missouri on Saturday at Faurot Field, keeping its College Football Playoff hopes alive. The Longhorns (7-2, 4-2 SEC) scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to pull away from the Tigers (6-3, 3-3 SEC), led by quarterback Arch Manning, who completed 28 of 38 passes for 297 yards and three touchdowns. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian praised his team’s resilience following the victory, particularly its ability to overcome turnovers and defensive penalties.

“I’m very proud of the way they hung together, the way they responded to adversity,” Sarkisian said. “I think we had two fumbles today. We gave up a total of three points.” Texas entered Saturday’s matchup ranked No. 7 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, knowing a third loss could significantly damage its postseason aspirations. After trailing for much of the afternoon, the Longhorns took their first lead with 5:03 remaining in the fourth quarter when Manning connected with Raleek Brown for a 23-yard touchdown pass, putting Texas ahead 27-20. Missouri had an opportunity to respond on its ensuing possession, but defensive back Graceson Littleton came up with a critical interception with 1:41 remaining to give Texas possession. Brown delivered the finishing blow moments later with an 8-yard touchdown run to seal the victory. The Longhorns had to overcome a difficult start after Missouri quarterback Austin Simmons connected with Brett Norfleet for a 2-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal to open the scoring.

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Beto O'Rourke urges Texas Democrats to deliver after historic sweep

Beto O’Rourke has a clear message for Texas Democrats following their historic victories Tuesday: deliver. O’Rourke, whose narrow loss to GOP Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018 foreshadowed that flipping the state from red to blue was possible, believes Democrats should pass three policies that could appeal to Texans across party lines in the 2027 legislative session: Expand Medicaid, raise the state minimum wage and increase public school teacher salaries. “Those are three things that would be felt by everybody, Republican or Democrat, rural or urban,” O’Rourke said Friday in a phone interview. The statewide sweep Tuesday gives Democrats control of the state’s levers of power — minus the Texas Senate — for the first time since the 1990s.

However, O’Rourke knows that just as quickly as voters elected Gina Hinojosa as governor, Vikki Goodwin as lieutenant governor and dozens of Democrats to the House — giving the party control of the House for the first time since the 2001 legislative session — Texans can be just as quick to vote them out if they are unhappy with the state’s direction. “If Democrats can't deliver on this chance that Texans have given them, then they'll withdraw the offer,” O’Rourke said. “And what we need to do is build on the success by delivering for everybody quickly in a way that can be felt.” Democrats will control the House in the 2027 legislative session, but Republicans will maintain a majority in the Senate, where Goodwin will oversee the 31 senators. Over in the House, Rep. Senfronia Thompson of Houston is on a clear path to be the first Democratic speaker since the 2001 legislative session. She said Friday she had the support of the majority of House lawmakers. A Thompson speakership gives Democrats control of the legislative agenda in the House, and Hinojosa, as governor, will also lay out her legislative priorities for lawmakers. Goodwin's influence on the Senate agenda will depend partly on the rules Senators adopt. The split in the legislature means Democrats will have to find ways to compromise with Republicans, O’Rourke said. He acknowledged it won’t be easy. The path to compromise might require Democrats to arm-twist Senate Republicans and add public pressure from their constituents to show that the bills will benefit their communities. Voters will ultimately judge Democrats on what they accomplish, not that they tried. “I don't know that anyone is interested in grading you on effort,” O’Rourke said. “They're really holding out for the results.”

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Dozens party outside Elon Musk's Austin home after midterm election

Outside of a West Lake Hills compound affiliated with billionaire Elon Musk, about 60 people gathered on Saturday to celebrate that the unprecedented amount of money Musk spent ahead of the midterm election went mostly to candidates who lost, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. They arrived at noon, spilling out of the two blue Fly-Rides party buses they had boarded downtown, plus a dozen cars, and held a dance party in the street. Festivities included music, birthday party hats, inflatable costumes and refreshments.

Austin Police received a call reporting alcohol use at the event but said they didn't see any evidence of that when they responded. It was not immediately clear if anyone was home. Residents did not address the partygoers. Eli Cortez, 28, was one of the bus captains for VOCAL-TX, which organized the “People Over Billionaires Election After Party” with Popular Democracy and People’s Action. Cortez was gleeful as he sipped Martinelli’s cider from a plastic champagne coupe near the home’s tall wrought-iron fence. “When’s the last time that we were able to celebrate an election?” said Cortez, wearing a red party hat, while people chanted along to Queen’s “We Will Rock You” playing from a speaker on wheels. “We’re here celebrating Texans showing up en masse against MAGA’s agenda, up against billionaires’ interest in elections and celebrating real democracy.”

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National Stories

MAGA voters reveal who they want to see lead GOP in 2028

With Democrats taking control of Congress in the midterm elections, MAGA voters are already sizing up potential successors to President Donald Trump in 2028 — with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeatedly emerging as favorites among those interviewed by Fox News Digital. "I like [Rubio]," one American told Fox News Digital "I like that he's no-nonsense, similar to Trump." "Well, I like JD Vance obviously," another said. "I like Marco Rubio. There's some other ones too that are maybe not so much mainstream that are coming up that I like too."

"JD is great too, but Rubio has a little more experience," one said. "He's articulate, he’s well spoken. He's got good ideas. I just really like him." Fox News Digital spoke with Americans attending a Trump rally in Bangor, Maine, as one of Trump’s final stops before Tuesday’s midterms that ended in a stunning blue wave. Fueled by anger over high costs and the war with Iran, Americans voted to oust Trump and his agenda, boosting Democrats to large majorities in the House and Senate. With Democrats looking to rebuke Trump and his allies, Republicans that Fox News Digital spoke with are looking for a presidential candidate to fill in Trump’s "footsteps." "I'm really open to see who can fill Trump's footsteps, not just the next person in line," one told Fox News Digital. "I wish Trump could run again," another said. Another brought up the prospect of another presidential run by Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., who has tried to distance himself from the results of Tuesday’s midterms. In a news conference Wednesday, he praised Florida for keeping the state under GOP control — suggesting his governance was a reason Florida Republicans held on. "I would like to see either JD And Marco, or JD And Governor DeSantis," one said at the Trump rally. "That's what I would feel comfortable with. " Beyond Vance, Rubio and DeSantis, other prominent Republicans whose names have surfaced in early 2028 discussions include Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas and Josh Hawley, R-Mo.

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Wall Street races for megadeals as countdown begins on Trump era

President Donald Trump’s return to the White House changed the political calculus around mergers and acquisitions, reviving companies’ desire for dream deals that had become difficult to pull off. Now, corporate America is on the clock. The rout by the Democrats in the midterms is creating a sudden sense of urgency in boardrooms, with executives wondering if they might have one last chance to pull off a transformational transaction while M&A-friendly regulators remain in place under Trump. Conversations with top advisers suggest the result is already prompting companies to ask whether they should move fast to bring big strategic moves forward. There’s a realization that a resurgent Democratic Party could work to frustrate the kind of blockbuster dealmaking that’s built up steam during Trump 2.0. and powered record revenue on Wall Street. Kevin Foley, co-head of investment banking at JPMorgan Chase & Co., one of the world’s top advisory firms, said companies should be ready to transact through another complicated operating environment.

“The biggest risk may be assuming that, sooner or later, things go back to normal,” New York-based Foley said. “Standing still is always an option, but when industries are changing this fast, it’s the wrong one.” Fernando Rivas, a senior Wells Fargo & Co. banker, put it more starkly at an industry conference in Boston on Thursday when he said a “now or never” mentality will return to drive M&A in the near term. Trump’s two terms have accounted for an outsized share of the biggest deals. More than half of all announced transactions worth at least $50 billion and involving a US company over the past two decades have come while he was president, according to analysis of Bloomberg-compiled data. This year alone has seen landmark combinations in mission-critical sectors like power and technology, such as this month’s record-breaking $100 billion-plus takeover of laser maker Lumentum Holdings Inc. by Marvell Technology Inc. Elsewhere, the Department of Justice cleared Paramount Skydance Corp.’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. without antitrust remedies. There’s a particular urgency to get going with these more complex transactions. Megadeals can take months to negotiate and even longer to clear regulatory reviews around the world. Companies that wait until a 2028 presidential campaign is in full swing to move ahead with such deals risk seeing them become political footballs at the stump.

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Anthropic IPO meets AI backlash after midterms show stinging rebuke of data centers

Americans were unequivocal at the ballot box this week as they expressed disdain for tech billionaires and mistrust of artificial intelligence. With that backdrop, Anthropic is about to try to go public. The AI company is gearing up for a potentially historic IPO, likely targeting mid-November for its Nasdaq debut. CNBC reported on Friday that Anthropic investors see the company aiming for a valuation of $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion, down from a target of $2 trillion that had been floated in recent months. From Wall Street to Main Street, it’s becoming a tougher environment for Anthropic. The Nasdaq on Thursday suffered its steepest drop in 19 months, and it’s down to start November after October marked its worst month since March 2025. Chipmakers and neoclouds, the companies most closely tied to the AI buildout, are getting hit the hardest.

Voters rebuked AI in Tuesday’s midterm elections, while sending Democrats to sweeping congressional victories across the country. Candidates who advocated for more stringent AI regulation won handily in states like Michigan, Ohio, Texas and Georgia, which will all now have Democratic governors, and local communities opposed data center-related ballot measures in 40 out of 41 cases. More than half of voters said AI data centers were a “crucial” or “major factor” in who they supported for Congress, according to an exit poll from NBC News. “People don’t want a data center going near them if it’s just going to house AI that’s going to help a big tech company profit,” Maura Austin, a behavioral scientist at the University of Virginia, told CNBC. “What Anthropic is doing when they’re going public with such a high valuation is they’re really leaning into that big tech, billionaire kind of caricature. I expect that’s not going to go well with the public.”

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UFC CEO Dana White declines Trump’s offer to become press secretary, source says

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he offered the White House press secretary job to Dana White, but a source familiar with the matter says the Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO declined the unorthodox idea. “I am pleased to announce that the Great Dana White, a violent Fighter and Warrior, has been offered the job of Press Secretary of the United States,” Trump posted Saturday on Truth Social. He said he requested White bring “assistants,” listing six UFC fighters and posting their photos. “We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left. Dana will be a Press Secretary like none other. Dana, please take the job!” he added.

While one aide said Trump was joking about the offer, the president’s post came as he’s continued to search for a new press secretary following Karoline Leavitt’s departure and Katie Zacharia’s five-day stint in the role. Trump has struggled to find someone to fill a crucial position that he is personally invested in — a matter that has only become more important after Democrats won control of Congress and pledged to investigate his administration. On Saturday, White House communications director Steven Cheung reposted the president’s message, adding, “Hell yeah! Do it, @DanaWhite!” CNN has reached out to the White House and UFC for comment. White deflected on a question about the offer at a news conference Saturday, saying only that he plans to fly to Washington, DC, to meet with Trump on Monday. Trump fired Zacharia after one rocky briefing, making her stint as press secretary the shortest in history. Leavitt, who served as press secretary for a year and a half, left her role in August, saying she wanted to spend more time with her young family. She joined Fox News as a contributor this month.

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A reckoning may await data centers following a beating in the midterms

After a campaign season filled with outrage against data centers, the midterm elections ushered in a wave of Democrats pledging to clamp down on the energy-hungry behemoths. A tougher regulatory environment for artificial intelligence giants and data center developers is expected to follow, even if President Donald Trump — perhaps the industry’s biggest champion — stalls any federal crackdown. Data center regulation itself was not on most midterm ballots, and it wasn’t among the top issues for most voters. But hardline stances against the server warehouses were woven into the platforms of many candidates, including the Democrats who upended longtime Republican control of the governorships in Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Nevada and Iowa, many of which are data center hotspots.

Skepticism of data centers, and their impact on electricity prices, often blended with the fight for affordability — a key campaign talking point for Democrats. In Texas, Clayton Tucker, the first Democrat elected state agriculture commissioner since 1986, said his pledge to fight data center development was critical to his victory. Everywhere he went, he said, ranchers worried that data centers posed an existential threat to their dwindling water supplies. “You know, there’s an old saying around here that ‘whiskey’s for drinking and water’s for fighting,’” Tucker told The Associated Press. “And that’s exactly what happened.” According to data from AdImpact, campaigns large and small spent more than $380 million on television ads mentioning data centers. Democrats outspent Republicans on the topic by more than three to one. Sweeping wins by Democrats could have far-reaching implications for data centers. Besides taking control of Congress, Democrats flipped at least five governors’ offices and took full control of state governments in five more states: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Michigan. Data Center Watch, a project of AI security consultancy 10a Labs, said it tracked winning candidates for Congress and governorships and found the vast majority had expressed support for stronger regulation or even a moratorium.

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The only town in the U.S. that said yes to data centers

Harwood, North Dakota, may be the only place in the United States that voted in favor of data centers last week. The town, population 845, faced the prospect of a $3 billion, 1.8-million square foot facility on its outskirts. Resident Michael Swartz hadn’t liked the idea. He said he felt city officials had rolled over for a mega-developer who wanted to cash in on the artificial intelligence boom. “It’s changing … our small town, and I don’t know if it’s for the good,” he said. So Swartz, a software engineer, organized to get a measure on the ballot demanding independent reviews and public hearings for big new industrial projects, as well as proposed modifications and expansions of existing ones. It was one of at least 40 ballot measures in 10 states this election cycle that could have restricted data center development.

On Tuesday, in dozens of cities and towns across the country, voters overwhelmingly endorsed those restrictions. They also elected candidates who campaigned against Big Tech. Nationally, too, the mood was decidedly anti-data-center. In TV network exit polls, 76 percent of voters said they would oppose the construction of a new data center in their community, and 57 percent (including nearly two-thirds of Democrats) said AI would do more to hurt than to help society. But confronted with same debate that played out in dozens of other communities, a majority of voters in Harwood were convinced of the merits of data center development. They gave a resounding “no” to increased oversight by a margin of about three to one. Harwood residents tend to describe their town as a bedroom community. There’s not much there besides a couple bars and a grain elevator, they say. Many residents commute to work in Fargo, North Dakota’s most populous city, and the surrounding metro area. From the beginning of the data center project, Harwood faced the prospect of losing it to their next-door neighbors. Although Texas-based Applied Digital had already contracted 900 acres when the project was announced, Harwood and Fargo disputed who had claim to annex the land. “It was always going to get built right around the same area that it was now,” said Blake Hankey, the mayor of Harwood. “If the data center is going to get put in this similar location, we might as well get the tax benefits and the tax revenue from it.”

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Trump orders DOJ to look into Democrats for 'threatening' people

President Donald Trump ordered the US Justice Department on Saturday to look into Democrats for "threatening a lot of people" with impeachment and other ?forms of punishment, saying in a social media post that their actions amount to a "criminal ?act," without providing evidence. Democratic candidates routed Trump's Republicans in midterm elections on Tuesday, giving them control of Congress starting ?in January. Party leaders have promised to reassert Congress' oversight of the executive branch once they are in power by holding hearings and conducting investigations into Trump administration actions. In his post, Trump accused Democrats of sending "threatening letters to many people, all innocent."

Members of Congress have released copies of letters seeking documents ?on matters such as tech company ?donations for the large ballroom Trump is building at the White House. Trump's post also referred to Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, who suggested in remarks ?last month at the University of Chicago that Congress should investigate people who have enabled Trump's policies. "I want young people coming out of school to say, 'Should I go work for the Trump administration?' … I want ?them ?to be like, 'Lord, that might be buying myself a ?ton of problems that I don't want. ?And so I might avoid participating in that,'" Slotkin said. "I want that deterrence message sent." Her comments, within weeks of the midterm elections, were criticized by some Republicans. Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah wrote on social media that Slotkin was threatening young people who wanted to go into politics. Slotkin responded that Lee had lied about her comments and wrote, "Spare us the manufactured outrage."

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Lead Stories

Hinojosa taps anti-school voucher Republican, education and labor allies for Texas transition team

Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa announced her first transition team appointments Thursday, tapping allies in public education and organized labor — along with a former Republican lawmaker who fought against outgoing Gov. Greg Abbott’s school voucher plan. “I am not going to be the governor for just Democrats,” Hinojosa said. “I am going to be the Governor for all the people of Texas.” Former state Rep. Ernest Bailes, a conservative Republican from rural East Texas, was among the GOP lawmakers who joined Democrats to block Abbott’s school voucher push in 2023. Abbott then successfully retaliated by backing primary challengers against those Republicans in the 2024, including the candidate who defeated Bailes.

Hinojosa, who served alongside Bailes in the Texas House, called him a champion for public schools and one of her closest Republican allies on education. “We will put partisanship aside. We will work together for what is best for the kids of the state of Texas,” Bailes said Thursday. Hinojosa’s focus on public education is also reflected in her selection of Tamala Barksdale, a former Austin ISD trustee who served alongside her on the school board. During her campaign, which Barksdale worked on, Hinojosa promised to increase funding for public schools and replace Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath with an educator. Ryan Pollock, a union electrician and executive director of theTexas State Building and Construction Trades Council, brings organized labor’s perspective to the transition team. Hinojosa said his appointment reflects her commitment to creating good jobs and putting money in Texans’ pockets. Pollock said achieving that goal means investing in workers.

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Nasdaq 100 eyes $1.8 trillion loss as Democratic win sparks AI delay fears

The Nasdaq 100 index was set to lose a whopping $1.8 trillion in stock value on Thursday as investors feared that the sweeping midterm victory of Democrats could stall the pace of ?AI infrastructure expansion. The rout marked a dramatic slide from a relatively mild initial reaction in the previous session, when ?the index, stacked with elite tech companies, rose on hopes that an end to election-related uncertainty could improve overall sentiment. "Wall Street badly needs a happy ?AI story right now," said Matthew Tuttle, founder and CEO of Tuttle Capital Management. "We now probably have two years of nothing. Divided government, angry politics, and very little getting passed." Shares of semiconductor and neocloud companies, which were behind much of the market's gains in the recent past, witnessed sharp declines for a second straight day on worries that data center buildouts worth billions of dollars could face ?delays.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index fell 8.4% ?to its lowest level in more than six months, led by losses in heavyweights Nvidia and Broadcom. Hyperscalers, which defied the selloff on Wednesday on hopes that slower data-center construction could rein in Big ?Tech's AI spending, also dropped. Amazon.com fell 2.5% and Alphabet 1.4%. The losses suggested investors are beginning to price in the possibility that political gridlock and greater scrutiny of data-center development could slow one of Wall Street's most important growth engines. Around 30% of expected US data center ?capacity ?additions in 2028 could be at risk from potential construction pauses, ?UBS analysts estimated, highlighting the threat to an industry ?whose growth depends on a rapid build out of new facilities. The political jitters are hitting an AI trade that was already on shaky footing in recent weeks, on worries surrounding the enormous sums being poured into the technology. CoreWeave, which has become a barometer of investor anxiety over heavy AI spending, slumped 12%. Five-year credit default spreads widened to a record high, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Nebius, another neocloud company, also dropped 15.2%. The sharp declines put the Nasdaq Composite on ?course to confirm a correction, or a 10% drop from its recent ?peak. The Nasdaq 100 was last down 4.5%. "The market's moving from the promise ?of AI to the price of AI," said Ted ?Parkhill, founder and CEO of Incline Investment Management. "There's no question that AI is going to be ?transformative for the world in the long run. But ?that doesn't mean every AI-related ?stock is currently priced appropriately. There's going to be a lot of turmoil."

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Trump tells voters ‘you only have yourselves to blame’ in Truth Social rant after stock market crash

As Democrats continue to add to their “blue tsunami” of midterms wins, President Donald Trump has pointed the finger of blame at the opposition and at the American public for Thursday’s stock market plunge. The Nasdaq Composite dipped 5.52 percent while the S&P 500 dropped 4.36 percent and the Dow Jones went down 1,833.06 points in response to this week’s resounding election results. “The Stock Market suffered one of the Worst Days in History based on the results of the Election. Such a sad thing to watch!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Remember, it wasn’t Republicans, it was Dumocrats.” In a follow-up post, he told the electorate: “You only have yourselves to blame!”

With votes still being counted in the Alaska and Mississippi Senate races and elsewhere, Democrats currently hold a 54 to 44 majority in the Senate and are projected to win 253 seats in the House to the GOP’s 157. The results come amid a civil war brewing within the Trump administration, with insiders scrambling to assign blame, the president reportedly sounding out advisors on the potential firing of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly on “resignation watch.”

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Inside the investigative blitz coming for Trump’s corporate allies

Democrats are preparing to unleash a wave of investigations that will probe the most sensitive and controversial actions of America’s largest corporations over the past two years, sparking a reckoning among Silicon Valley and Wall Street executives who courted the Trump administration — and who are now bracing for an onslaught. Days after winning majorities in the House and Senate, Democrats are setting sharp priorities. They are zeroing in on Apple, Meta and the companies led by Elon Musk as early targets for congressional investigations, according to two people familiar with the plans. The House is laying the groundwork to investigate President Donald Trump’s use of Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok, to plan the military operation and capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, according to those people. Lawmakers are also eyeing Apple over its hosting of tracking apps used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Meta over its demands that local governments sign nondisclosure agreements related to data center development.

This report is based on interviews with five congressional staffers, lobbyists, venture capitalists and lawyers familiar with the preparations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private matters, along with recordings of meetings reviewed by The Washington Post. Those possibilities have prompted a flurry of activity in Washington, where corporate lawyers are hosting emergency online meetings, gatherings in co-working spaces and intimate bar conversations to dispense advice to founders and C-suite executives on how to prepare for the highly public investigations about to rain down on firms with ties to the Trump administration. Multiple firms have crafted pitches for why they should serve as Musk’s personal counsel, aware that the world’s richest man is likely to receive a barrage of subpoenas and that any casework stemming from those investigations will be both lucrative and the highest-profile investigative work available in the coming year, according to two of the people. It remains unclear in Washington’s corporate legal circles, however, whether Musk’s current team can manage these efforts, according to the two people. “This is a new era,” a lawyer at a prominent Washington law firm warned corporate executives in a private online meeting on Thursday. “If your company is caught up in this oversight, it’s likely to be much more highly publicized.”

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State Stories

How Texas Democrats could change enforcement of the abortion ban

The momentum behind Texas’ anti-abortion movement stalled this week. The major Democratic gains in Texas are likely not enough to repeal the state’s strict abortion laws, but new state leaders could take a dramatically different approach to abortion-related issues than their Republican predecessors. That includes eschewing legal action against out-of-state healthcare providers who mail abortion pills to Texans, redistributing money now earmarked for anti-abortion causes and improving research on maternal deaths. “I do not intend to use Texas law as a tool of persecution, intimidation and harassment,” Democratic Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson told the Houston Chronicle. “I will uphold the law. I will enforce the law. But there's a difference between upholding and enforcing the law on the one hand, and using it to score political points by persecuting people on the other hand.”

Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, who unseated three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, previously acknowledged to the Chronicle editorial board that “it's going to take more than the election of a governor to undo that and get us to a place where we have the protections of Roe v. Wade.” “That is ultimately what I support, but I'm not going to pretend like I can make that happen once I'm elected,” she said. “What I do think there is bipartisan support to do is to save women's lives.” Texas has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, threatening anyone who provides an abortion with first-degree felony charges, civilian lawsuits and the loss of medical licenses. There are no exceptions for rape or incest, and the few exceptions that do exist -- for ectopic pregnancies (in which the fetus is unable to survive) or complications that put the mother’s life in danger -- have been met with confusion among doctors who have hesitated to perform the procedure in life-threatening situations. Multiple Texas women have faced health consequences or died because doctors delayed care for pregnancy complications -- delays that patients and other medical experts attribute to the ban, according to lawsuits and news reports. But the composition of the Texas House and top leadership posts changed overnight, with Democrats taking control of the Texas House for the first time in 24 years.

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Texas wanted to power America’s AI boom. Its new governor could change everything

Less than a year ago, Texas Governor Greg Abbott stood beside Sundar Pichai, the Google CEO, to celebrate the company’s $40 billion investment in the state’s cloud and AI infrastructure. Three new data center campuses would help make Texas, Abbott declared, the “epicenter of AI development.” On Tuesday, Abbott, a Republican, lost his reelection bid to Gina Hinojosa, a Democrat who campaigned on halting new data center development until state lawmakers pass stronger protections for residents. At a press conference over the summer, Hinojosa accused corporations of taking advantage of Texans and operating with little oversight, blaming Abbott for creating the “Wild West of data centers.” Her stunning victory makes her the first Democrat elected governor of Texas since Ann Richards in 1990. And given that Texas is home to the country’s second-largest data center market, behind Virginia, the political upheaval could have profound implications for the artificial intelligence boom.

Texas’s $2.9 trillion economy is the nation’s second largest; if it were a country, it would rank eighth worldwide. It boasts abundant energy resources, a ton of relatively inexpensive land, and a historically light regulatory touch—all of which have enticed AI companies (and companies in seemingly every other sector, for that matter). Researchers at Rice University’s Baker Institute estimate that annual data center investment in Texas rose from $3.4 billion in 2022 to a projected $66.2 billion in 2026. And much more is in the pipeline. Texas accounts for roughly 26% of planned American data center capacity—nearly three times the amount planned in Virginia—according to an analysis by the investment bank Jefferies, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. Jefferies estimated that Hinojosa’s proposed moratorium could put 13.3 gigawatts of announced Texas data center projects at risk, potentially delaying construction or forcing developers to abandon their plans.

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Gov.-elect Hinojosa promised to stop state takeovers, fire TEA leader. Can she?

Texas’ newly elected governor, who will take office in January, pledged to fire Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath and to stop existing state takeovers of school districts such as Fort Worth ISD. Political science experts say fulfilling these promises is less straightforward than it appears. Democrat Gina Hinojosa won over Texas voters this week, defeating Republican incumbent Greg Abbott with about 53% of the vote. As a former school board member in Austin who ran on a platform prioritizing public education, Hinojosa promised to turn the tides on state appointees taking over control of school districts with low-performing schools while also kicking out Morath, who oversees state takeovers of schools. In Tarrant County, Fort Worth ISD and Lake Worth ISD have been under state control since March and April, respectively.

In a Thursday statement from the Texas Education Agency, state officials said Morath told superintendents that he is committed “to ensuring a smooth and successful transition for the incoming education commissioner” in a previously scheduled meeting on Wednesday. Morath met with education leaders at the Region 12 Education Service Center in Waco after visiting Troy Elementary in Troy ISD. “As planned, he was present for the entire presentation and provided introductory and closing remarks (at the superintendent meeting). As part of his remarks, he also expressed his appreciation for the educational leaders in the room and a commitment to ensuring a smooth and successful transition for the incoming education commissioner,” TEA officials said. Morath’s current term as education commissioner ends on Jan. 10, and Hinojosa’s inauguration is Jan. 19. Hinojosa’s campaign did not respond to questions about the logistics of firing of Morath or ending state takeovers as of Thursday afternoon. Fort Worth and Lake Worth ISDs both shared statements saying they would continue to focus on serving students with state-appointed leadership. “While political circumstances may change, our focus remains unchanged. We will continue to provide the highest quality education to every student in Fort Worth and keep building on the gains this community has earned,” Fort Worth ISD officials said.

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Tesla to wind down Cybertruck production in Texas after years of poor sales in few markets

Tesla will wind down Cybertruck production at its Texas gigafactory around mid-2027, CEO Elon Musk said on Friday, after years of persistently weak sales for a futuristic model once touted as a rival to legacy pickup trucks that ultimately only sold in just a handful of markets because of its heavy, angular design. Musk said in an X post the production wind-down would enable the automaker to accommodate increased output of its newly launched Cybercab model, which the billionaire has made central to Tesla's robotaxi ambitions.

While it was not immediately clear whether Cybertruck production would be moved to another facility or phased out entirely, the automaker's Austin plant is the only known Tesla facility equipped to manufacture the model's specialized components. In response to a user on X, Musk called the Cybertruck the "best vehicle Tesla has ever made" and the wind-down the "end of an era". Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment sent outside regular business hours. The US EV maker only began delivering the Cybertruck to customers in late 2023. According to Kelley Blue Book, the company only sold 20,237 Cybertrucks in the US last year, down 48% from 38,965 in 2024. Before the pickup truck launched, Musk had predicted annual sales of 250,000 units. "It doesn't make sense to keep it going when it's not meeting its targets," said former Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer. "Every rational auto guy would say the same." "It will no doubt only be a rounding error on Tesla's balance sheet, but the statistics speak for themselves."

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Democrats poised to narrowly flip Texas State Board of Education

Democrats delivered a major shakeup to the Texas State Board of Education Tuesday night, breaking up the Republican supermajority. Democrats appear in position to double their seats on the board from four to eight, according to unofficial election results from the Texas Secretary of State. According to the Secretary of State's results, Democrat Dana Van De Walker beat Republican incumbent Audrey Young for the District 8 seat by a little more than 500 votes. Young could request a recount over the incredibly close results. Thursday morning, Van De Walker posted to social media celebrating her victory but said she was still tracking the results.

“I’m still processing it,” Van De Walker said. “Things are not official official until votes are certified. So we are kind of waiting with baited breath.” Young did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding whether she would request a recount. Board members set curriculum and choose instructional materials for more than five million public school students across Texas. The board also develops education policies, oversees the State Board of Educator Certification — which sets standards for teacher certification — and holds the power to veto charter school applications as their popularity grows. Tuesday's election radically changed the Democratic voting power on the board. For several cycles, Democrats have had little recourse to counter ultra-conservative proposals pushed by their GOP board members. The flipped board comes alongside major changes in political leadership across the state. As part of her campaign, Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa promised to remove Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath with an educator.

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Dan Patrick steered the Alamo makeover. What happens next?

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick never forgets the Alamo. He’s captivated with the 1836 siege and battle and its mythology, his enthusiasm fed by the television shows and movies starring Fess Parker or John Wayne as defender Davy Crockett that he watched growing up in Baltimore, Maryland. Patrick says he has been “breathing it and living it” for decades. He heralds the site as a symbol of liberty and sacrifice and one of Texas’ most precious historic treasures. His Capitol office is a kind of shrine whose sacred objects include an Alamo diorama, a cannonball from the battle, a poster from Wayne’s Alamo movie and the signatures of Crockett, James Bowie, William Barret Travis and other defenders. Patrick has used his position, one of the most powerful in state politics, to shape a major public-private makeover of the Alamo grounds — and how the history of the site is told.

He lost his re-election campaign to Democratic state Rep. Vikki Goodwin of Austin on Tuesday. His defeat raises questions about the Alamo’s future as the redevelopment of the 4.2-acre site and surrounding properties in the heart of downtown San Antonio inches closer to completion. “There is no elected official who has had more passion for the Alamo and the Alamo project than Dan Patrick,” said Douglass McDonald, a former CEO of the Alamo Trust Inc., a nonprofit that oversees day-to-day operations at the site. Patrick drove Texas lawmakers to allocate more than $500 million for the $700 million project as well as millions more for ongoing preservation and maintenance. And he has pushed for a historical interpretation of the site that focuses primarily on the 1836 battle, rather than a multifaceted telling of the Alamo’s complex 308-year history, including accounts of Indigenous people who lived in the area and how slavery shaped the conflict. In April, he announced that producer and writer Taylor Sheridan, creator of the TV series “Yellowstone,” would make a film recreating the story of the Battle of the Alamo for a 4D theater at the future Alamo Visitor Center and Museum. Patrick said he personally reached out to Sheridan to ask if he would take on the project.

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The gay romance novelist who saw Blexas coming

Did you see blue Texas coming? Maybe you had considered that state legislator–cum–seminary student James Talarico could eke out a win against the scandal-ridden Ken Paxton for a U.S. Senate seat, but there was no way the Democrats could also take the governor’s mansion. The mood heading into Tuesday night was one of hope heavily tinted by fear, even if many of us had an inkling that, as Slate writer Jim Newell wrote in September, this time in the Lone Star State might actually be different. But one person who did see the potential for Blexas on the horizon was Casey McQuiston, the bestselling author of queer romance novels. Their 2019 debut Red, White & Royal Blue (later turned into a Prime Video movie starring Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine) features an enemies-to-lovers dalliance between Alex Claremont-Diaz, the son of a female American president, and Prince Henry, the third in line for the British monarchy. Spoilers ahead: These two crazy kids find a way to be together—while Alex also hatches an elaborate political strategy to, against all odds, flip Texas blue for his mom’s reelection, a plot point that was viewed with some amount of lighthearted disbelief at the time.

Well, turns out McQuiston was right. When real-life Texas’ returns came in on Tuesday night, my feed became flooded with memes about this unexpectedly prescient 7-year-old novel, its 2023 film adaptation, and the all-important role this story might play in America during so-called “Woke 2.0” (or even 3.0, depending on who you’re asking). I called up McQuiston the day after the historic blue tsunami to get their read on this monumental night, and to ask if any of their other characters—who will appear again in the sequel to Red, White & Royal Blue, an epistolary novella called The Private Correspondence, out in December—have some political predictions they’d like to share. Slate: "How have your past 20 or so hours been, Casey?" Casey McQuiston: "It’s so funny. I’ve been burned so many times by watching returns that I was not letting myself really lock in too much. I was literally sitting right there at my sewing machine, working on Christmas presents, and I had Steve Kornacki on YouTube going. And then around the time they started calling Harris County in Texas—which I know is Houston, ’cause I’m a Houston bitch—I was like, OK, let’s put this aside for a minute. And so I swapped to my TV and started actually really watching. I pretty immediately started getting a lot of texts from friends and a lot of people being like, 'Oh my God, I’m thinking of you right now.'" Slate: "Do you feel vindicated?" McQuiston: "You know, I do! But at the same time, I wasn’t really surprised until [Texas Gov. Greg] Abbott conceded. Honestly, even with how much I’ve been burned, I was really confident Talarico was going to win. And so I was just like, OK, let’s have a cute little night and let’s see what happens. But when Abbott conceded, I literally screamed 'WHAT!' out loud."

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Houston Chronicle Editorial: Here are the worst candidates Texans elected in the 2026 blue wave

It wasn’t all sunshine, rainbows and blue skies in Texas on election night. While many of the editorial board’s preferred candidates prevailed at the top of the ticket, the blue wave that James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa surfed to victory also swept a lot of flotsam and jetsam onto Texas’ political shores. It’s clear that most voters in both parties didn’t heed our plea to split their tickets, particularly in lower-profile races on Harris County’s lengthy ballot. If Texans can’t occasionally vote for a candidate on the other team, both parties must place a far greater emphasis on vetting candidates in primaries. Many Texans are thankful that vile candidates like Bo French lost, but he never should’ve made it to the general election in the first place. Our democracy, statewide and nationally, will be far healthier when voters aren’t simply picking the lesser of two evils, or blindly choosing any candidate with a D or R next to their name. Fans of good governance should encourage the new Democratic majority in the Texas House to consider reforms to how we select our judges and county officials. Former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips, a Republican who endorsed Talarico for Senate, would be the right person to help lead that effort if Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa is looking for someone to chair a committee.

Until then, Texans can rest assured we’ll be keeping an eye on the unqualified candidates who prevailed and that we won’t hesitate to hold them accountable if they fall short of expectations in public office the next time they’re on the ballot. U.S. Representative-elect, District 2: Steve Toth. The fact that Toth just barely squeaked it out over Democrat Shaun Finnie in a heavily red congressional district speaks to his weakness as a candidate and poor reputation as a state lawmaker. Toth, the owner of a pool maintenance services company, has been in the state House since 2012 with very few bills to show for it despite being in the legislative majority that entire time. Worse, he actively takes positions and votes against his constituents’ interests, such as his opposition to common sense flood mitigation bills. Justice-elect, 15th Court of Appeals, Place 3: Marc M. Meyer.q At first glance, Meyer doesn’t belong on a list with the rest of this motley crew. He’s a licensed nurse and former EMS supervisor for the Houston Fire Department who specializes in defending nurses accused of malpractice. But Meyer will now be thrust onto the 15th Court of Appeals after ousting Republican April Farris, an experienced appellate judge and lawyer with a stellar reputation. That’s a rather huge leap for a lawyer with limited appellate experience beyond medical malpractice cases.

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Lina Hidalgo sued by former employee for discrimination, retaliation

A former employee of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is suing the county, alleging she was fired for filing a discrimination complaint. The lawsuit highlights a common issue for employees of elected officials: human resources and other departments have little sway over elected leaders. In most cases, the power to address workers’ complaints lies mainly in voters’ hands, as elected officials are broadly immune from disciplinary or other corrective action under Texas law – and numerous county offices are elected positions. The plaintiff, Tera Roberson, claimed Hidalgo’s staff openly discussed that the judge “preferred white men” for certain roles within her communications department, and viewed this as the reason she was passed over for a promotion.

Roberson filed a complaint with Harris County Human Resources and Risk Management on Nov. 11, 2024, according to the suit. Eleven days later, after requesting an update on her complaint, she was fired, the suit alleged. Roberson, a Black woman and mother of two, had been promoted to a leadership role in Hidalgo’s office just one month prior to her termination, according to the suit. “One would like to believe that when you follow the process and make a complaint, that it will be looked at properly,” Roberson said in an interview. “Instead, the exact opposite happened to me. Once I was informed they were looking into it, I was fired almost immediately.” Roberson is suing for race and sex discrimination, as well as retaliation. A spokesperson for Hidalgo rejected Roberson’s allegations in a statement. “These allegations are false. Judge Hidalgo’s administration has appointed qualified and accomplished women, including women of color, to key leadership positions within her office and various county appointments,” the statement said. “Her administration has a strong record of elevating women to positions of authority at the highest levels of county government.”

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A quick message to Eric Johnson

You could switch back.

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Corpus Christi approves water charges for industrial giants as landslide election rocks Texas

Amid a spate of historic political upsets across Texas, voters in the industrial port city of Corpus Christi on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a citizen-led petition to impose steep fees for water use on the region's refineries and chemical plants during future droughts. The measure passed by a two-to-one margin despite heavy spending by industry groups in opposition—a dramatic rebuke of industrial interests in a port city that leads the nation in crude oil exports. "The people have woken up," said Sylvia Campos, a member of the Corpus Christi City Council and the Democratic Socialists of America who supported the measure. "We overcame all that money." The city's referendum was part of an earth-shattering election across Texas, a fortress of conservative politics and the seat of the nation's energy sector, which saw Democratic challengers wipe incumbent Republicans out of every statewide office on the ballot.

The new governor-elect of Texas, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, has described her politics as "economic populism." "In the past we evaluated politics as right versus left, I just don't think those labels apply at this moment," Hinojosa told the New York Times in October. "Things are so stacked against working people in this country." In Corpus Christi, a Gulf Coast city of 300,000, partisan lines didn't mark the political divisions that emerged over the referendum on industrial water fees, according to Paul Gottemoller, a professor of political science at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi. "It's kind of a country club, business, chamber of commerce thing versus a populism thing," Gottemoller said. "You do have populist and business sentiments on both sides of the political aisle." The measure, proposed as an amendment to the city's charter, would levy millions of dollars in surcharges on the region's largest water users—industrial titans like ExxonMobil, Valero and OxyChem—the next time its main reservoirs drop below 30 percent full.

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Jon Rosenthal joins Texas’ oil regulator with plans to double budget

As a "drill, baby, drill Democrat,” newly elected Texas Railroad Commissioner Jon Rosenthal said he isn’t coming for anyone’s oil rig. In fact, the sitting state representative and oilfield engineer from Houston said during a recent interview that he wants to encourage more energy production of all kinds as he prepares to serve as one of three powerful regulators of the state’s prolific oil and gas industry. But, he said, “we have to operate responsibly.” It’s the operative word for a regulatory agency that walks a fine line between protecting Texans from pollution and boosting the industry that fuels paychecks, state budgets and campaign coffers. The commission issues drilling permits and regulates oilfield activities such as oil and gas extraction, flaring and waste disposal.

Rosenthal will be the first Democrat to serve on the commission since 1994. He aims to double the agency’s annual budget to roughly $500 million a year to hire more inspectors, specialists and scientists and pay more-competitive wages that retain talent. The commission’s need for more funding and more people to monitor oilfield activities is “without question,” he said. “I hope that's an area where I can find common ground with the other two commissioners,” Rosenthal said. Rosenthal joins the commission at a pivotal moment. The industry is running out of safe places to put its wastewater, forcing the regulatory agency on its heels as it grapples with an issue threatening the Texas economy and drinking water across the state. The commission’s budget is already growing rapidly as it contends with areas where oil and gas operators are stuffing so much toxic wastewater underground for disposal that the earth is spitting it back up, contaminating water and soil it touches along the way to the surface.

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Dan Patrick steered the Alamo makeover. What happens next?

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick never forgets the Alamo. He’s captivated with the 1836 siege and battle and its mythology, his enthusiasm fed by the television shows and movies starring Fess Parker or John Wayne as defender Davy Crockett that he watched growing up in Baltimore, Maryland. Patrick says he has been “breathing it and living it” for decades. He heralds the site as a symbol of liberty and sacrifice and one of Texas’ most precious historic treasures. His Capitol office is a kind of shrine whose sacred objects include an Alamo diorama, a cannonball from the battle, a poster from Wayne’s Alamo movie and the signatures of Crockett, James Bowie, William Barret Travis and other defenders. Patrick has used his position, one of the most powerful in state politics, to shape a major public-private makeover of the Alamo grounds — and how the history of the site is told.

He lost his re-election campaign to Democratic state Rep. Vikki Goodwin of Austin on Tuesday. His defeat raises questions about the Alamo’s future as the redevelopment of the 4.2-acre site and surrounding properties in the heart of downtown San Antonio inches closer to completion. “There is no elected official who has had more passion for the Alamo and the Alamo project than Dan Patrick,” said Douglass McDonald, a former CEO of the Alamo Trust Inc., a nonprofit that oversees day-to-day operations at the site. Patrick drove Texas lawmakers to allocate more than $500 million for the $700 million project as well as millions more for ongoing preservation and maintenance. And he has pushed for a historical interpretation of the site that focuses primarily on the 1836 battle, rather than a multifaceted telling of the Alamo’s complex 308-year history, including accounts of Indigenous people who lived in the area and how slavery shaped the conflict. In April, he announced that producer and writer Taylor Sheridan, creator of the TV series “Yellowstone,” would make a film recreating the story of the Battle of the Alamo for a 4D theater at the future Alamo Visitor Center and Museum. Patrick said he personally reached out to Sheridan to ask if he would take on the project.

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New DART CEO expected to testify in January in prior agency inquiry

New Dallas Area Rapid Transit CEO Nathaniel “Nat” Ford is expected to testify in January to Jacksonville leaders as Florida state and local officials investigate his prior agency’s financial crisis. Ford led the Jacksonville Transportation Authority for 13 years before starting at DART last month. He left JTA in a cloud of financial concerns — a nearly $40 million budget shortfall, service cuts and dozens of eliminated jobs. Jacksonville leaders have subpoenaed Ford to testify on what went wrong at the agency. The Florida attorney general — Republican James Uthmeier, who won reelection Tuesday — is also investigating, with subpoenas naming Ford and seeking records involving contracts, payments and other agency business.

Jacksonville City Council member and JTA liaison Rory Diamond said he expects the testimony to come early next year. It’s not clear if it will take place in person or if Ford will appear virtually. “I’ve been going back and forth with Mr. Ford about his appearance before the finance committee and expect that to happen in January,” Diamond said at a Nov. 1 meeting. “The exact date in January, we’re still going back and forth on.” Ford said he’s in contact with Diamond’s office and is working on scheduling. Article continues below this ad “I have great respect for the Jacksonville City Council and for the work we accomplished at JTA,” Ford said in a statement. “My focus remains fully on DART and the riders and communities we serve across North Texas.”

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Texas’ chief justice-elect urges all-or-none wedding policy for judges

Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice-elect Maggie Ellis wants to amend a rule allowing judges to refuse to perform weddings on religious grounds, setting up an early test of her ability to reshape the court. Ellis, a Democrat, told The Dallas Morning News she wants to ensure judges who officiate weddings will perform ceremonies for all couples — without religious exceptions. “One thing I’d like to do is work with the other justices to amend these orders to say either you perform all marriages, or none,” she said.

The court adopted the rule in October 2025, adding a two-line comment to the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct: “It is not a violation of these canons for a judge to publicly refrain from performing a wedding ceremony based upon a sincerely held religious belief.” “It’s really the wrong direction for our Supreme Court,” Ellis said of the order. “It's back-door discrimination.” The amendment came after a Waco justice of the peace sued the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for reprimanding her for refusing to perform same-sex marriages. The American Civil Liberties Union and LGBTQ advocates decried the rule as discriminatory. The rule helped persuade Ellis, who previously served on the Texas Third Court of Appeals, to run for the state’s highest civil court. Now, after being elected Texas’ first female chief justice, she said she wants to reverse it. Ellis defeated Republican Chief Justice Jimmie Blacklock in Tuesday’s election. Fellow Democrats Chari Kelly, Kristen Hawkins and Gisela Triana also ousted Republican incumbents on the bench. The victories give Democrats four seats on the nine-member court, leaving the GOP with a 5-4 majority. Ellis will need support from Republican justices to change the wedding ceremony rule.

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Bee Moorhead: Texas Impact heads back to the UN’s Climate Change Conference

(Bee Moorhead is the executive director of Texas Impact, the state's oldest and largest interfaith advocacy network.) The international community will gather November 9-20 in Antalya, Türkiye, for the 31st United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties, also known as COP31. As in years past, Texas Impact will be participating in the COP as the only state-level, faith-based credentialed NGO observers and sharing video with the Chronicle from the conference. Texas Impact joins a cohort of experienced faith advocates from around the world in traveling to the meeting. As leaders of denominations, social action groups, and mission organizations, we hope to remind the parties in the official negotiating rooms that the need for climate action is not an isolated technical or scientific matter, but a humanitarian and ethical imperative of the highest order.

U.S. faith participation in COP this year is urgently important. That’s partly precisely because our national leaders are staying away – effectively sidelining Americans in a critical global conversation that has existential implications for all people. It’s also important because the emerging agendas and work plans for this year’s COP reveal serious conflicts between interest groups, nagging doubts about the efficacy of multilateral negotiations in the current global political environment, and – most significant for faith communities – growing tensions between the goals of economic leaders and demands for equity and justice from marginalized groups like women, youth, and those living in areas already disproportionately impacted by climate change. The issues in play on the global stage – from interest group conflicts to political conditions to justice and equity – also are in play right here in Texas. Local fights over data centers are one potent example. And Texans, like all Americans, certainly are experiencing climate impacts on our weather. The United States is uniquely positioned with respect to climate change, both as a primary emitter of the greenhouse gases causing human-induced climate change and as a wealthy nation with the capacity to drive mitigation and adaptation worldwide. And we were on track to be climate leaders: The U.S. set ambitious emission reduction targets under the Paris Agreement, and operationalized those targets through the Inflation Reduction Act. Unfortunately, the current administration has undone decades of American leadership to address climate change. The U.S. has withdrawn not only from the Paris Agreement but from the entire United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – although subnational leaders continue to participate robustly.

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County Stories

Susan Hays elected Presidio County Commissioner

Tuesday’s election resulted in a new Presidio County commissioner — Susan Hays — who beat write-in candidate Ida Dominguez for the Precinct 4 seat 459-264. The seat was held by Commissioner Frank “Buddy” Knight, who was appointed by the county judge after David Beebe inadvertently resigned from the seat when he announced his run for county judge too soon last year to meet constitutional requirements. (All results are unofficial until the government entities canvas the votes.) At his appointment, Knight said he had no intention of running in the election.

Hays, an attorney and former state agriculture commissioner candidate in 2022, was unopposed in the March Democratic primary, and she appeared to be cruising unopposed with no Republican candidate for Tuesday’s election. But Ida Dominguez, wife of Sheriff Danny Dominguez, announced as a write-in candidate. Presidio County faces a lot of challenges, and I look forward to working with the entire Commissioners Court to improve the whole county, not just Marfa. In the only other contested Presidio County race, Democrat Bianca Bailon came out on top of Republican opponent Amabilia Galindo 677-305. Other county Democratic officials reelected with no Republicans opponents included: County Judge Joe Portillo, County/District Clerk Carolina Cataño, Treasurer Florcita Zubia and Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Dina Jo Marquez. Also elected with no Republican opposition were Precinct 2 Commissioner-elect Jesus “Junie” Herrera, and Precinct 3 Commissioner Obed Esonterias, who was appointed in March after Franky Ortiz resigned.

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City Stories

In the shadow of failed school bonds, city launches 2027 bond process with new tri-chairs

City council discussed an updated list of proposed 2027-2032 bond projects on Thursday. They’ll be under the guidance of three newly appointed bond chairpersons. The proposed $442 million bond is about half the size of the 2022 bond, the result of a tough economy. It comes with a smaller list of public infrastructure and improvement projects — but no tax increase. Three bond-related propositions, tweaked slightly since the last council briefing on Oct. 29, will be put to voters in May. The next step in the process, the public review, gets underway Nov. 16 In the months to follow, the bond chairpersons are tasked with shaping the list of projects to present to the council on Jan. 21 then seeing that the bond is something the community will support.

Put forth by Councilwomen Sukh Kaur (D1) and Phyllis Viagran (D3), the tri-chairpersons approved by the council are Kevin Dinnin, FirstDay Foundation president and CEO; OCI Group co-founder Anita Fernandez; and Sandi Wolff, Hallmark University vice president of Community Engagement and Advancement. “I think we’ve arrived at three great people who are going to make sure that the bond gets all the attention it deserves from the community,” said Marc Whyte, (D10). They are “going to lead the effort in a way that is going to be really nice to see, and it’ll be something that the community can rally around.” They could have their work cut out for them. While a Pre-K 4 SA reauthorization passed Tuesday, bond propositions and accompanying tax increases from four local school districts on the midterm ballot failed. The fifth district, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD, saw its proposition pass narrowly in with voters in Guadalupe and Bexar counties.

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Fort Worth is poised to lose its premier PGA Tour event at Colonial Country Club

Proving again that tradition has nothing on a giant pile of money, Fort Worth’s future with the PGA Tour, if there is one, will be a tournament of seniors who appreciate the history of the game, and its celebrated courses. This current iteration of the PGA Tour and its players may sell tradition, but that ambition is easily defeated by a bag of cash. As a result, Fort Worth’s Colonial Country Club will likely lose its spot hosting a premier PGA Tour event when the new schedule begins in 2028. Colonial Country Club hosts the longest-running non-major PGA Tour event, a tournament that began in 1946 and has been a staple on the schedule for 80 years. Unless something dramatically changes, the event at Colonial in 2027 will be its last as a premier PGA Tour tournament.

A source confirmed the Golf Week Magazine report that the PGA Tour’s new format will likely not have Colonial and its Charles Schwab Challenge as part of its Championship Series. Sources did say that nothing has been officially decided, and that there are “many moving parts” to this future schedule. On Thursday afternoon, Colonial Country Club issued a statement via email to its members from its Board of Governors. “With the current Charles Schwab Challenge contract terminating in 2027, Charles Schwab, with Colonial Country Club’s full support and alignment, sought a place in the newly established PGA Tour Championship Series beginning in 2028. Despite Colonial’s best efforts, an agreement with the PGA TOUR has yet to be reached at this time,” the statement says. “While an agreement has not been reached at this time, Colonial Country Club remains actively engaged in discussions with a variety of organizations involved in sponsoring and staging championship golf as we explore opportunities to bring championship competition to Colonial in 2028 and beyond. We are actively exploring a range of options and alternatives and will share updates as our discussions progress and information becomes available.” Technically it’s not official, so there is still a chance that the CS Challenge could ace a shot from 180 yards into a stiff breeze, but this looks all but done. Because money.

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National Stories

The blue tsunami was the revenge of the Black South

Voters in the 2026 midterm elections issued a stunning rebuke of the Republican Party on Tuesday, delivering Democrats control of both the House and the Senate, in addition to a majority of state legislative chambers, governorships, attorney general offices, and more. A Democratic victory of this magnitude—which turned even staunchly red states like Texas blue—hasn’t been seen in generations. And a new memo circulated among top Democratic National Committee officials on Wednesday acknowledges that voters of color were “the driving force” of this massive win. The feat is all the more astounding because the voters of color who powered Democrats’ success were set up to fail. In July 2025, Donald Trump’s Justice Department started pressuring Texas officials to break up electoral districts where Black and Latino residents made up a majority of eligible voters. In August, Trump declared that Republicans were “entitled” to five more congressional seats and called on the state to redraw district maps to hand the GOP a structural advantage.

Texas, led by Gov. Greg Abbott (who just lost his reelection campaign) and Attorney General Ken Paxton (who just lost his campaign for Senate), did as it was told. And at Trump’s urging, several more Republican-led states soon redrew their district maps, aiming to maximize partisan gains at the expense of meaningful representation for voters. Experts predicted a precipitous drop-off of people of color in elected office, and warned that 20 of the Congressional Black Caucus’ 62 members could lose their seats. Then, in April 2026, the Supreme Court poured fuel on the fire by eviscerating the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais. Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the Republican majority that district maps violate the VRA only if there is an “objective likelihood” of “intentional racial discrimination.” He stressed that maps drawn to achieve partisan goals easily pass that test, “even if it so happens that the most loyal Democrats happen to be Black Democrats.” And he emphasized that restoring the political power of people of color targeted with gerrymanders is unlawful, because that too is “intentional race-based conduct.” In other words, Alito gave Republicans the go-ahead to deny Black people an equal opportunity to participate in the political process.

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Trump signs proclamation to prevent changes to Oval Office, other White House rooms

President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Thursday designating the Oval Office, the Outer Oval Office and the Cabinet Room as a national monument and federal landmark, a move intended to preserve the spaces and prevent future administrations from altering them. "It won't be able to be taken down, destroyed, touched or anything else," Trump told reporters from the Oval Office. "It’s actually called a national monument. It’s a federal landmark. When completed … it'll make it impossible for anybody ever to destroy this incredible space. " Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House.

The announcement came two days after the midterm elections in which Democrats won enough seats to gain control of Congress. The proclamation is part of a broader series of post-election public appearances highlighting White House construction initiatives. On Monday, Trump detailed planned updates during remarks in front of the Reflecting Pool. On Wednesday, he held a press briefing at the construction site of a new White House ballroom. Since returning to office in 2025, Trump has prioritized several high-profile architectural and cultural projects, including a proposed 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery and proposals to rename and restructure the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

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Nithya Raman wins L.A. mayor race as Karen Bass concedes

The latest voter results released Thursday morning by the L.A. County Register-Recorder/County Clerk show Raman, a two-term City Councilmember, with a continuing commanding and growing lead over incumbent Bass. As of right now, with 72% of the expected vote counted, Raman has 429,450 to Bass’ 394,796. In terms of percentage, that’s a decisive 52.1%-47.9%. On Wednesday night, Raman had 51.67% to Bass’ 48.33% of the vote, with over 66% of ballots tabulated. Raman took to social media to thank the voters of “this beautiful joyful city” for her win. In the less than two-minute video, Raman praised Bass for her service over the decades. The newly minted Mayor-elected also promised those who voted against her or didn’t vote at all to use her time in City Hall to “earn your trust.”

In a statement, Bass said: “Four years ago, you elected me as the first Black woman mayor in the history of Los Angeles. You gave me the honor of serving the city that raised me, and every single day since, I have carried that responsibility with me While this is not the outcome we hoped for, the people of Los Angeles have spoken. I have called Councilmember Nithya Raman to congratulate her on her victory, and I have committed to ensuring a smooth and seamless transition. Moving this city forward is what Los Angeles needs from all of us.” Raman’s vote has been steadily growing since Tuesday’s general election, while Bass, who has been pilloried over her initial response to the 2025 wildfires, projected L.A. Olympics costs and quality-of-life issues, has been going down. While more vote drops are scheduled for later today and Friday, the trajectory made it mathematically impossible for Bass to catch up to her former ally and challenger. Today’s statement by the pragmatic 73-year-old veteran pol shows Bass is considering her legacy in the Democratic Party with the way the wind is blowing in the city and nation. Pledging to make the revitalization of film and TV production in the home of Hollywooda top priority in her administration, Raman’s win is a shock to the L.A. political establishment, who lined up solidly behind Bass. To that, Raman will surely move quickly to heal divisions that emerged in the party during the campaign. At the same time, as midterm election results across the nation this week made clear, voters want change in what looks to be a generation shift. On that note, the 45-year-old Raman will not be the youngest mayor L.A. has ever had. That distinction goes to Alpheus Hodges, a physician who was 28 when he took over City Hall’s top job in 1851 while also serving as L.A.’s coroner. Hodges led the then city of less that 1,700 for less than a year.

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The 'World's Best Airline' is updating its business and first-class experience

Singapore Airlines is rolling out new onboard seating, dining and entertainment options as part of an over S$2 billion ($1.6 billion) investment to keep up with rivals from around the world. The cornerstone of this investment: new premium cabin seats for its long-haul flights, which will progressively debut on the Airbus A350 long-haul and ultra-long-range planes in mid-2027. First-class seats will come with 32-inch 4K high-definition screens, Bang and Olufsen noise-cancelling headphones and options for passengers to book double bed and face-to-face dining configurations. New First Class seats will feature a configuration where travelling companions can choose to dine face to face if their seats are beside each other.

Seating in business class will come outfitted with 22-inch 4K screens, wireless charging and Bluetooth audio connectivity. These retrofits to the A350 aircraft also come as SIA grapples with a long-running delay to the delivery of new Boeing 777-9 planes, which were slated to come in 2021 and now faces an uncertain date as to when it will take delivery of the aircraft. These products will also debut with the 777-9 aircraft when they come into service with SIA. Minor refreshes will be added to other classes, such as an extra inch of reclining space in premium economy cabins, and new upholstery in economy class. Both will also come with new 4K seatback entertainment monitors, but the new features for economy and premium economy seats will only be on the incoming 777-9 aircraft.

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Goodbye from Salon: It has been an extraordinary privilege.

Today, after 31 years, we are saddened to announce that Salon is ceasing publication. It’s difficult to find the right words for the end of something that has meant so much to so many people. Salon was never just a website. It was an idea about what journalism could be, born at a moment when the internet was still a largely unexplored frontier. When Salon launched in November 1995, the web was a very different place. A small group of journalists set out to create something original: a publication with a strong voice, a curiosity about the world and a belief that the internet could bring journalism and readers together in new ways. They helped pioneer a form of journalism that would come to define an entirely new era of publishing.

Over three decades, Salon has brought together politics, culture, criticism and ideas in a way that was distinctly our own. Our journalism examined power and politics, questioned assumptions, surfaced stories that deserved attention and made room for perspectives that were too often overlooked. Our writers and editors helped shape conversations about the forces changing our lives. The work was never simply about keeping up with the news. It was about making sense of it. The history of Salon is also the history of the people who made it. We are profoundly grateful to the journalists, editors, photographers, producers, designers, business teams and countless other colleagues who brought this publication to life across its many chapters. To the founders who imagined it, the staff members who built it, the contributors who gave it their voices and the alumni who carried its spirit into the world: Thank you. Salon’s legacy belongs to all of you. We also want to thank our readers. You came to Salon for the journalism, the dialogue, the essays, the criticism, the unexpected discoveries and the sense that there was a place on the internet where ideas mattered. You read, shared, challenged, subscribed, wrote to us and kept coming back. Your engagement made Salon a publication and a community, and it gave our work meaning. We are so grateful for the time you spent with us.

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Should cities take control of their electric utilities?

The concept of public power may be an unfamiliar one for many Ann Arbor residents who have only ever paid for electricity from a for-profit company. But Ann Arbor would not be the first to create its own electric utility if voters say yes to Proposal E on Tuesday, Nov. 3, and the city follows through on it. About 40 Michigan communities have had public power since the late 1800s or early 1900s — cities like Chelsea, Lansing, Bay City, Traverse City and dozens of others. Nationwide, about 2,000 community-owned, not-for-profit power utilities serve tens of millions of customers across the United States — everywhere from Austin to Nashville, Los Angeles, Seattle and beyond, including the entire state of Nebraska. Proponents want Ann Arbor to create a public utility that would replace DTE Energy, the investor-owned utility that has served Ann Arbor for more than a century. Opponents of the ballot effort, which include DTE and city officials, argue it would be too costly, citing estimates the city may have to borrow anywhere from a few hundred million dollars to $1 billion to buy out DTE and the likelihood of a costly legal battle to break away from DTE.

Dozens of communities across the U.S. have attempted municipalization of their electric grids in recent decades and most never panned out, notes the DTE-backed Ann Arbor Responsible Energy Coalition, which is campaigning against Prop E. City Council Member Erica Briggs, one of several Ann Arbor officials against the proposal, cites Boulder, Colorado, as an example of a failed effort. Boulder set out in 2010 to cut ties with Xcel Energy and spent nearly $30 million on a decade-long legal fight before giving up. “I accept the basic concept that evidence demonstrates municipal power, if you have it, is generally more affordable and more reliable,” Briggs said. “The question is just us trying to do it 100 years after the infrastructure has been built.” Jonathan Koehn, Boulder’s chief sustainability and resilience officer, told the Ann Arbor Energy Commission in 2021 he didn’t consider his city’s municipalization attempt a cautionary tale. It was worth it and he would do it all over again, he said. “We did make mistakes and you can learn from those mistakes,” he said. Boulder’s intention wasn’t to own and operate poles and wires — it was to achieve community goals, Koehn, said, and he’s still a believer in public power.

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The fight is growing over ballot counting in Mississippi’s tight Senate race

National party operatives, lawyers, grassroots activists and content creators are descending on Mississippi to observe the vetting of thousands of provisional ballots in the coming days and to gear up for possible legal challenges over the final results. Mississippi, a state not used to the national spotlight for close elections, now sits at the forefront of a fight that will determine the size of the Democrats’ majority in the US Senate next year. Democrat Scott Colom has a razor-thin lead over Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, in a state that hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate in nearly 40 years and no Black person to the Senate since Reconstruction.

Both Colom and Hyde-Smith have assembled extensive teams ready to observe and potentially challenge ballot-counting procedures ahead of Mississippi’s December 3 deadline for certifying the results. “We were prepared for this for months,” Colom told reporters Wednesday. “We have an army of lawyers. We have local lawyers. We have everybody involved to make sure the process is followed according to the law.” At a press conference Thursday, the state GOP touted the 50-plus volunteer attorneys and observers it had sent across the state, and Mississippi Republican Party Chair Michael Hurst said many more are prepared to jump in to help. “Our attorneys and observers will continue to be in different parts of Mississippi – watching as election commissioners review and process these outstanding ballots, ensuring that our elections are followed and that only ballots which have been legally cast are counted,” he said.

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Lead Stories

Inside Team Trump’s historic collapse in the 2026 midterm elections

Six days before the election, more than two dozen of President Trump’s top strategists logged onto a private video call. The mood was grim. The discussion began with talk of cyanide. “Do you want the white pill first, or the black pill first?” asked Tony Fabrizio, the president’s chief pollster. Tim Saler, one of the Republican Party’s top data consultants, laid out two scenarios. In the first, the $400 million MAGA Inc. super PAC was reaching the voters that it had wanted and expected to vote. “That’s the optimistic scenario,” he said. The other was a wipeout. “I’m getting my affairs in order,” James Blair, who left the White House to oversee the president’s midterm strategy, said to laughter, according to four people on the call. “I suggest everybody else do the same.” For roughly 30 minutes, the call ran on gallows humor: funeral arrangements, prison food, presidential pardons, even a brief riff on fleeing the country.

“At least Bibi won. He’ll protect us,” Mr. Blair said sarcastically of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, whose country had voted the day before. (Mr. Netanyahu’s bloc fell short of a majority, and his party soon claimed the election had been stolen.) The scope of the Republican wreckage would become clear a week later. Democrats stormed to a huge House majority and won control of the Senate, a remarkable feat powered by victories in Republican strongholds — Kansas, South Carolina, Texas — that few could have imagined a year ago. This account of the Republican Party’s collapse is based on interviews with more than 70 people — among them lawmakers, political strategists, party leaders, pollsters, White House officials and congressional aides — who were directly involved in the midterm elections, many of whom were granted anonymity to describe private conversations and decisions. The scale of the defeat was far from inevitable. Republicans had record fund-raising, the world’s richest man, a favorable Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance and a demoralized, unpopular opposition. In the Senate, they had a map that required Democrats to compete in states they hadn’t won in decades. And in the House, the Trump team demolished the tradition of redrawing congressional lines only once a decade in order to carve up new districts to help the G.O.P. bolster its narrow majority. What Republicans could not overcome was a president who lost the public’s trust on the economy and so much more. And what they had not counted on was an unpopular war in the Middle East — one that would close the Strait of Hormuz and push gas prices past $4 a gallon — that would rage all the way through the election. And Democrats were ready, this time, to seize on the G.O.P. stumbles.

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Cruz suggests GOP ignored cost of living as top midterm issue: ‘They didn’t understand’

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Wednesday gave his take on Republicans‘ upset in the midterm elections, saying the GOP fell short on addressing voters’ concerns about the cost of living. Cruz, who is a possible 2028 presidential candidate, shared a lengthy X post the evening after the elections, which he referred to as an “a** kicking” for Republicans. He noted polls taken prior to the elections that showed the cost of living was overwhelmingly the top concern for voters but acknowledged that the GOP didn’t put enough focus on the topic.

The senator went on to compare economic data from the past to now and said it reflects “very real pain from real Americans.” “Republican politicians seem like they didn’t understand or they didn’t care,” he said. “Food is too high, gas is too high, diesel is too high, insurance is too high, life is too high.” Vice President JD Vance similarly offered his review of the “bluenami” that hit Tuesday night after Democrats took control of Congress and blamed the results on the impacts of the Iran war. Cruz, however, only briefly touched on the unpopular conflict, noting a detail in a memorandum of understanding negotiated by Vance with Iran that included funding for Tehran to rebuild. “Tariffs have made everything too expensive, and the Iran war has dragged on too long,” he said. “It should have been brief, decisive, and over. It needs to end, and we should never, under any circumstances, give the Ayatollah billions of dollars.” While acknowledging what was lost in the midterm elections, Cruz also laid out the road that lies ahead and pointed out how he is now the only statewide elected Republican after Democratic Sen.-elect James Talarico and Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa secured their nominations.

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GOP’s losses will raise pressure on conservative Supreme Court justices to retire

The GOP’s sweeping losses in the midterm elections Tuesday set up an unsettling possibility for the party: If they don’t act now to confirm a new Supreme Court justice, they may not have another chance for years to come. That prospect is likely to ramp up pressure on the court’s two oldest conservatives — Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., 76, and Clarence Thomas, 78 — to retire during the lame-duck period, while Republicans still have the votes to get a nominee confirmed by the Senate. The new Senate, in which Democrats will hold a majority, is seated on Jan. 3. Alito, who joined the court in 2006, said last month he has no plans to retire during the lame-duck session. Thomas has said in the past he has no plans to step down from the court. He joined the court in 1991 and could become the longest-serving justice in its history in 2028.

But given the magnitude of Democratic inroads in the Senate, legal and political experts said it could be 2033 before Republicans have a realistic shot at winning back enough seats in that chamber to approve a conservative justice. At that point, Alito and Thomas would be well into their 80s. Neither responded to a request for comment. “I think both are making an implicit bet that they will live long enough ... so that a Republican president can replace them with someone ideologically similar,” said Ed Whelan, a conservative attorney and senior fellow at Ethics and Public Policy Center. This is likely to make many Republicans antsy, particularly those mindful of the lesson of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died while still on the bench at 87, in September 2020. Ginsburg’s death allowed Republicans to move the court in a more conservative direction when they confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett to replace her weeks later. President Donald Trump nominated Barrett to replace Ginsburg, and over the vociferous objections of Democrats, Senate Republicans quickly muscled the nomination through just ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

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Elon Musk’s net worth drops $33.5 billion as Democratic majorities loom

Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, saw his net worth fall by $33.5 billion on Wednesday as investors sold off shares in his companies in anticipation of the incoming Democratic majorities in Congress. Musk, the CEO and largest shareholder of Tesla and SpaceX, saw the total value of his wealth decline by 3.7% in just one day, according to Bloomberg’s billionaires index, which tracks the wealth of the world’s richest people and updates it every evening. Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars backing Republicans against Democrats in the midterm elections and was one of the architects of the Department of Government Efficiency. The blue wave raises the odds of Democratic investigations into companies seen as close to President Donald Trump.

And Musk’s businesses took a hit on Wednesday after already seeing declines in overnight trading. Tesla fell about 3.3%, while the total value of SpaceX declined by about 3.8% on Wednesday. Democrats could deploy oversight investigations into Musk over his leadership of DOGE or for his decision-making when it comes to satellite communications in war-torn Ukraine. Despite Musk’s decline in net worth and his companies’ losses, the stock market as a whole performed very well on the day after the election. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 1,570 points, or 3%, the best single day since April 2025. Meanwhile, the benchmark S&P 500 closed up nearly 1.6%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite gained 1.44% in value. Oil prices also fell on Wednesday, with Brent crude down more than 8% to just over $95 a barrel.

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State Stories

John Cornyn: Republicans forgot how to win elections

Even before the polls closed on Tuesday, an epic blame game had begun. How did Republicans fumble the success of 2024 into this midterm meltdown? How did we lose so many Senate seats, including in my home state of Texas, a conservative cornerstone for more than three decades and a state Donald Trump carried by 14 points in 2024? Die-hard Never Trumpers will rush to eulogize the MAGA movement. Some populists will shop a stab-in-the-back narrative that blames the traditional conservatives they themselves chased away. But both sides miss the point. This week’s beat-down wasn’t only foreseeable, it was foreseen—because our party forgot four basic rules of coalition politics. First, successful coalitions add, they don’t subtract. In 2024, a unified Republican Party dominated among the white working class, won Hispanic men outright and won the largest share of black voters since the 1970s. Lifelong conservatives and first-time Republican voters all embraced our message of lower prices, border security, cultural sanity and American strength.

This year, losing candidates like Ken Paxton and Mike Collins shrank the tent, obsessing over “RINOs” and political theater. In Texas, statewide candidate Bo French poisoned the well even further with blatant bigotry against Indian-Americans, anathema to the party of Lincoln and Reagan. When nominees show contempt for voters and request a smaller Republican Party, voters oblige them. The second forgotten lesson was even simpler: Be likeable. We are no longer in 2010, when articulate, appealing conservatives like Marco Rubio and Pat Toomey challenged “establishment” candidates over real policy differences. Today, it is fringe challengers who play down voting records and policy in favor of performative politics. A strange reverse personality test has taken root. If a candidate talks like an affable, reasonable person, he must be a sellout. If he makes bizarre comments or has past scandals, that’s considered authenticity. The oddball Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky (who lost his primary this year) once described his base as seeking “the craziest son of a bitch in the race.” This is a losing mindset that Republicans must outgrow. It selects for nominees who can’t win general elections. Third, when you win, do what you promised. In 2020, President Biden won a narrow mandate to restore normalcy, but advisers talked him into open borders, inflationary spending and unrestrained wokeism.

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“MAGA needs to be dead”: Dade Phelan on the Republican wipeout

Former Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan saw it coming—at least in part. Three weeks ago, when he and I sat down for an extended interview about the upcoming election, he told me the mood among Republicans was grim. “People are freaking out,” he said, exaggerating those last two words in his East Texas drawl for maximum effect. “You see it in their faces. There’s serious concern like I’ve never seen before.” Phelan could see the scenario in which a bad night for Republicans turned into a seismic shift in the state. If Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico won his race by six or seven percentage points, he predicted, it would be “a bloodbath downballot. I don’t know how people survive.” Talarico won even bigger than that. As of this morning, with more than 95 percent of the votes counted, the Austin Democrat is leading his Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, by twelve points. And the bloodbath for the GOP is total. Texas’s partisan politics skipped the purple phase all together, flipping from bright red to an unmistakable shade of blue. As the enormity of Democratic gains was becoming clear last night, I called up Phelan to see how he was taking stock of the Republican wreckage he had warned about.

Texas Monthly: I was just looking back at our conversation nearly a month ago, where you predicted that if Talarico won by a big margin, it would be a rout downballot. Dade Phelan: "And that’s where we are." TM: "Honestly, it looks even worse than you predicted." DP: "These are extinction-level numbers. This is a complete extinction-level election. I think the Texas House is gone. Right now, I’m looking at nineteen House seats that are gone. It only takes about fourteen to flip it. [As of this morning, Democrats have a 68–56 advantage, with 26 races yet to be called.] There will be a Democrat Speaker. And the congressional seats that we drew last year [at the urging of President Trump], I mean, all of them and then some are gone too. This is the worst-case scenario for Republicans. I don’t know how you can say it any other way." TM: Have you been talking to a lot of other Republicans tonight? DP: "Oh, yeah. I’ve gone to a couple different watch parties, and it’s about as somber as you can imagine. So it’s about as bad as you can get. Some were anticipating this. They’ve been seeing some numbers internally. They didn’t want to say it, but they knew this was probably coming—and here it is."

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This Democrat won Fort Worth House seat after dropping out. Can she take office?

A Democratic candidate for a Fort Worth area state House seat dipped out of the race less than a month before voting started, amid questions about her eligibility stemming from accusations of a past felony conviction. The candidate — Ericka Lomick — has won anyway. Will she serve in her newly elected seat? Lomick faced Republican Alan Blaylock, a former Fort Worth City Council member, in the Nov. 3 midterm election, and in a special election held on the same day to finish out the term of former state Rep. Nate Schatzline’s term that ends in January. Schatzline did not seek reelection for the seat to become a senior adviser for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

The district covers the northeast part of Fort Worth, Haslet, Blue Mound and northeast Saginaw. Lomick won both elections with 51% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State. A news release from Lomick’s campaign announcing the suspension of her campaign cited “questions” raised about her ability to serve in the seat. The press release does not mention specific questions about eligibility, but in mid-September, a political action committee alleged that Lomick has a felony record. Lomick’s name still appeared on the ballot after she suspended her campaign. Federal court records out of North Carolina analyzed by the Star-Telegram in earlier reporting indicate an Ericka Lomick was convicted in 2011 of mortgage fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering as part of a plea deal.

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Election results: D-FW voters reject billions in bonds, tax hikes

North Texas voters rejected billions of dollars in proposed public spending Tuesday, leaving local officials to figure out how to pay for major projects they say are needed. Residents turned down plans for schools, public safety facilities, homelessness services and a new arena for the Dallas Stars. The defeats stretched across cities, counties and school districts, including proposals that officials said wouldn't raise property tax rates. The rejections raise bigger questions about whether voters are opposed to more public spending or simply want better plans for how their tax money is spent.

Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, said affordability concerns and skepticism about government spending likely contributed to the widespread rejections. "When people say everything costs too much, healthcare costs too much, fuel costs too much, housing costs too much, then the last thing they want to do is approve even a modest tax increase that might take a bit more out of their pockets," Wilson said Wednesday. In Plano, voters turned down five venue taxes intended to help finance a proposed $1 billion arena for the Dallas Stars. In Dallas County, a property tax increase that would have generated about $100 million a year for homelessness services also failed. "We don't want to approve funds to help the wealthiest. We don't want to approve funds to help the poorest," Wilson said. Among the other measures defeated Tuesday were Dallas' $443 million public safety bond, Collin County's $817.5 million bond package for roads and other facilities and Collin College's proposed $600 million bond for new campuses and workforce training facilities. School bond packages totaling $952 million in Irving ISD, $828 million in Keller ISD and $500 million in McKinney ISD also fell short, along with a Mesquite ISD property tax proposal meant to fund salaries, student programs and campus safety.

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Yes, Texas Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson worked on the ‘Dragon Ball Z’ score

One of the common journalists’ greatest gripes is that we possess pieces of lore and factoids that will never be relevant to the general public. So, we live with this useless knowledge, hoping it comes up at trivia nights. Until yesterday, the knowledge that Nathan Johnson, the brand-new Texas Attorney General-elect, composed the English versions of the “Dragon Ball Z” score was purely Dallas Observer happy-hour fodder. But now, we are seizing the opportunity. Last night, Johnson won the race for the position as the state’s top lawyer, beating Sen. Mayes Middleton of the Houston area with 52.4% of the vote to replace outoing Attorney General Ken Paxton. It was a remarkable upset for the Republican Party, which lost control of the Texas House, the governor’s office and a seat in the U.S. Senate, to name a few.

Johnson, who served as a Texas state senator representing parts of Dallas, has remained one of the few local politicians who answers our emails. And so for years, when someone in the office says: “You should call Nathan Johnson; he’ll probably be willing to go on record to talk about this heinous bill that strips Texans of their rights.” Someone else in the office usually chimes in with, “Did you know he made the ‘Dragon Ball Z’ score?” Time and time again, this conversation has happened. Unfortunately, this factoid is seldom relevant to discussing lawmakers attempting to remove sex toys from convenience stores or decriminalizing small marijuana possession, and so it remains on the cutting room floor. But now, with Johnson holding a powerful political office in Texas (he’ll officially be sworn in in January), national publications have already started spreading the news. Johnson primarily plays the piano, but he can also play the ocarina, an ancient wind instrument somewhat similar to the recorder. He learned to play it specifically for the “Dragon Ball Z” score. He also has a bachelor’s degree in physics. Talk about an overachiever.

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Alex Mealer concedes to Leticia Gutierrez in Texas’ 9th Congressional District race

Mealer’s campaign manager confirmed the Republican conceded to Democrat Leticia Gutierrez in the race for the Houston-area seat. Republican Alex Mealer has conceded to Democrat Leticia Gutierrez in the race for Texas’ 9th Congressional District, Mealer’s campaign manager confirmed to KHOU 11. The candidates competed for a seat in the U.S. House representing a district whose boundaries changed substantially following Texas’ 2025 congressional redistricting. The district’s new boundaries cover parts of the Houston area, including Pasadena and the Houston Ship Channel, and extend into Liberty County, according to the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs. Before Election Day, Gutierrez’s campaign emphasized affordability and government accountability.

“Texans in the 9th District are fed up with politics as usual and are ready for real accountability,” said Leticia Gutierrez. “Donald Trump, Greg Abbott, and their allies thought they could draw lines to protect themselves, but this community knows when it’s being taken for granted. Working families here are feeling the squeeze every single day, and they are tired of politicians who prioritize extreme partisan agendas over lowering costs and raising wages. Our campaign has built unprecedented momentum because voters want a representative from the community who answers directly to them.”

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Democrats sweep Fort Bend County judge, commissioners races

Unofficial voting totals from Fort Bend County show Democrats won the county judge and commissioner races, marking a significant shift in the county’s local leadership following a contentious election season. The future of the diverse, largely suburban and growing county outside of Houston has become a closely watched political landscape, where demographic change, population growth and shifting voter priorities intersect. The election results mean Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, a five-member governing body that oversees the county's operations, will shift from a Republican-led majority to Democrat after candidates won three of the five seats on Nov. 3. Unofficial results show Democrat Dexter McCoy defeated Republican Daniel Wong in the county judge race with 59% of the vote to Wong’s 40%.

Wong and the county’s two incumbent Republican commissioners, Andy Meyers and Vincent Morales, have held a majority on Commissioners Court, as well as when former county judge KP George switched to the Republican party in 2025 after being elected two-terms as a Democrat. The county’s political and legal turmoil intensified in April, when George was suspended from office and a visiting Galveston County district judge appointed Wong as interim county judge. “This has been a rough journey,” McCoy said. “It has been so dark and it often times didn’t seem like we could see the light. I think people responded to what we have seen as a lack of character, a lack of real care and concern for the hardworking people in our community. And it’s been overwhelming across the state.” The Wong campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Democrat incumbent Grady Prestage won reelection to Precinct 2 commissioner seat, defeating Republican challenger Tony Aranda with 74% of votes to Aranda’s 25% of votes. Precinct 2 covers the southeastern portion of the county including parts of Fresno, Missouri City and Sienna. Prestage was also at McCoy’s event when the early voting results started pouring and said public officials must handle taxpayer funds carefully, avoid arrogance and genuinely listen to the community to maintain their success.

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Gina Hinojosa’s victory could change Austin ISD’s fate. But state law may stand in the way.

Democrat Gina Hinojosa’s stunning defeat of Gov. Greg Abbott has raised hopes that Austin ISD could escape a state takeover. But even with a former district trustee in the governor’s office, Texas law may still force the state to intervene. Hinojosa, who served on the Austin ISD board of trustees between 2012 and late 2015, including as president, has promised to replace Education Commissioner Mike Morath on her first day in office and end state takeovers of public schools. Her victory Tuesday makes her Texas’ first Democratic governor since 1994, putting her in a position to reshape how the state manages struggling school districts. But the change in leadership comes as Austin ISD faces a budget crisis and the threat of state intervention after Burnet and Webb middle schools received their fifth failing accountability ratings. Education policy experts say a new commissioner would still be bound by state law, which requires intervention.

The crucial difference could be what shape that intervention takes and how a new education commissioner might oversee the district’s future, including whether to replace its elected school board or close the two campuses. Public education was central to Hinojosa’s campaign and her victory speech Tuesday. The former Austin ISD trustee, who first ran for office when her son’s school faced closure because of budget constraints, pledged to increase investment in public schools, raise teacher pay and preserve local control. “In case you have not heard, on day one, I will fire Mike Morath, and we will work tirelessly to repair the damage of the Texas vouchers scam and end an era in which our schools are sold for parts,” Hinojosa said at a rally Tuesday. But replacing Morath, whom Abbott appointed in December 2015, would not eliminate the laws governing state intervention. And with Austin ISD facing decisions about the future of Burnet and Webb, the timing of any change in leadership could prove consequential.

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Davis claws back McLennan County seat for Democrats

Jeremy Davis unseated incumbent Republican McLennan County Precinct 2 Commissioner Donis “DL” Wilson on Tuesday to take back local Democrats’ most prized seat. Davis won 51.8% of the vote in a rematch against Wilson, who narrowly won in a three-way race in 2024. Before Wilson’s narrow victory in 2024, the precinct had long been a Democratic stronghold represented by Black leaders Lester Gibson and Patricia Chisolm Miller. Davis campaigned largely on the need for more diverse representation on the all-white, Republican commissioners court. “?To have a seat at the table, to be a part of the decision-making. It was a huge win for us across Precinct 2,” he told KWBU shortly after the results were announced. He celebrated the results at a watch party Tuesday with the McLennan County Democratic Party.

“I think it’s been a long time since we’ve ushered in a new generation of leaders, so I think that motivated a lot of people to get to the polls,” Davis said. Wilson, a former state trooper, was at a private gathering Tuesday evening and could not be reached for comment. The all-Republican Commissioners Court in October 2025 redrew Precinct 2 boundaries in an unusual mid-decade redistricting, resulting in more conservative, rural precincts and fewer minority-dominated urban precincts. The precinct includes parts of East Waco, Lacy Lakeview, West, Bellmead and now most of the rural eastern edge of the county towards Axtell and Elm Mott. That means two of the three known data center projects in McLennan County now fall in the district. That’s something Davis said he plans to tackle. “?I don’t think that they will bring more benefit than harm to our community,” he said. “So I think the first thing I need to do is meet with the developers,” Davis said. “?Like I said in the campaign, we need an effective leader who knows how to negotiate, putting people first, and with the community in mind, and now we have it, so I’m ready to get to work.”

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Lockheed Martin will pay millions to settle discrimination claims related to DEI

Lockheed Martin has been ordered to pay $29.5 million after the company was accused of employment discrimination. In July 2025, Tim Booher, who was a vice president in Lockheed’s Combat Systems division in Fort Worth, filed a federal lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas against Lockheed, alleging discrimination on the basis of race and gender. In October of this year, the U.S. government intervened in that lawsuit, saying Lockheed violated antidiscrimination requirements as a federal contractor. According to the settlement agreement the Maryland-based company entered into with Booher and the government this week, Lockheed in some cases prioritized women and minorities when giving employee raises that were supposed to be merit based.

The settlement agreement quoted a director of diversity and inclusion with Lockheed as saying the company would “identify at least 11 additional PoC” for raises to clear a “race flag.” POC is shorthand for people of color. Lockheed also allegedly used demographics when evaluating performance goals for a management compensation plan and when hiring job candidates, and some of its business units were said to have tracked demographic goals tied to race and gender. Lockheed will pay the U.S. government $22 million. Booher will receive $4.4 million of that, plus attorneys’ fees. According to his LinkedIn page, Booher left Lockheed in 2023 and now serves as an adviser in the Pentagon for the U.S. Department of War. The remaining $7.5 million of the settlement money will be paid to more than 1,000 Lockheed employees who were found to be affected by the alleged discrimination. That portion of the settlement is related to a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge. Under the settlement agreement, Lockheed does not admit to wrongdoing, and the agreement said the company denies the discrimination allegations.

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Texas state board of education could flip after years of GOP control

Texas Democrats swept all statewide races on Tuesday, and one of the last holdouts of Republican control — the State Board of Education — could flip, too. On Wednesday, the makeup of the board that decides what Texas’ 5.5 million public school students must learn appeared evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, with a tie-breaking Houston-area race too close to call. Democrat Dana Van de Walker appeared to be leading incumbent Republican Audrey Young by fewer than 600 votes. Young said she was still waiting on votes trickling in, while noting that the Secretary of State’s website, which was missing returns from more than a dozen precincts, showed her leading by about 3,500 votes. Democrats haven’t had a majority on the board since 1994. With this election, they’re poised to have the most influence on the board in years and the potential to halt conservative rewrites of education standards.

In addition to being on track to flip two seats on the 15-member board, Democratic governor-elect Gina Hinojosa will have the power to nominate the board’s chairperson, who runs the meetings and sets the agenda. And Hinojosa has also vowed to replace the state’s education commissioner, Mike Morath, whose office recommends charter schools and reading lists that the board considers. The board in recent years has tilted to the right, enacting more conservative social studies standards that include passages from the Bible as required reading. Those standards, known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, dictate what publishers include in textbooks. The board also sets graduation requirements. Of the nine races, just three incumbents were on the ballot. Three others chose not to seek reelection, two ran for another office and one lost in the primary. Thomas Ray Garcia, a community college professor and former high school teacher, will take over this Gulf Coast district previously held by Republican L.J. Francis. Francis lost the GOP primary to Victoria Hinojosa, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran and wife of a state senator.

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Rev. Frederick Haynes on election, economy and excitement about congressional win

The Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes III got a taste of what it would be like to be both a pastor and a politician when he learned on Tuesday (Nov. 3) that he had won a Texas congressional seat while he was working at his predominantly Black megachurch in Dallas. Haynes is aligned with two historically Black denominations — the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., the one in which he grew up, and the Progressive National Baptist Convention, where he is cochair of the social justice commission. After being encouraged to run by his 12,000-member Friendship-West Baptist Church congregation, Haynes conducted a race calling for economic relief, including lower healthcare costs for the people he would represent if he made it to Congress.

He also agreed with Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, declaring, “We’re going to have to get money out of politics so we can get money back in the pockets of the people.” Now, he plans to continue to preach to the 2,000-3,000 parishioners who attend each week — and sometimes three times that many online — while also representing Texas’ 30th congressional district. "I was doing young adult Bible study at the church. It had started at 7 p.m., and it was interesting because my team was telling me they’re going to call your race early, so you need to be available. And my phone rings, and there’s a notification that Vice President Harris is trying to reach me to congratulate me. It’s like 10 minutes into Bible study, and my daughter (Abeni Jewel Haynes) is the leader of the ministry. And then I started getting all these congratulatory messages, and so yeah, I was at Bible study, and it was very funny: The young adults stopped Bible study and said, we have Congressman-elect Haynes as our pastor. So it was a very moving moment I felt good about because I was doing my work as a pastor, which is not going to stop just because of this second job," he said of where he was.

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Denton, Collin counties pick up Democratic commissioner court seats

Democrat Candace Valenzuela unseated Republican incumbent Kevin Falconer for the Denton County Commissioners, Precinct 2 seat, according to unofficial results from Denton County. Valenzuela recorded 46,289 votes, or 52.58%, while Falconer earned 41,753 votes, or 47.42%, after all 252 Denton County precincts reported. All results are unofficial until canvassed.

Democratic candidate Julie Holmer has secured a seat as Collin County Commissioner, Precinct 4, according to unofficial results from Collin County. 56,177 of voters, or 53.3%, voted for Holmer. 49,198 of voters, or 46.7%, voted for her Republican opponent, Shelby Williams. Holmer will take the place of current Precinct 4 Commissioner Duncan Webb, who has served in the position since 2011. The Collin County Commissioner Precinct 4 position represents Plano, Allen and some of Carrollton and Dallas.

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Texas used to be ‘the best place’ to build data centers — but not anymore

When BaRupOn LLC, a California-based developer, bought land in East Texas for a 700-acre industrial campus in 2023, the company received a warm welcome from the state. The developer set out to build numerous data centers and rare-earth manufacturing facilities at the site, as well as its own power plants. At first, Gov. Greg Abbott’s office worked closely with BaRupOn, said Balaji Tammabattula, the chief operating officer. The governor’s office staff would recommend site locations for future projects and which county officials they should get in touch with, Tammabattula said. Developers were encouraged to seek out incentives and tax breaks. The governor’s office, which was just a phone call away, even gave the planned industrial campus, in Liberty, Texas, the codename of “Project Tough,” Tammabattula said. “Texas used to be the best place,” he said. “Fast forward to 2026, it’s impossible to have [the governor’s office] respond to our emails.”

The climate around data centers has soured so severely that new developments in Texas are essentially on pause until after November’s elections. The land, energy and water usage of the large warehouses filled with server racks have elicited strong protest across the country—even becoming a bipartisan issue among midterm election candidates, including in Texas. Abbott has gone against his typical business-first approach and led some companies to rethink their major data center investments in Texas, analysts and developers said. Those seeking to keep their spot in the lengthy line for grid power are laboring to not only secure state permits but social permission from communities across the state. The data center industry flocked to invest billions of dollars in the state to quickly construct the physical infrastructure required for tech companies to develop the most mature artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies. The developers, many of whom were new to the industry, saw a state not only open to doing business but a grid committed to connecting projects to power faster than anywhere else. Texas became the epicenter of A.I. development as Abbott willed last year. But that tune changed fast. The state has long been seen as the best place for business development in the country, with its previously unfussy regulatory environment.

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National Stories

Scott Colom projects victory in razor-thin Mississippi Senate race as uncounted ballots linger

Democratic challenger Scott Colom declared confidence Wednesday morning in Mississippi’s uncalled U.S. Senate race, telling supporters he believes outstanding ballots will carry him to victory over incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. As of 3 a.m. Wednesday, Colom held a razor-thin lead of just 43 votes out of more than 925,000 cast — leading Hyde-Smith 462,821 to 462,778 with an estimated 95.6% of ballots tabulated. Independent candidate Ty Pinkins garnered 19,935 votes. Because federal general elections in Mississippi do not trigger a runoff, the candidate who finishes with a plurality will claim the seat.

“Where we are, where the ballots are, we’re gonna win,” Colom said as he addressed supporters at a 10 a.m. news conference. “This is our election. We’ve won it. The people have done it. They’ve decided to go in a new direction. I’m confident of that.” The outcome now hinges on uncounted ballots. According to reporting from Mississippi Today, the Colom campaign estimates between 10,000 and 15,000 affidavit ballots remain outstanding statewide. When asked about the microscopic margin, Colom emphasized that his campaign has spent months preparing for the post-election count. “We have an army of lawyers. We have local lawyers; we have everybody involved to make sure the process goes according to the law,” Colom said, adding that his primary concern is the integrity of the count rather than speed. Asked about Hyde-Smith’s earlier declaration of victory Tuesday night, Colom offered a brief response: “Bless her heart.”

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Trump asking advisers if Hegseth should stay after midterm losses, sources say

President Trump has been asking advisers around him and on the phone whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should stay in his job, following Republicans' catastrophic losses Tuesday night, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell CBS News. Some White House aides have predicted some of the blame for GOP midterm losses will be trained on Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, who both played big roles in guidance on the Iran war. Still, other sources said the president hasn't decided to replace Hegseth. Before the election, Democrats were already trying to impeach Hegseth, and the likelihood of an impeachment effort could increase with Democrats holding strong majorities in both chambers.

Vice President JD Vance is blaming the war for the GOP defeat. "The reason we lost is the war," he said in a lengthy post on X Wednesday morning. One source told CBS News that GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is being floated as a possible replacement for Hegseth, arguing DeSantis could go through Senate confirmation in the lame-duck period and then take the post when his term as governor expires Jan. 5. Mr. Trump was asked Wednesday afternoon whether he was considering replacing Hegseth, and he told reporters, "No, I think he's doing a very good job." The president was also asked if he'd like to see Hegseth appointed to fill the seat that will be vacated by Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn when she takes office as governor. "I actually think he'd be very popular if he did that," Mr. Trump said, "but I haven't heard that at all." Asked for comment about reports that Hegseth's future as defense secretary was in question, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement that the president "has full confidence in Secretary Hegseth." In the statement, Kelly also praised the military operations in Iran and Venezuela and Hegseth's efforts to reverse the Biden Pentagon's prioritizing of "DEI and woke ideology."

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Which Senate, governors races are still uncalled by The Associated Press

Just a handful of races for Senate and governor have not yet been called by The Associated Press as of 4 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday. The narrow margins come as Democrats flipped seats in places Republicans comfortably won two years ago, securing control of both chambers of Congress. In the House, 59 races where party control of the seat is at stake have yet to be called. The AP does not make projections and will only declare a winner when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidate to close the gap. In Mississippi’s Senate race, Democrat Scott Colom has a lead of a few dozen votes over Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. Several thousand provisional ballots are expected to be counted in the race and the state has until Nov. 10 to resolve those ballots. Those votes will be decisive. In 2022, the state counted about 5,700 provisional ballots. Mississippi does not have an automatic recount process, but a challenger can seek a court order for one.

The Associated Press has also not called Alaska’s Senate contest between incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola, who has a 626-vote lead over Sullivan with an estimated 74% of votes counted. Under Alaska law, if neither candidate gets more than 50% of the vote then it goes to ranked-choice tabulation. Also in Alaska, Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins has a 20 percentage point lead over Republican Bernadette Wilson in Alaska’s governor’s race. Kreiss-Tomkins had 49.2% of the vote with an estimated 74% of the ballots counted. Like the Senate contest, the governor’s election advances to another round if no candidate gets more than 50% of the votes. In Kansas, Democrat Cindy Holscher has less than a percentage point lead over Republican Ty Masterson in the Kansas governor’s race. Holscher’s 5,557 vote lead with an estimated 98% of votes counted comes after Democrat Adam Hamilton became the first member of his party to win a Senate seat in nearly a century. Both Holscher and Masterson serve in the state Senate, where the Republican serves as its president.

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Republican Boebert still short of Democrat Laubacher in Colorado district 4 race, ballots still being counted

Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert is facing the possibility of losing her congressional seat in Colorado's 4th Congressional District, with Democrat Eileen Laubacher maintaining a lead as votes continue to be counted Wednesday evening. The race is defying expectations in a district widely considered a safe Republican seat. While not all ballots have been counted, Laubacher's lead has put Boebert's political future in jeopardy. "I could not be more proud of what we have accomplished," said Eileen Laubacher, the Democratic challenger, at her election night watch party. Laubacher's campaign appeared to be gaining momentum despite early expectations that the heavily Republican district would be difficult for a Democrat to win.

"They told us that the district was too Republican," Laubacher said. Kyle Saunders, a Colorado State University political science professor, said the results are far from what political analysts anticipated heading into Election Day. "This is a pretty safe district, and most of the ratings folks had it at likely R, so for this seat to have been challenged, this had to be quite a blue wave, if not a blue tsunami," Saunders said. "I'm not sure Boebert or the Republicans were prepared for that challenge," he added. At her election night watch party, Boebert acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the race but told supporters she was not ready to give up. "This isn't the first time I've had to wait. I know a waiting game," Boebert said. She also reminded supporters that ballots were still being counted and urged them not to give up hope. "Listen, y'all don't start trying to sell your houses and move to Florida just yet. OK, we still got to count some ballots here," Boebert said. "We are winning all but three counties right now, and we'll see. We'll see," she added. Saunders said Boebert's association with President Donald Trump could be one factor contributing to the unexpectedly competitive race. However, he said the results also point to an energized Democratic electorate and potentially lower Republican turnout. "Part of it points to Boebert being part of the problem, but then you also have this really energized Democratic electorate, as well as this idea that a lot of Republicans seem to have stayed home," Saunders said. Laubacher said her campaign was able to connect with voters who previously supported Republicans or had become disengaged from politics.

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Florida Dems scrape together a few wins but miss the big, blue wave

Democrats hoped a “blue wave” would crash over Republicans in the Sunshine State Tuesday night. They were left with a trickle. Republicans won the governor’s mansion, swept the state Cabinet, kept their U.S. Senate seat and maintained power in the Legislature. Yet Democrats displayed their strongest showing in years, winning multiple congressional districts redrawn earlier this year in an effort led by Gov. Ron DeSantis, which GOP officials hoped would net Republicans four congressional seats — and breaking the Republican supermajority that has ruled over the Florida House in Tallahassee for the last four years. While Republicans pulled off victories, headlined by Rep. Byron Donalds securing the governor’s race over Democrat David Jolly, they won by significantly tighter margins compared to 2024.

“We’ve earned trust from a number of our voters, and even in the worst situation that you can imagine politically, we were able to hold the line and prevent the worst from happening here,” DeSantis told reporters Wednesday in Tallahassee. “But just be clear, we’re in a deep hole nationally as a result of this election.” A historic blue wave swept across the nation on Tuesday, with Democrats taking control of Congress and winning gubernatorial races as well as House and Senate seats in deep red states and counties, including in Kansas, where Democrat Adam Hamilton ousted incumbent GOP Sen. Roger Marshall; South Carolina, where Republican Darline Graham lost to Annie Andrews; and shocking defeats in Texas, where three-term Gov. Greg Abbott fell to Democrat Gina Hinojosa and Democrat James Talarico beat Republican Ken Paxton. As Republicans here pounded their chests after pulling off close wins in the face of losses in other states, Democrats were left lamenting how close they came to upsets on several fronts.

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Bernie Sanders lost the fight in 2016. A decade later, he won the war.

In 2016, two populist revolutions threatened to remake American politics. Donald Trump’s conquered the Republican Party and delivered him the presidency. Bernie Sanders’ fell short against Hillary Clinton, but introduced a populist economic vision that, at the time, much of the Democratic establishment dismissed as politically impractical. Ten years later, Trump and MAGA were hit with a devastating midterm repudiation, as candidates across the country in blue and red states echoing versions of Sanders’ message broke through in places that once seemed beyond Democrats’ reach. Sanders, as cantankerous as ever, isn’t surprised.

“If you’re asking me, am I shocked by that? That the argument about economic justice and taking on oligarchs and fighting for the working class is working in Texas, is working in Ohio, is working in Montana, is working in Florida, is working all over the country — no, I am not shocked,” Sanders said in an interview Wednesday, fresh off over 20 rallies in October alone. “That is what I’ve always believed.” Sanders’ laser focus on economic populism in 2016 faced criticism from his own party during his contentious primary against Clinton for being too dismissive of identity politics — often couched as his lack of support among Black voters. Now, his brand of relentless focus on corporate and billionaire election interventions and income inequality proved a winning formula not only for Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, but for James Talarico in Texas, Sam Forstag in Montana and Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin. “Bernie normalized the kind of campaigning that really is about making a direct appeal to working people,” El Sayed told POLITICO. “Wherever I went in Michigan, there are people who remember Bernie 2016 and Bernie 2020 — we stand on the shoulders of giants.”

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DOJ stays quiet on Alaska investigations as Senate race too close to call

The Department of Justice offered no new details Wednesday on its Alaska election investigations as Sen. Dan S. Sullivan (R-AK) and Democrat Mary Peltola remained locked in a Senate race too close to call. As of Wednesday evening, Peltola led Sullivan 102,701 to 102,075 in first-choice votes, a 626-vote advantage, with an estimated 74% of votes counted. The Associated Press has not called the race. Asked about next steps, a department spokesperson declined to comment on specific plans to the Washington Examiner but pointed to public civil filings and Attorney General Todd Blanche’s Tuesday Fox News interview, in which he defended preserving ballots to examine possible voter confusion over a spoiler candidate with the same first and last name as the Republican incumbent, who has garnered more than 3,500 votes.

Blanche on Tuesday described a scenario in which Sullivan “could lose, but really he didn’t lose,” if confusion between the incumbent and spoiler candidate Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. affected the outcome. “That’s why you need to preserve these ballots,” he said. Sullivan’s campaign argues that Peltola’s narrow lead could disappear once voters’ backup choices are counted. Under Alaska’s ranked-choice system, if no candidate wins more than 50% of first-choice votes, the last-place candidate is eliminated. Ballots for that candidate transfer to each voter’s next choice still in the race. The process repeats until someone has a majority of the remaining active ballots.

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Midterms over, Democrats plunge into wide-open 2028 presidential race

With the US midterms over, Democrats are turning to what could become one of their most crowded and unpredictable presidential primaries in decades, a 2028 contest likely to expose the party's divide over how to win back the White House. No Democrat has emerged as a clear ?favorite in a field that could attract dozens of contenders, while Republicans have a smaller group of widely discussed candidates, led by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to succeed ?President Donald Trump, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.

Potential Democratic candidates, including sitting governors and senators, have spent months cultivating donors, visiting states with early nominating contests and raising their national profiles, positioning themselves for a race that strategists expect to begin in earnest now that the midterms are over. The sweeping victories by Democrats on Tuesday, when voters delivered a sharp rebuke to Trump and his agenda, will intensify discussions within both parties about how to win over an electorate unhappy with the country's direction. Despite their resounding victories on Tuesday, Democrats enter the ?2028 campaign still divided over whether to tack to the center or move further left on issues ranging from healthcare and taxes to policing and foreign policy. Republican candidates will face a different challenge - how to distance themselves ?from Trump after Tuesday's repudiation of his policies. They need to broaden their appeal beyond the president's base while avoiding a break with the populist Make America Great Again ?movement that has come to define the party.

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Lead Stories

Democrats sweep Texas, likely flipping Texas House, making gains in Senate

Two closely watched races are Democrat James Talarico against Republican Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott against Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa. As a packed crowd of hundreds of supporters chanted her name, Vikki Goodwin stepped up to the podium on election night and claimed victory in the race for Texas Lieutenant Governor. As of 2 a.m., the Associated Press projects Goodwin wins the Texas lieutenant governor’s race. Democrat Nathan Johnson declared victory as attorney general Tuesday, breaking the GOP’s nearly three-decade grip on the powerful office and promising a new direction after Ken Paxton’s turbulent tenure. "This is a tremendous honor, and a tremendous responsibility," Johnson said in a statement. "Texans voted for an attorney general who will represent them and the interests of our state, and who will above all uphold the rule of law. That’s what I intend to do."

Democratic state Rep. Jon Rosenthal has won the race for Texas railroad commissioner, NBC News projects, defeating Republican Bo French, who faced widespread backlash in his own party and beyond for anti-immigrant, Islamophobic and antisemitic comments. Rosenthal will be one of three members of the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas production in the state. Members serve six-year terms. Rosenthal, a mechanical engineer, campaigned on a platform of lowering energy costs for Texans, implementing guardrails for data centers and weatherization requirements for gas production, and banning industry donations to commissioners. Democratic challenger Benjamin Flores held a substantial lead Tuesday night over Republican incumbent Dawn Buckingham in the race for Texas land commissioner, capturing nearly 58% of the vote as election results continued to come in across the state. According to unofficial results reported by the Associated Press, Flores received 2,541,836 votes, or 57.8%, compared with Buckingham’s 1,797,918 votes, or 40.9%. Third-party candidate Neill Snider trailed with 58,866 votes, accounting for 1.3% of the reported vote.

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Democrats win the US House, taking full control of Congress

Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress, delivering a decisive rebuke of Republican governance in Washington and ushering in a new era of congressional resistance to President Donald Trump. Tuesday’s midterm elections laid bare voters’ deep frustrations over high prices, the Iran war and concerns over government corruption. Democrats routed their rivals across the map, flipping states that have voted Republican for decades and that Trump won by double digits just two years ago. That includes James Talarico’s stunning Senate victory in Texas, where no Democrat had won statewide office in more than 30 years, and Annie Andrews’ upset victory over Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina. Trump had thrown his full weight behind both losing candidates. In Michigan, progressive Abdul El-Sayed — one of a crop of left-wing candidates who prevailed in Democratic primaries — topped Republican Mike Rogers. Even Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a battle-tested survivor of difficult elections, lost to Democrat Troy Jackson.

The results marked a fundamental unraveling of the coalition that returned Trump to the White House two years ago, with young people and Latinos moving away from Republicans, according to The AP Voter Poll. Only about one-third of Hispanic voters said they backed the Republican in their local U.S. House races. It was all a major blow to Trump, who spent nearly every day of the last month holding rallies to energize his supporters but was unable to stop a wipeout. While Trump has proven adept at steamrolling efforts to rein him in, Democratic control will profoundly reshape Trump’s final two years in office and hamstring his legislative agenda. Party leaders have signaled they’ll use their new power to ensure Trump’s final two years in office are dominated by a series of investigations of top members of his administration and deeper scrutiny of how he’s enriched his family. Impeachment of Trump and his Cabinet officials is not off the table. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and tech titan Elon Musk, a former top Trump adviser, are among possible targets for investigations. In celebratory events Tuesday night, Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer called the results a “generational remake of the Senate map.” Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries said “the American people are crying out for transformational change.” Trump immediately sought to shift blame for his party’s losses, posting on his social media site before polls even closed on the West Coast that he wasn’t on the ballot — even though he spent weeks asking voters to act like he was. He vowed to veto Democrat-controlled legislation, sharing a picture of a red baseball cap with “VETO” stenciled in the style of his trademark “Make America Great Again” campaign swag.

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Musk’s Tesla, SpaceX slide as Democrats sweep Congress

Shares of Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. fell ahead of Wednesday’s US stock-market opening as Democrats swept to control of Congress, sharpening investor concern over the future of the Republican megadonor’s key holdings. Tesla was down about 5% in premarket trading while SpaceX dropped 6.9% after the extent of the rebuke of President Donald Trump and his party became clear. That compares with small gains on futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indices. Few CEOs are as closely tied to the president as Musk, the world’s richest person, who had poured nearly $450 million into GOP coffers and urged his 240 million X followers to vote against Democrats. For investors in Tesla or SpaceX, a so-called blue wave in the midterm elections will come as a double blow. It will fan concerns about tighter regulations around artificial intelligence, and also creates more uncertainty over a potential merger of the electric vehicle maker and the rocket, AI and satellite giant.

“Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time,” Musk wrote in a joking post on X. “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.” Heading into the midterms, the risk was particularly acute that Musk and his businesses lie at the fault line of several divisive issues: Tesla and SpaceX are forging ahead in the AI race, their potential mega-merger raises regulatory questions, and access to a military version of the Starlink satellite service has become a point of tension between the US, Ukraine and Russia. SpaceX, which vaulted into the ranks of the world’s most valuable companies when it went public earlier this year, rakes in billions of dollars through US government contracts. The stock is largely treading water since its June initial public offering, holding on to a $1.9 trillion market valuation. Tesla shares have rallied 34% since their late-July nadir amid investor optimism surrounding AI projects and the potential combination with SpaceX.

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‘Total repudiation’: Dems sweep Texas’ top battleground Tarrant County in historic rout

In a stunning victory, Democrats swept nearly every race from the statewide level down to countywide offices in Tarrant County, an urban center that was considered a pivotal battleground county this cycle and that has historically been the largest Republican-controlled county in the country. Early vote totals showed a rout for Democrats early in the evening, with Senate candidate James Talarico pulling just shy of 60 percent, about a 22-point margin over Ken Paxton, along with every other statewide Democrat winning as well. Democratic County Judge candidate Alisa Simmons beat her opponent, County Judge Tim O’Hare, a controversial hardline Republican, by about 16 percent, signaling the first win for a Democrat at the county level since 1986. “The results are a total repudiation of the Republican extremism that’s taken hold of Tarrant County Republican leadership recently,” Brandon Rottinghaus, political science professor at the University of Houston, told the Texas Observer Tuesday night.

“There were Republican voters who felt conservatives were taking it too far and Democrats who were happy to vote against the GOP, and that’s a toxic mix that’s going to make Republicans suffer.” Ahead of the Election Day rout, Tarrant was expected to be highly competitive turf. Top statewide candidates, including Talarico and Paxston, along with Governor Greg Abbott, all made the rounds around Tarrant in the first days of early voting. Traditionally a GOP stronghold, flickers of a changing political dynamic in the North Texas county, which encompasses the cities of Fort Worth and Arlington and several booming suburbs, began when voters there favored Democrat Beto O’Rourke for U.S. Senate in 2018. The prospect of a possible purple-ish wave continued in 2020 when Joe Biden beat Donald Trump, albeit by a razor-thin margin. In 2024, Democrat Colin Allred won Tarrant over incumbent Ted Cruz by less than 2,000 votes (though Trump carried the county by 5 points) again stoking the idea that the tides may be turning.

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State Stories

‘We’ve had a difficult night’: Inside Ken Paxton’s election night party

Around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday evening in Dallas, shortly after the Associated Press announced that Democrat James Talarico won his bid for the closely-watched U.S. Senate race in Texas, his opponent — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — took to the stage to speak to supporters at his Election Night watch party. “I want to thank all my friends in this room,” Paxton said. Supporters had filtered into a ballroom at the Westin Galleria Dallas hotel, adorned with Texas and American flags, plus a bar and a buffet. Fox News was projected on a screen showing results from races across the country as music filled the room. “I love Texas,” Paxton said in his speech. “I always love Texas. We will still fight for this place. We will fight for our country.”

Robert Raab, of Frisco, is a pastor in McKinney. Raab told reporters Tuesday night that he believes Talarico is a good candidate — but he doesn’t align with Raab’s religious values. “I think Talarico has great political instincts,” Raab said from inside the ballroom. “He’s a good campaigner. He’s got energy. He’s personable. I get the appeal, but he’s too liberal for me, and he doesn’t represent the Christianity [that] I think is biblical Christianity.” Joshua Feuerstein, a Dallas preacher and entrepreneur who was also at the event, said Paxton has a “testicular fortitude” needed to represent Texans. “We don’t need a left-leaning libtard,” Feuerstein told the Star-Telegram. “We need somebody like Ken Paxton in office. James Talarico just does not align with the values of Texan people. He just doesn’t.” Steve Meng, of Irving, said at around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday night that he wasn’t feeling quite as optimistic as he was earlier in the night. What would it mean for him, the Star-Telegram asked, if Talarico won? “It’s going to mean that I have to suffer through him and his ‘I dream of trans children, God’s non-binary, and welcome mats at the southern border for six years,’ Meng said. “Hopefully, we’ll have in 2032 a candidate that’ll be great.”

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Democratic challenger Heather Jefts wins Williamson County Judge race

Democratic challenger Heather Jefts has defeated incumbent Williamson County Judge Steve Snell, giving Democrats hold of the top position in Williamson County government for the first time in decades. Ms. Jefts, a former Cedar Park City Council member, earned an estimated 134,371 votes in the judge race, about 55.78% of the 240,892 votes cast. "I want to thank Judge Snell for his service and for a hard-fought race. We both love this county, and I will be a county judge for everyone, regardless of who you voted for or whether you voted," Ms. Jefts said in a Statement to the Sun early Wednesday morning.

"Last December, we started this movement with a humble ambition: a progressive, accountable, and responsive county government. Tonight, that ambition has become a mandate," We built one of the most robust democratic campaigns in recent Williamson County history. We traveled this county from Florence to Coupland through our Real Talk series and met hundreds of friends and neighbors. From front porches in Taylor to folding tables in Liberty Hill, we heard worries about rising costs, crowded roads, and whether county leadership was actually listening. Those conversations shaped every plank of this campaign, and they give me hope for the thriving future that awaits Williamson County.

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Letitia Plummer declares victory in Harris County Judge race

Former Houston councilwoman Letitia Plummer declared victory in the race for Harris County judge. As of about 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Plummer led Sanchez with nearly 62% of the vote compared to Sanchez’s 38%, according to early unofficial results from the county. Plummer is the first African American to be elected Harris County judge. “I did not sign up for this job because I thought it would be easy, because nothing in my life has,” Plummer said. “I ran because I believe that I can absolutely make a difference as your public servant with your support.”

Shortly after 9 p.m., Sanchez conceded the election to Plummer. “The voters of Harris County have made their decision, and while it’s not the outcome that we had hoped for, I respect the judgment of the people that we sought to serve,” Sanchez said. “I just spoke with Dr. Letitia Plummer. I congratulated her and conceded the race.” Plummer, a dentist by trade, started her political career with a bid for Congress in 2018. The effort fell short before she was elected to serve as the Houston City Council's at-large councilmember in 2019. She resigned from her seat on city council earlier this year after announcing her intention to seek the county judge's position, held by current Democratic County Judge Lina Hidalgo for seven years. The former councilwoman will be charged with leading Harris County Commissioners Court, a five-member governing body that oversees the operations of the county. The court deals with countywide road and infrastructure projects, sets yearly property taxes and makes funding decisions on flood control initiatives.

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Nydia Cardenas declares victory in Tarrant Precinct 4 race over Manny Ramirez

Democrat Nydia Cardenas declared victory over Republican incumbent Manny Ramirez shortly before midnight. According to unofficial results, she will be the next Precinct 4 commissioner in Tarrant County. When she called it, Cardenas had 51.91% of the votes, with 190 vote centers of 223 reporting. Ramirez had 48.09%. Cardenas will serve as commissioner beginning on Jan. 1, 2027, through Dec. 31, 2030. “I think the margin could probably narrow, but I think it would be very hard for him to come out on top at this point,” Cardenas said in an interview with the Star-Telegram. Ramirez conceded the race at 2:15 a.m. Wednesday, wishing her success in her new responsibility in serving northwest Tarrant County.

“Congratulations to Nydia Cardenas on her victory,” Ramirez said in a statement to the Star-Telegram. “It has been an honor to serve the people of Precinct 4, and I’m proud of what we accomplished together.” Once all the vote centers reported around 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, Cardenas was still in the lead. She received 51.80% of the votes, and Ramirez had 48.20%. Cardenas will be one of three Democrats on the Tarrant commissioners court, joining Alisa Simmons. Simmons is the Democrat who overthrew Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare in his race for re-election. The Precinct 2 race has yet to be called as of midnight Wednesday, but Democrat Jared Williams is ahead of Republican Tony Tinderholt, a state representative. With a confirmed Democrat majority on the court, Cardenas promised that the energy in the courtroom will shift. There will be at least two meetings a month, more room for public comment and fewer attendees kicked out of the meeting — all of which were decisions made by the current Republican majority or O’Hare alone. “The opportunity to actually have a real partnership with people who’ve been vocalizing challenges in the community for a long time, that’s going to shift the energy, too,” Cardenas said. “So yeah, I think it’s going to be a really exciting time.”

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Keller school board’s only incumbent loses reelection bid

A teacher who resigned to run for the Keller school board won her first election to public office by a wide margin, while the only incumbent running lost his bid for reelection. Rachel Weatherington, who challenged political newcomer Geramie Parrish in the Place 4 race, won with 70.18% of the vote with Parrish garnering 29.82%, with all vote centers reporting, according to unofficial results from Tarrant County. In Place 5, Andrew Walsh defeated incumbent Chris Coker. Walsh had 40.69% of the vote to Coker’s 39.86%. Colin Hodges had 19.45%. In Place 6, a special election to fill a one-year term after Charles Randklev resigned to run for Keller City Council, substitute teacher Barbara Brewer defeated retired educator Tommie Johnson with 51.53% of the vote to Johnson’s 48.47%.

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Democrat Dexter McCoy defeats Republican Daniel Wong in Fort Bend County judge race

Democrat Dexter McCoy has won the race for Fort Bend County judge, defeating Republican Daniel Wong in Tuesday's election. The victory comes after months of controversy surrounding Wong's authority to serve as interim county judge. Wong, a businessman who founded an engineering company, was seeking a full term after being appointed interim county judge in April. McCoy, a Fort Bend County commissioner, challenged him for the position. Both candidates have backgrounds in county leadership but brought different professional experiences to the race.

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Cy-Fair ISD bond and tax increase rejected

Voters in Cy-Fair ISD shot down the district's proposed $1.6 billion bond and a tax rate increase, according to unofficial results Tuesday night. None of the measures in Texas' third-largest district received more than 37% support from early voters, with double-digit failure margins. The unofficial results appear to counter the support for public education in November 2025, when Cy-Fair ISD voters flipped the political tilt of its board by electing three pro-public education members. This fall, the new board of trustuees asked taxpayers to consider a tax rate increase — which would generate $100 million in new revenue — and to approve a $1.6 billion bond across four propositions for facility repairs, technology and security upgrades and athletics improvements.

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In blue wave, Democrats flip Northside Texas House seat their party hasn’t won in 45 years, flip back Southside seat

San Antonio’s Texas House District 121 hadn’t elected a Democrat since 1981, but in a blue wave Tuesday night, first-time candidate Zack Dunn toppled incumbent state Rep. Marc LaHood (R-San Antonio). The Northside district includes some of the area’s wealthiest enclaves, and once belonged to Texas House Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio). It’s long chosen moderate, business-centric Republicans, but as the GOP continued shifting right in recent years, Democrats have been targeting the seat repeatedly, hoping it would finally break their way. “I’m unhinged right now,” Dunn told a crowd of supporters at the Quarry Golf Course minutes before early results came in. “The odds were stacked against us.”

Last election cycle LaHood was among the roughly dozen Republicans who Gov. Greg Abbott backed over popular GOP incumbents standing in the way of the governor’s much-desired school voucher program. He cruised through a November race against a well-funded Democrat that year, and went on to align with a GOP wing that pushed one of the most conservative agendas in history. In the final weeks before the election, Texas House GOP leaders were working frantically to reframe the narrative around some of those policies, particularly school vouchers. In the last month they spent more than $1 million protecting LaHood, conceded around 10 p.m. “I left it on the field. I think I did it honorably,” LaHood told the San Antonio Report from his party at the Angry Elephant. “I didn’t sell my soul or my personality to get this job, to keep this job, or to come back for re-election, so I feel good, as good as you can. Losing sucks. I mean let’s be honest, losing sucks.” Bexar County is represented by a total of 10 Texas House seats. Going into the night, three were held by Republicans and seven were held by Democrats. A GOP-held seat on the South Side, Texas House District 118, represented by state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio), flipped back to Democrats’ control.

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Incumbent Mark Henry wins Galveston County Judge against Albert Smith

Republican Galveston County Judge Mark Henry defeated Albert "Al" Smith in the November general election. According to unofficial results from all voting centers, Henry received about 57% of the vote compared to about 43% for Smith. Smith ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, whereas Henry faced challenger Chris Kinard in the Republican primary earlier this year.

directly to your inbox. The Galveston County judge serves as the presiding officer of the county’s governing body, the commissioners court. County judges are elected to four-year terms and face no term limits. Henry, running for a fifth term, was first elected as Galveston County Judge in 2010. The incumbent touted an almost 50% cut in the county's property tax rate throughout his 15 years serving as county judge. He also promoted his efforts in cutting a significant amount of the county's debt and earning the highest bond rating possible for the county. Henry ran on lowering taxes, increasing law enforcement and reducing the size of government to achieve more efficiency. He previously received endorsements from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as well as state Reps. Dennis Paul and Greg Bonnen, according to his social media.

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Democrat Leticia Gutierrez leads Republican Mealer in the race to represent Texas’ 9th

Democrat Leticia Gutierrez is leading the race for Texas' 9th Congressional District, covering the eastern parts of Harris County and all of Liberty County. Gutierrez's lead could amount to an upset after Texas House Republicans redrew the district to be friendlier to conservative candidates. Republican candidate Alex Mealer, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, had held a six-point lead in the polls leading up to the election. As of 4 a.m. on Wednesday, Gutierrez led Mealer with 57% of the vote, according to early results from the Associated Press.

“This was not meant to happen,” Gutierrez said to supporters at her victory party. “But let me just say I’ve defied odds all of my life. This is not new to me at all.” The race for the district had tightened considerably since the March primary amid rising gas and grocery prices, a spike in publicized excessive force allegations of immigration officers across Texas, and President Trump's unpopular war with Iran. After shaking hands with roughly 50 supporters in the room, Mealer spoke to the crowd and thanked them for the work they’d done for her campaign. “Appreciate all of your guys’ hard work,” Mealer said at the Daniel’s BBQ and Meat Market in Baytown. “We’re very proud of the campaign we ran, but obviously it was very challenging backdrop.”

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Houston Democrats lead some GOP-held Texas House races, returns show

The “blue wave” in Houston could extend all the way to the Texas House of Representatives, with Democratic challengers leading several Republican incumbents in local races, according to unofficial returns. GOP state Reps. Lacey Hull, Charles Cunningham, Mike Schofield, Valoree Swanson and Gary Gates all were trailing in their reelection bids in early returns Tuesday evening. Republicans also were trailing in a couple of races for seats vacated by GOP incumbents, despite unprecedented efforts by Gov. Greg Abbott to recruit candidates and spend millions in races across the county.

Former Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart was trailing Democrat Stefanie Bord in state House District 126. And Republican Scott Bowen was losing to Albert Witliff, a Democrat, in the race to replace state Rep. Dennis Paul, who is running for Mayes Middleton's seat in the state senate. Other Republican incumbents were running races that were too close to call early Wednesday morning. State Rep. Matt Morgan, R-Katy, was in a virtual tie with Democratic challenger Elizabeth Markowitz, and Republican Reps. Cody Vasut, R-Angleton, and Jeff Barry, R-Pearland, both held slim leads in their own reelection bids. Incumbent Houston Democrats in the Texas Legislature, meanwhile, were on track to coast to reelection. And Houston’s delegation to Austin will feature some other new faces, with several lawmakers retiring or seeking other offices next year. Tom Butler, a Republican, is leading the race to fill the vacancy left by state Rep. Briscoe Cain in Deer Park. And three new Democratic candidates won races to replace outgoing Democrats. Odus Evbagharu will replace state Rep. Jon Rosenthal in HD 135, after Rosenthal decided to run for Texas Railroad Commissioner. Staci Childs will replace the retiring state Rep. Alma Allen in HD 131, and Darlene Breaux won her bid to replace state Rep. Hubert Vo in HD 149, having beat Vo in the Democratic primary.

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Dallas voters reject the $443 million public safety bond

Dallas voters rejected a $443 million bond proposal for public safety buildings, leaving city officials with difficult decisions about aging police infrastructure, training facilities and emergency operations. This is the first time since 1998 that Dallas voters have denied the city its request to borrow money and redo facilities. “This vote was not a rejection of public safety. It was a demand for a better plan,” the “Bust the Bond” campaign said in a statement early Wednesday.

The proposal would have funded a new police academy, a tactical police training complex, a consolidated evidence room and crime lab, a new downtown fire station, and a 911 operations facility outside City Hall. Civic and business leaders who supported the bond proposition said the money would help upgrade several deteriorating facilities. But residents who led a campaign to reject the proposal believed the money for the 911 center would be used to abandon the I.M. Pei-designed City Hall. Sean Pease, president of the Dallas Police Association, the city’s largest police union, said the bond package’s defeat sends a “powerful message” to City Hall that voters don’t trust city management with hundreds of millions of additional taxpayer dollars without greater accountability and transparency. Repaying the bond debt would have cost $630 million.

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Democrat Burks ousts incumbent Republican Sorrells in Tarrant County DA rematch

Tiffany Burks, a former longtime homicide prosecutor who campaigned on a pledge to implement a culture of mentorship at the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office as it tackles violent crime, on Tuesday beat a Republican incumbent to become the county’s first Black top prosecutor. Burks won 55.96% of the vote, according to the complete vote center report from Tarrant County Elections Administration. Phil Sorrells, who was seeking a second term, received 44.04% of the vote. Burks, a Democrat, is a former deputy criminal division chief at the office she will lead beginning in January. The race was a rematch. Sorrells defeated Burks by 6.5 percentage points in 2022. Burks’ transition team is at work.

“We’ve already determined the organizational chart of the office, what that will look like, who we need and the type of experience we need in those positions,” Burks said in an interview in mid-October. Prosecutor assignment changes are likely, as are departures at the office’s highest levels. “For the most part, the biggest change is going to be the hierarchy and the structure of the office, and the people at the top in leadership will definitely change,” Burks said. Burks said the people with whom she has discussed rejoining the office are former prosecutors who have significant experience and can help train and mentor new lawyers. Burks said she would build a major crimes unit to be staffed by a deputy chief who has deep experience. Prosecutors in the unit will work closely with the narcotics, gang and homicide units at law enforcement agencies throughout the county. Burks, who spent her youth in Dallas’ Oak Cliff neighborhood, has said morale is low in Sorrells’ DA’s office. In the interview, she said she would correct what she considers office supervision errors. Sorrells, who grew up in Lubbock, pointed during the campaign to reduced crime rates. In an interview, Sorrells, a former county criminal court judge, suggested that his office was a significant contributor to a reduction in crime in Tarrant County during the three most recent consecutive years.

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Democrat Simmons declares victory over Republican O’Hare in Tarrant judge race

Republican incumbent Tim O’Hare has conceded in the race for his reelection, granting Democrat Alisa Simmons the win as the next Tarrant County judge. According to unofficial results, Simmons won by 12.8 percentage points. The final tally showed Simmons with 56.40% of the votes to O’Hare’s 43.60%. In the midst of redistricting the commissioners precincts to give Republicans a leg up in elections, the three Republican members of the Tarrant County Commissioners Court said their goal was a 4-1 majority. “Well ... that’s what we got,” Simmons said on stage Tuesday evening while declaring victory. After early results were in, all three Democrats were leading over their Republican opponents in the commissioners court races. Simmons is the first Democrat to win the top seat in Tarrant County in 40 years. O’Hare called around 7:30 p.m. to congratulate her, Simmons said. “He asked the question, ‘Did you expect this?’ And I said, ‘Yes,’” Simmons said.

Early voting results showed Simmons ahead of O’Hare by 15 percentage points when O’Hare called to concede, according to Simmons’ team. The crowd rumbled with excited anticipation waiting for Simmons to enter her celebration at Texas Live! in Arlington. She had 57.70% of the votes, with only early voting results reported, when she declared victory. O’Hare had 42.30%. Simmons will begin her term on Jan. 1, 2027, and serve in the post through Dec. 31, 2030. O’Hare did not respond to the Star-Telegram’s request for comment. Simmons congratulated all the Democrats elected in the Tuesday election “up and down the ballot.” The road to victory was paved by a cohesive movement on the Democrats’ part, she said at her party. O’Hare has been county judge since Jan. 1, 2023. Simmons has served as Precinct 2 commissioner for the same tenure. The two have dueled on commissioners court for years and traded jabs throughout the campaign season.

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Bo French ran an openly racist campaign. Texas voters went with his opponent instead.

Bo French really only had one job. Heading into the midterm election, the general wisdom was that French, who has a long history of making overtly racist and bigoted comments, was by far the weakest of the Republican statewide slate but that his race for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission was so far down the ballot that he might sneak past voters’ attention and into office. All he needed to do was maintain a low profile—keep his head down. But French was never going to do that. On September 13, the day after the University of Texas at Austin’s historic comeback win over top-seeded Ohio State University, French began to complain about how many nonwhite students were at the game, claiming that a photo of South Asians joyously celebrating the victory was proof that America was being overrun by “foreigners.”

The backlash was swift. Republicans such as Karl Rove and Senator John Cornyn urged Texans not to support him, saying that the party would be destroyed if it did not excise bigots such as French from its ranks. Donations flowed into the campaign of French’s Democratic opponent, Texas House member Jon Rosenthal. And by week’s end, French’s name was being uttered at New York City comedy clubs, his long history of xenophobia generating headlines in major national news outlets. Voters had learned who Bo French was. And on Tuesday, they said “no thank you”—electing Rosenthal, a career pipeline engineer and Texas House member from Houston, to the open seat on the three-member Railroad Commission. Practically, the win is relatively minor—Republicans still have a supermajority on the body, which oversees the state’s massive oil and gas industry. But paired with the other victories Tuesday night, it represents a political earthquake: Democrats had not won a statewide seat in Texas in more than thirty years, and in flipping the seat, voters rejected arguably the most openly racist candidate to run for major office in a generation. French has long been a minor fixture in right-wing politics; in the mid-2010s, he was part of a wave of Texas House candidates bankrolled by oil billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks as part of their movement to remake the state legislature in their far-right image.

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National Stories

Votes are still being counted in Mississippi U.S. Senate race

Votes are still being counted to determine who will represent Mississippi in the U.S. Senate. Democrat Scott Colom was only a handful of votes ahead of Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith early Wednesday.

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Democrat Abdul El-Sayed defeats Mike Rogers in Michigan to become first Muslim U.S. senator

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive who ran on promises to disrupt Washington’s way of doing business, defeated Republican former congressman Mike Rogers in Michigan to become the country’s first Muslim elected to the Senate. El-Sayed, born in Michigan to Egyptian immigrant parents, overcame a well-financed campaign of anti-Muslim rhetoric spearheaded by President Donald Trump and his allies. In a race that was by turns nasty and deeply personal, El-Sayed and Rogers each chased voters who would normally support the other. The race exploded Sunday when Rep. Haley Stevens, El-Sayed’s opponent in the Democratic primary, crossed party lines to endorse Rogers just two days before the election. Stevens, who said she was motivated by El-Sayed’s criticism of Israel and a personal conflict with him, might have helped El-Sayed: Her defection outraged Democrats and brought him millions of dollars in donations.

El-Sayed, a medical doctor and epidemiologist who has headed the Detroit and Wayne County health departments, rankled many in his own party with a pugnacious style and a vow to upend how politics work in D.C. He took a narrowly focused message of economic populism, campaign finance reform and Medicare-for-all to even the deep-red parts of Michigan that helped elect Trump. Rogers, an Army veteran, former FBI agent and seven-term congressman who chaired the House intelligence committee, had pressed a message that El-Sayed’s Muslim identity, views on Israel and progressive policies would endanger their communities and make life more expensive. Michigan’s Senate seat, left open by the retirement of Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, was seen as pivotal to each parties’ path to controlling the Senate. Republicans deployed anti-Muslim rhetoric and stereotypes against El-Sayed, a skilled orator whose progressive agenda energized allies and provoked opponents. His decision to campaign during the primary with Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer who has made controversial comments about the 9/11 attacks and the militant group Hamas, also drew some backlash. Trump and top Republican allies targeted El-Sayed with Islamophobic attacks, casting him as “dangerous,” questioning his loyalty, and, in the president’s case, calling him a “jihadist.” El-Sayed and Rogers both argued that economic woes were central to the race, but they offered voters sharply different solutions.

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The historic firsts of the 2026 election

Winners up and down the 2026 ballot will make history this year, CNN’s Decision Desk projects, including the first Black woman governor, the first Muslim elected to the US Senate and the first out gay male US senator. As President Donald Trump takes on the latter half of his second term, both parties will welcome a diverse group of newly elected lawmakers at the state and national level. Read more about the candidates who are projected to boast the moniker of “first.” Keisha Lance Bottoms is projected to become the first Black governor of Georgia, the first female governor of Georgia and the first female Black governor in US history. Bottoms, who served as Atlanta mayor between 2018 and 2022, was among the women whom President Joe Biden considered as a running mate in the 2020 election. She later joined his administration. Bottoms beat out Trump-endorsed Rick Jackson, making expanding Medicaid coverage, homeowner tax relief and increasing education funding the key pillars of her campaign.

Rep. Byron Donalds is projected to become the first Black governor of Florida. He campaigned on tax reforms, regulating data centers and supporting Trump’s agenda in a state that has become more solidly red. He was bolstered early in the race with a full-throated Trump endorsement. Donalds defeated David Jolly, a former Republican congressman who became a Democrat last year and tried to appeal to voters as a pragmatic centrist. Texas state Rep. Gina Hinojosa is projected to become the first Hispanic governor of Texas, unseating Republican Gov. Greg Abbott who served almost 12 years in office. The two candidates clashed over culture issues, including abortion, during the campaign. Hinojosa, a 52-year-old state lawmaker and attorney, will be the first Democrat elected governor since Ann Richards in 1990 and only the third woman to hold the position. Deb Haaland is projected to become the first Native American governor of New Mexico, first female Native American governor in US history. The former US Interior Secretary and congresswoman was favored to win the state’s open governorship. During the Biden administration, Haaland became the first Native American Cabinet secretary.

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GOP Rep. Byron Donalds wins Florida governor’s race, becoming the state’s first Black leader

Republican Rep. Byron Donalds defeated Democrat David Jolly to become Florida’s next governor, NBC News projects, extending the GOP’s nearly three-decade run in the Governor’s Mansion. Donalds, who was endorsed early by President Donald Trump, was widely considered the favorite. He will become Florida’s first Black governor when he is sworn in next year. “Even if you didn’t vote for me, you have my word that I will be your governor, too,” Donalds told a crowd of some of Florida’s biggest Republican names gathered at the Hard Rock hotel Tuesday night. The mood throughout the day in South Florida was one of tension. For years, Republicans have dominated the state, but most public polling gave Jolly a shot of winning, which would have ushered in a political sea change in the state.

Donalds raised a staggering $130 million, giving him a huge financial advantage, and he was running in a state that has not elected a Democratic governor since 1994. Jolly did work to keep things closer than the last gubernatorial contest, which term-limited GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis won by more than 20 points. But Jolly, a former Republican congressman who became a Democrat, was outmatched and unable to secure much help from national Democratic groups, which have largely abandoned Florida over the past few election cycles. While Donalds welcomed support from Trump, much of his late messaging highlighted his endorsement from DeSantis and a promise to continue his legacy. DeSantis has a better approval rating than Trump in Florida, but he has had an icy relationship with Donalds. He did not endorse in the open GOP primary this year. “We have one goal, and that goal is for the free state of Florida to remain the free state of Florida,” Donalds said at a September event in Tampa where he stood next to DeSantis. “A lot of the issues that we’re talking about up here on this stage, this isn’t just talking points for this event.”

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Sullivan, Peltola project confidence in Alaska US Senate race

The two major candidates in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race urged supporters to be patient as results began coming in late Tuesday, delivering rousing speeches and expressing confidence against the backdrop of the fallout from allegations of partisan tricks to recruit a candidate with the same name as the Republican incumbent. The race headlined by two-term Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola had been among those expected to play a role in determining which party gained control of the Senate. Democrats had won control before polls closed Tuesday night in Alaska. “Lower 48 blue wave. But we’re different,” Sullivan told supporters after initial results were reported. Peltola during her election night party said: “We are getting our government back.”

The race brought top Republican officials to Alaska to rally for Sullivan, including President Donald Trump, who placed particular focus on a third candidate in the race, retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan. Trump called him “fake” and ordered that the Justice Department sue to block certification if the incumbent loses, pending an investigation into potential voter confusion. The lawsuit, filed less than two weeks before the ranked vote election, was dismissed by a federal judge, prompting a Justice Department appeal. The race remained too early to call. The candidacy of Dan J. Sullivan, who won 2.5% of the vote in the August open primary and qualified for the general election with a top-four finish, dominated attention in the final days of the race after The New York Times reported that Peltola’s campaign appeared to be involved in efforts to recruit him. The report revived long-held suspicions raised by the incumbent and his allies that Dan J. Sullivan was a “sham” candidate intent on confusing voters. Peltola denied involvement in any such efforts, and Dan J. Sullivan, who lives in the small fishing community of Petersburg, has denied any contact with Peltola’s campaign. He has not returned messages in recent days. Peltola appeared to reference the controversy in her speech late Tuesday, saying she was looking out on a room of people who are “smart people and know exactly who they’re voting for.”

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Troy Jackson defeats Sen. Susan Collins to win Maine US Senate race

Democrat Troy Jackson won Maine's U.S. Senate seat early Wednesday morning, defeating longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Sen. Collins conceded in the race. Collins was seeking her sixth term, which would have made her the longest-serving Senator in Maine history. Jackson initially did not plan to run for Senate this year and instead threw his hat in for the Democratic nomination for governor, but lost. Jackson a fifth-generation logger and former president of the state Senate, had a little more than 100 days to sell himself to Maine voters after he replaced Graham Platner as the party's nominee in July following sexual assault allegations against Platner.

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Adam Hamilton wins Kansas Senate race, becoming first Democrat elected to seat in nearly a century

Methodist megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton (D) defeated Sen. Roger Marshall (R) in Kansas. The state sends a Democrat to the U.S. Senate for the first time in nearly a century. Kansas, which Donald Trump won by 16 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election, was not supposed to be competitive. But Trump’s sinking approval ratings, Hamilton’s strong public profile and several potent scandals involving Marshall put the traditionally Republican territory into play. In a victory speech on Tuesday night that often sounded more like a church sermon, Hamilton vowed to “lead from the middle” and made a call for a “politics of decency.” “In deeply red Kansas, the heart of America, I want us to model what it looks like when thoughtful people actually work together to solve problems,” he said, “instead of slinging mud at each other.”

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Copyright November 11, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved