October 23, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

3 Democratic Texas sheriffs deny endorsing Abbott

Three Democratic sheriffs whom Gov. Greg Abbott said had endorsed him say they have not. Zapata County Sheriff Ramon Montes; Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez; and Webb County Sheriff Marin Cuellar all told Border Report on Wednesday they have not endorsed Abbott. Abbott earlier this week named them in a list of endorsements that included nine other Democratic sheriffs. Cuellar is the brother of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas. When Border Report spoke with Sheriff Cuellar on Wednesday, he said, “How can I endorse the governor when he’s supporting my brother’s opponent?” Republican Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina, whom Abbott endorsed, is running against Congressman Cuellar in Texas’ 28th Congressional District.

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Sheriff Cuellar said no one from the governor’s office called to ask him for an endorsement and he was shocked to see his name on the governor’s list. “I’m not supporting him. How can I support him? And it’s confusing people,” Sheriff Cuellar said. On Wednesday afternoon, a list with names of all those Abbott says endorsed him — including the 12 sheriffs — was amended on his campaign website. Sheriff Cuellar’s name was removed but Martinez and Montes’ names still appeared. Martinez told Border Report: “I want to make it unequivocally clear that I have not issued a political endorsement of Gov. Greg Abbott, and I did not authorize anyone to use my name as an endorsement.” Zapata County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Juan Molina told Border Report that Sheriff Montes “is not endorsing anyone at this time.”

Transgender group seeks court order to uncover who sent mailers as registered agent drops fake group

A transgender advocacy organization is seeking a court order to uncover who is behind mailers and text messages on the topic that ignited anger and confusion as early voting opened this week in Texas. The mailers, which were sent to some Texas voters and purport to help transgender children with information, have sparked an election mystery, calls for a state investigation and squabbling among conservative influencers and politicians on both sides. Mimi Marziani, an attorney for the Transgender Education Network of Texas, or TENT, called the messages and mailers “dirty, unethical tricks” and said she wants to uncover the identity of the sender by Election Day on Nov. 3. TENT, a state advocacy organization, said it did not print or distribute the mailers and knows nothing about them.

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“Someone is spending millions and millions of dollars to induce division and strife among Texas voters,” Marziani said. “And they’re doing so while hiding behind a shell company.” According to the return address, the mailers were sent by the Texas Transgender Student Union from an address in Meadows Place, near Houston. That organization, which is not affiliated with TENT, was formed last month in Wyoming, a state that allows registered agents to create businesses without disclosing the owners. On Thursday, Northwest Registered Agent in Wyoming told The Dallas Morning News in a statement that it is in the process of resigning as the group’s agent. “We have no way of knowing someone’s intent when they’re forming a new company, and Northwest Registered Agent has no knowledge of, or involvement in, our clients’ business operations,” the company said. “We follow all state and federal laws, and we cooperate fully with law enforcement investigations.” The request for the court order, filed Thursday in Austin, asked a judge to compel testimony from the Texas Transgender Student Union and Infobip, a digital messaging company tied to one of the phone numbers that sent the message. It is not clear when the judge will issue a decision. Infobip did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday. Northwest Registered Agent, which is not named in the request for a court order, declined to comment on the petition.

Trump excludes Bo French, Nate Sheets from Texas midterm endorsements

President Donald Trump has endorsed just about every statewide and congressional Republican on the Texas midterm ballot by name except for 10. In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump told Texas voters to get out to the polls and vote Republican in every race all the way down the ballot. Then on Wednesday evening, he gave 36 statewide and congressional Republicans his “Complete and Total Endorsement — They will never let you down!” The 10 excluded Republican candidates were Bo French, Nate Sheets and eight U.S. House hopefuls. Trump did not explain why only those 36 candidates were endorsed or why the 10 statewide and congressional candidates were left off of his list in the Truth Social post.

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French, who is running against Democrat Jon Rosenthal for Texas Railroad Commissioner, has been criticized multiple times by members of the GOP for discriminatory social media posts. The most recent was one about the demographics of students at the University of Texas. He is the former Tarrant County GOP chairman. Sheets, the Republican nominee for Texas Agriculture Commissioner running against Democrat Clayton Tucker, has been called out by the current agriculture commissioner, Republican Sid Miller, for his various admitted addictions and an inappropriate relationship that ended his career in ministry. Neither Sheets’ campaign nor French responded to a request for comment. The eight U.S. House candidates not named in the president’s endorsement list are all running against a Democrat incumbent or are in a race with no incumbent. They were: Alexander Hale in District 7, Adam Bauman in District 16, Ronald Dwayne Whitfield in District 18, Edgardo Rafael Baez in District 20, Martha Fierro in District 29, Everett Jackson in District 30, Patrick David Gillespie in District 33 and Lauren B. Pena in District 37.

TWIA moves to dismiss class-action lawsuit over Hurricane Beryl claims

The defendants in a possible class-action lawsuit against the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association and others have moved to dismiss the suit filed by three Galveston County homeowners. The TWIA, Hansen Scott Holdings, Ryze Claims Solutions, James Jarasczeski and David DeVilbiss claim the McCarran-Ferguson Act prohibits the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations — or RICO — Act lawsuit filed by Ernestine Bell, Alicia Stuart and David Mohun. The suit was filed in August in the Galveston Division of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. It alleges willful underpayment of claims after Hurricane Beryl, accusing staff of TWIA, the state’s insurer of last resort for Texas’ coastal regions, of conspiring with personnel of Colley-based adjusting firm Leading Edge Claims Service LLC to secretly alter the windstorm damage claim estimates for their homes made by a field adjuster. Those changes resulted in a combined $96,000 less than what the adjuster had appraised for damage to the three homes, the suit claims.

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Defendant Hansen Scott Holdings is the successor of Leading Edge, according to the plaintiffs. The McCarran-Ferguson Act established that the authority to regulate the insurance industry belongs primarily to the states. In its motion to dismiss, TWIA also claims that since it did not deny the homeowners’ claims, the only available remedy to challenge the amount of the loss was through appraisal and that the plaintiffs’ attorney, Shaun Hodge, failed to correctly request one. In an email to the Houston Business Journal, Hodge said the plaintiffs’ team anticipated the defendants would raise those issues in a motion to dismiss. “We believe we have properly pled the essential elements for RICO and have ample strong evidence to support our claims,” he said, adding that the facts show that the McCarran-Ferguson Act does not preempt the plaintiffs’ claims.

State Stories

San Antonio attorney Thomas J. Henry endorses James Talarico for U.S. Senate

San Antonio-based personal-injury attorney Thomas J. Henry on Wednesday said he will vote for James Talarico in Texas’ U.S. Senate race — even though he supported Republican Ken Paxton in the GOP primary. In a minute-long video message posted to his social media channels, Henry said his early support for Paxton stemmed from his belief that the candidate’s primary opponent, incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, had been in office too long. However, Henry added that he asked for a one-on-one meeting with Talarico as he became more aware of Paxton’s laundry list of scandals.

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“That meeting was extremely valuable because it taught me the values Talarico has: the values for respect, fairness, safety, good economics for Texas, and our country, and a balanced approach to all the issues,” Henry said. Henry’s endorsement comes amid record early-voting turnout in Bexar County ahead of the 2026 midterms. Both Talarico and Paxton will visit San Antonio before Election Day. Talarico will hold rallies on Oct. 24 and Nov. 1, while Paxton will conclude his “Come and Take It Tour” at the Alamo on Nov. 2. Early voting continues through Oct. 30. Polls will reopen on Election Day, Nov. 3.

Bud Kennedy: Tarrant County Republicans may pay for cutting Election Day polling places

If Republicans lose a Texas or Tarrant County election Nov. 3, they have a ready-made list of scapegoats from Washington to Southlake. But as Democrats came pouring in to vote at a rate comparable to 2018 — when Beto O’Rourke brought Democrats their best vote totals in a generation — Republicans began to wonder aloud whether any Tarrant County offices might really flip to Democrats. The worry is real. After the first few days of early voting, those voters who are regulars in the Democratic Party primary made up the largest portion of voters, more than a third. The next largest group showed no party history, and Republicans lagged with about one-fourth of the vote. Nobody I know thinks Democrats will keep that margin up. Republicans will vote. They’ll just wait for the lines to subside.

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But that Democratic edge doesn’t even allow for the 6% of Republicans who tell pollsters they won’t vote for U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton, or more who won’t but may not admit it to pollsters. So Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico probably has an inside track in Tarrant County. At least three Republican Texas House seats are at risk. State Rep. John McQueeney‘s district in southwest Fort Worth and Tarrant County has been purpling in recent years, so he has TV ads up now against Democrat Beth Llewellyn McLaughlin. Open seats are at risk of flipping to Democrats in Arlington (Cheryl Bean vs. Democrat Katie O’Brien-Duzan) and in the Mansfield-Burleson area (Ellen Sorrells Fleischmann vs. Democrat Ebony Turner). Democrats would love to flip the county judge’s seat. Personal-injury lawyer Tim O’Hare of Southlake has been antagonistic and sometimes openly hostile while presiding at Commissioners Court. But even if Commissioner Alisa Simmons wins the gavel, the Arlington Democrat will be on the wrong end of 3-2 votes. That is, unless either Arlington Republican Tony Tinderholt or northwest Tarrant County Commissioner Manny Ramirez is upset by Fort Worth Democrats Dr. Jared Williams or Nydia Cardenas.

Texas Christian University chancellor resigns, university confirms

Texas Christian University (TCU) Chancellor Daniel Pullin is resigning, according to a statement from the college. Pullin notified the university’s chair, Kit Moncrief, of the resignation. In a statement, the now-former chancellor wrote, “I would like to thank the entire Horned Frog family for the support and encouragement during my time at TCU.” Pullin's run as TCU Chancellor has been brief, he was named to the position in June 2025, marking just under a year and a half with the job. Previously, Pullin was also the university's president from February 2023 to June 2025.

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In his statement, Pullin added that he thinks TCU is building the model for the future of higher education. “I love our students and couldn’t be more proud of what their futures entail as they graduate and become outstanding TCU alumni,” Pullin said. “Thank you to everyone at TCU. I will always be invested in what TCU stands for.” Victor Boschini, Pullin's immediate predecessor as chancellor and TCU's chancellor emeritus, has been appointed to fill the role effective immediately. “Victor’s proven leadership will ensure our Lead On: Values in Action strategic plan continues to be successfully implemented on behalf of our students, faculty, and our supportive community, while he and our team steward our daily campus life,” Moncrief said.

Harris County Judge candidates face off in debate over ICE, Flock cameras, and the future of the Astrodome

The two candidates for Harris County judge faced off Thursday evening in a debate, tackling issues from immigration and public safety to administrative issues and the future of the Astrodome. The debate, presented by Houston Public Media and in partnership with the Houston Chronicle, N+ Univision 45, and the University of Houston's Hobby School for Public Affairs, brought Republican Orlando Sanchez and Democrat Letitia Plummer head-to-head just before election day on Nov. 3. "As a dentist by trade, I understand the challenges in healthcare," Plummer said in her opening remarks. "As a single mom, I know the challenges that many of us are experiencing, taking care of our families and our children. And being able to spend six natural disasters and our first pandemic with many of you, I know what we need to do to make sure that Harris County moves in a direction where every single person has the opportunity to thrive."

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"Back when the county was chock full of money, we had money in the Rainy Day Fund, the county had not raised the property tax rate in 25 years," Sanchez said in his opening statement. "Unfortunately, we’ve seen the tax rate rise precipitously here in Harris County over the last eight years — 60%, and just in the last 36 months by 41%. To me, it’s intellectual dishonesty when you talk about affordability, and you hammer those who can least afford it." Both of the candidates came to something of an early agreement when they stated that county law enforcement officials should not be required to act as immigration officers in partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Sanchez, who immigrated as a child from Cuba with his family, said he was "very sensitive" to the issue of immigration enforcement in Harris County. He recounted a story in which his mother was pulled over by a constable and asked her citizenship status, which Sanchez called "unacceptable." Harris County currently holds a contract with Flock, a controversial surveillance company that uses automated license plate readers. Incumbent Judge Lina Hidalgo has called for the county to reassess its contract. Commissioner Lesley Briones decommissioned the Flock cameras in her precinct. As the contract currently stands, Plummer stated she did not support it. "Right now, with the contract the way that it is, I will rescind it immediately," she said. "As your county judge, we're going to have to make sure that when we bring any AI technology in, although we understand it's necessary to assist with public safety issues, we cannot do it against the privacy of our residents."

Counties race to regulate groundwater amid data center boom

A couple of years ago, when Williamson County Commissioner Terry Cook tried to form a local groundwater conservation district, the overwhelming reaction was: “Don’t tell me what to do with my land, my water.” “We got nowhere,” she said. Then came the data center boom. Now, as rural and suburban areas like Cook’s see an explosion of interest from developers of the massive computing centers, many are scrambling to form the voter-approved districts, which manage aquifers and issue permits for groundwater withdrawals. Groundwater supplies the state with half of its water, and nearly all drinking water in rural Texas comes from below ground. But in areas without groundwater conservation districts, or GCDs, landowners are free to pump without limits or disclosure.

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That lack of oversight may be a draw for some data center developers. Nearly a quarter of the 630 data centers planned, under construction or operating in Texas are in areas without groundwater conservation districts, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis. The analysis found that nearly a hundred data centers operating or under construction are in areas not covered by GCDs. An additional 61 data centers are planned in these areas, as of October 15. Communities across the state are now rushing to create these districts in order to have some control over groundwater. “There’s been a huge increase in interest,” said state Rep. Cody Harris, a Palestine Republican and the chairman of the committee that oversees groundwater regulation. There are 98 groundwater conservation districts in Texas, covering 70% of the state. Adam Foster, the executive director of the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts, counted at least 10 active efforts to form new districts across the state, including a proposed district spanning 17 counties in northeast Texas. Foster said the growth of data centers across Texas has been the “main driver” of efforts to form new GCDs, as communities worry the large computing centers will drain their aquifers.

El Paso County GOP Chair plans to sue Sacha Baron Cohen: ‘A liar and a pervert’

The chair of the El Paso County Republican Party has said he intends to sue Sacha Baron Cohen over footage of the local politician used in new satirical comedy Ali G: Who Iz I? In the film, Michael Aboud is shown taking part in a training programme with another Cohen character, ex-Mossad terrorist expert Col Erran Morad, who instructs Aboud and fellow Maga sympathisers in self-defence techniques including the wearing, over clothes, of protective plastic buttocks. He also schools them in how to fire bullets from the middle of these buttocks by the repeated up and down manipulation of a rubber penis. Aboud and a fellow student, former preacher and aspirant actor Joshua Loudermilk, are then recruited by Morad to help in a mission to prevent the birth in the US of the baby of a (fictional) South American drugs kingpin.

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This involves Aboud and Loudermilk abducting his heavily-pregnant girlfriend and driving her in a phoney ambulance to a remote unstaffed medical facility, where she gives birth (to a lifelike prosthetic). They then abandon her, Morad having placed her live baby in a zipped bag, and drive with it towards Mexico. Loudermilk is later seen attempting to discharge fire from his fake buttocks, while Aboud takes the decision to drop the baby – at that point being dangled from a drone at a substantial height – to the ground to prevent it touching US soil. The actions could not be anything other than extremely serious for a real infant. Until the Guardian contacted Aboud on Tuesday, the businessman was unaware of his participation in anything other than what he believed to be a nonfiction film. In a statement, Aboud called Baron Cohen “and his entire film crew … a bunch of liars [who] deceive people to benefit themselves. They claimed that this would be a documentary about the illegals crossing the border. Then they said they were adding in this self-defence guy from Israel.” He added: “It is my opinion that Sasha Cohen [sic] is a pervert. Plus he talked about how Muslims are all gay because they follow the sex practices of Mohamid [sic]. No one should spend one penny watching anything he produces or appears in. I plan to sue him.”

TCEQ closes online permitting system, after watchdogs accuse agency of violating data center pause

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has shut down its online permit application system after watchdog groups accused the agency of approving permits related to data center projects, in violation of a recent directive from the governor. Watchdog groups Public Citizen and FracTracker said earlier this week that the TCEQ had continued to process permits for data centers, despite an order from Gov. Greg Abbott to halt approvals for these facilities until an audit is completed. In particular, the groups identified a handful of construction stormwater permits related to data centers that they said the TCEQ had approved. Public Citizen and FracTracker said after they publicized their findings, the environmental agency suspended at least 17 stormwater and wastewater permits for data center projects.

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"TCEQ retroactively suspending construction stormwater approvals in the wake of FracTracker and Public Citizen’s scrutiny means that any clearing, grading and excavation at these sites must stop immediately," Sam Law, researcher and manager of communications at FracTracker, said in a news release. "The confusion surrounding these approvals further proves the need for a moratorium: TCEQ is proving itself incapable of meeting complex regulatory challenges posed by data centers without further study." TCEQ spokesperson Victoria Cann said the watchdog groups identified stormwater permits known as notices of intent, which are approved through "automated authorizations," prior to construction. Cann added that all notices of intent related to data centers have been suspended, along with the agency's online permit application system. "To ensure all applications are thoroughly reviewed by agency staff to determine if they are related to data centers, applications must be physically provided to TCEQ," she said in a statement.

How Texas data centers could reverse years of air pollution progress

Data centers will likely make Texas’s air less breathable by reversing two decades of progress on curbing air pollution, according to a report released this week by the Houston Advanced Research Center. The Woodlands-based sustainability nonprofit predicted a range of data center-related pollution outcomes, depending largely on how many are eventually built and what power sources they use. Most of the outcomes are bad for Texans, said Carlos Gamarra, a vice president for HARC and one of the report’s authors. The new data centers would roll back years of reductions in air contaminants linked to increased rates of asthma, heart attacks and cancer. Driving these outcomes is a rush to build data centers as fast as possible to keep up with rising demands for computing capacity for artificial intelligence. The breakneck pace is pushing companies to use dirtier energy sources, primarily natural gas plants, to power their projects, Gamarra said.

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“What’s happening with the data centers is they are building with profitability in mind, not so much with sustainability in mind,” Gamarra said. Levels of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and fine particulate matter in the air have dropped dramatically since the start of the century, according to HARC data — upwards of 60% in some cases. The group attributes the improvements to a combination of emissions controls on power plants, stricter vehicle emissions standards and the replacement of dirtier coal-fired plants with natural gas and renewables. But the AI boom could change the tide, HARC said. Data center development in Texas is in flux after Gov. Greg Abbott directed environmental regulators to indefinitely pause data center permitting last month. But in the long term, development is expected to continue. In 2025, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the state's grid, estimated Texas would add 24 gigawatts of new data centers by 2031, requiring roughly as much energy as the entire Houston region this year

Fort Bend tax assessor federally indicted for allegedly using county funds to pay for her mother’s caretaker

Fort Bend County Tax Assessor-Collector Carmen Turner was arrested on Thursday after she was indicted on federal charges of misusing public funds. Prosecutors said she employed two tax clerks who were tasked with caring for her 81-year-old mother. Turner, a Democrat who was first elected to the office in 2020, faces federal charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and theft concerning programs receiving federal funds. Representatives for Turner did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Federal prosecutors accused Turner of employing two individuals as tax clerks, tasking them "to care for [her] then 81-year-old mother ... who is wheelchair bound and living in an apartment in Houston, Texas," according to the federal indictment.

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One of those caregivers, Shemerrylyn Fields, was also indicted for her alleged role in the scheme. As of Thursday afternoon, Fields did not have an attorney listed in her case records and could not be reached for comment. The other caregiver, who was not identified in the indictment, is cooperating with federal authorities, according to U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz. Turner is also accused of employing Victor Ewing, the father of her adult son, as a "department coordinator," tasked with, among other things, managing special projects and providing educational information and training. At the same time Ewing was paid as a full-time employee of the county, prosecutors said he was working in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport as a materials specialist. Ewing, who also did not have an attorney listed in his case record, could not be reached for comment. Prosecutors allege that the three defendants falsified timesheets as part of the scheme. The unnamed individual working with prosecutors said they were instructed to tell anyone who asked that they worked "on the 2nd floor at the Missouri City tax office location," according to the indictment. Though Reitz did not give an official figure, he said his office believes the scheme involved "tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Central Texas healthcare is booming. Can the workforce keep up?

Healthcare employment grew by 35,411 jobs in five years across Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis and Williamson counties from 2021 to 2026. Meanwhile, nearly $10 billion was invested into the sector by venture capitalists and private equity firms. And the region has dozens of major healthcare projects in the pipeline. Healthcare and its related tech innovations are poised to become one of the region's next major business pillars. But hurdles and bottlenecks pose major challenges to the region reaching its potential. That includes expanding training programs for nurses, as well as limiting turnover. Meanwhile, population growth in some areas is outpacing the establishment of new clinics and resources. Those are a few key takeaways from a new Austin Healthcare Council report that examines a broad spectrum of healthcare and demographic data from recent years.

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"Population growth is shifting healthcare demand beyond Travis County, physician and specialty capacity remains concentrated in the urban core, and shortages of faculty, preceptors and clinical placements constrain how quickly the workforce can expand," the report said. "The next stage of development will depend less on whether healthcare continues to grow than on whether capacity, access and talent can keep pace with Central Texas’ population and economic growth." The Austin Healthcare Council is a nonprofit founded in 2016 by local healthcare leaders to help make Austin a global healthcare innovation center by connecting competitors and collaborators across hospitals, digital health, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and academia. Healthcare worker recruitment, training and retention is perhaps the most significant challenge cited in the new report. For example, the report says that Austin Community College, which says it is the area's largest educator for the healthcare workers, has about 9,000 students in pre-health pathways. But its capacity for health sciences slots is only about 1,100. And turnover rates for some roles remain a significant issue. For example, in 2025, turnover rates for nursing assistants came in at 90%. For medical assistants, the turnover rate was 58% and registered nurses were at 41%. The report also shows doctor-to-resident ratios vary from one county to the next. It said Travis County had 5,166 physicians in September 2026, or 371.7 per 100,000 residents, compared with 268.9 across the five-county Central Texas region and 250.5 statewide.

Drivers say Carla Wyatt had no insurance during car crash

A pair of Houston residents involved in a four-vehicle wreck that officials say Harris County Treasurer Carla Wyatt caused last month alleged Thursday that she was driving without insurance at the time of the crash. Amanda Byford and Diamantina Uribe, two of the three drivers involved in the Sep. 18 crash, urged voters to oust Wyatt as they revealed new details about the incident at a press conference with Marc Cowart, the Republican running against Wyatt in the Nov. 3 election. The women said they have not received damages for the crash and have not heard from Wyatt or law enforcement since the incident.

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Though officers found no indication that Wyatt was driving under the influence, per a crash report, Uribe and Byford each said they believe she may have been intoxicated and showed no apparent concern that she had been in a car crash. “She looked dazed and confused to me,” said Byford. “She was trying to put the airbag back into the steering wheel column, and I thought, ‘well that’s strange.’” Wyatt also sought to leave the scene immediately despite significant damages to her car. “I got off and checked on her, and she was like, ‘You need to move. I’m running late to a meeting,’” said Uribe. Wyatt initially alleged to police that the three other vehicles had been stopped on Interstate 45, but dashcam footage and a diagram of the crash included in the crash report showed Wyatt aggressively changing lanes and rear ending all three vehicles before coming to a stop. No one was badly injured in the crash, according to the report. The incident was Wyatt’s fourth run-in with the law since her election in 2022. The embattled Democrat was twice arrested for drunken driving, and last December was charged with burglary of a vehicle, though a grand jury later declined to indict her on that charge.

Republican Tim O'Hare confident Tarrant County can stay red if GOP base votes

Despite a strong showing from Democrats on the first few days of early voting, Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare is confident his party will win out on Nov. 3. In the first three days of 2026 midterm early voting, Tarrant County voters exceeded the numbers from the last midterm in 2022. At a Metroplex Republican Women club meeting Thursday, O’Hare said the Republican Party expected Democrats to outpace the GOP voters in the first few days. The Democrats turned out more than estimated, he said. “What I think you’re going to see is you’re going to see us catching up over the next several days, and I think you’re going to see us pass, if we all do our part,” O’Hare said at a Republican club meeting. “And here’s the great news: I have never, and I haven’t been here as long as some of y’all, but I have never seen Republicans so engaged, so energetic, working together so well.”

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O’Hare is running in one of the most prominent races in Tarrant County this election against Democrat challenger and commissioner Alisa Simmons. The two have dueled on commissioners court a multitude of times since they were elected to their seats in 2022. “There has never been a sharper contrast between candidates for county judge ever in the history of this county, bar none,” O’Hare said Thursday. He added that “the stakes have never been higher,” but many Republicans in the county aren’t aware of that. O’Hare raised alarm bells at a True Texas Project meeting in September, telling attendees his seat could flip blue. The county party has been employing several outreach methods to contact low-propensity voters and remind them to go to the polls. O’Hare said there are more Republicans in the county than there are Democrats, so the issue is one of turnout. “If we don’t do our part, and we see Democrats take Tarrant County, you never get it back,” O’Hare said. “Dallas County never got it back. Harris County never got it back. Are we going to let that happen in Tarrant County? No way.”

National Stories

Politicians are turning against AI, but your pension is riding on it

The artificial-intelligence boom is driving a wedge through America’s multitrillion-dollar public-pensions system. AI-crazed markets have turbocharged hundreds of state and local public-employee pension funds, whose combined assets have grown from $5.8 trillion in 2023 to $7.3 trillion in June, according to Federal Reserve data. Across 13 of the largest funds that manage their investments in-house, a basket of domestic AI-linked stocks fueled $138 billion in paper gains between the end of 2022 and June, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of securities filings. But while those pensions were racking up AI-fueled returns, officials from many of those same states have begun to throw up barriers to data centers and are criticizing the industry in the final stretch of the midterm campaign. The pushback has left fund managers and boards scrambling to gauge the risks of one of the most polarizing industries in the U.S.

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In Pennsylvania, a gubernatorial candidate who sits on the board of a teachers’ pension fund is hammering the incumbent on data-center development. California union representatives are pushing fund managers to account for threats posed to workers and communities. New York state instituted a moratorium on many new data centers, even as pension funds’ AI holdings have surged. “It’s so contradictory,” said Joseph Hernandez, GOP candidate for New York state comptroller. “We’re on both sides of the bet.” In March, New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, trustee of the state’s Common Retirement Fund, urged 18 tech companies including Amazon.com to engage residents and allay concerns around power prices, land use and water consumption. DiNapoli, a Democrat, wrote in a letter that the approach would “protect shareholder value and ensure sustainable growth.” But the backlash has only grown, culminating with the state’s July moratorium on many new projects to study regulation. In a recent hearing with representatives for Meta, Alphabet and other tech firms, New York City Council Member Shekar Krishnan grilled the companies on retirement-fund risks.

Flashy AI campaign ads use religion to stir emotions and attack candidates

In a recent campaign ad for Ken Paxton, the Trump-endorsed Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Texas, his Democratic opponent James Talarico appears to sit at a desk while he scribbles on a Bible page. “I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity,” says the ad’s Talarico before adding that God was a “radical feminist” who “never asked people to worship him,” a reference to Talarico’s liberal Christian views, which have drawn criticism from political opponents. The scene seems realistic and pulls quotes from Talarico’s speeches and his sermons at his Presbyterian church. Yet, it is not an actual clip of Talarico. It was created with artificial intelligence.

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The 30-second clip, which has 2.6 million views on X since its release in September, is part of a flurry of AI-generated political ads airing on cable, streaming and digital platforms across the country ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. As AI content spreads online, political strategists have used the technology to create glossy campaign videos. According to a Wesleyan Media Project report released in September, 164 ads generated or enhanced by AI have been released this election cycle, costing $80 million. In some key races, AI has been used to depict candidates’ religious views and convey religious messaging through campaign ads ranging from highly realistic to provocative and eccentric. Layering catchy music, colorful images and provocative captions, the AI campaign ads can elicit strong emotional reactions, said Heidi Campbell, author of “Digital Creatives and the Rethinking of Religious Authority” and a communication professor at Texas A&M University. “Political ads have always tried to get you to respond out of your gut to either like or not like a person,” she said, adding strategists now “use the features of AI to kind of get people to bypass thinking and focus on emotion.”

Experts say Venezuela's claim to 300 billion reserve oil barrels is a stretch

A single figure sets Venezuela apart from the rest of the world: 303 billion barrels of so-called proven oil reserves. But experts say the country’s estimate is inherently problematic and far from proven — rooted in exaggerated, aging data from a corrupt government. The number has long been touted by politicians and investors as an important measure of untapped energy potential, most recently by President Donald Trump’s administration in detailing a sweeping deal for the U.S. to take control of some Venezuelan reserves. But a more realistic estimate of the country’s proven reserves — a gold standard metric, representing the amount of oil that can reasonably be extracted under current conditions — is about one-third of what it has reported, half a dozen experts told The Associated Press. They put the likely figure at 60 to 120 billion barrels, a vast amount but not enough for Venezuela to remain the world’s largest holder of reserves.

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The distinction is an important one as Venezuela and the U.S. attempt to attract new investment into the country’s dilapidated oil industry, and it suggests that the deal Trump announced in August claiming the U.S. would ultimately control more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s proven oil reserves is much less profitable than he asserted. “That’s a funny, funny proposal,” Evanan Romero, a former Venezuela energy official now based in Houston, said of the deal, adding that he believes the Trump administration didn’t fully research the South American country’s claims before wading in. “If the U.S. government called them and asked them to testify to how they did the procedure — well, the whole world will know that that’s a funny number, an absolute lie.” Venezuela’s government didn’t respond to a request for comment from AP. Trump has said that under the deal, the U.S. will control 65 billion barrels of proven reserves — a figure exceeding the entirety of U.S. crude reserves. He’s repeatedly cited the 65 billion barrels number and called the oil deal the biggest in history, a way to refill U.S. strategic reserves and lower gas prices that surged during the Iran war.

Inside Vivek Ramaswamy’s historic Ohio flameout

The mood at the Vivek Ramaswamy rally was upbeat—confident, even—but the cracks started to show before it began. The town hall in the small Cleveland suburb of Parma was entitled “Pierogis, Pabst, and Patriots,” and there were plenty of all three on hand at the Union House Bar and Restaurant. But we weren’t really supposed to be here. We were supposed to have convened at the Cleveland Harley-Davidson outpost for a “Christians, Bikers & Patriots” campaign event, before a sudden cancellation necessitated a shift to this woodsy sports joint. There was no word on what had gone wrong with the bikers. Still, the energy was real in this crimson-tinged bar, bustling with elderly Ohioans in OSU jerseys and MAGA merch alongside watery tubs of PBR. (Among the T-shirts: a red-ink outline of Charlie Kirk raising his fist, and a Trump-Vance shirt where the year was crossed out and replaced, in Sharpie, with 2028.) Alfred, a 60-year-old Filipino immigrant who was raised in Shaker Heights and works in the Parma public school system, told me he didn’t think, whatever the national narrative, that too many of his fellow conservatives were disaffected with Donald Trump or the current Republican Party.

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He loved the way Immigration and Customs Enforcement was operating, and anyway, as devout Catholics, he and his wife would never vote for a pro-choice Democrat like Amy Acton—Ramaswamy’s opponent in the bitter race for the Ohio governor’s mansion. Others I spoke to were similarly unbothered. Mark, a retired Air Force technician sitting at the bar, was planning on attending church that very evening and claimed to be far more concerned about property taxes than Ramaswamy’s Hinduism, one of the many issues that may work against the candidate in this very Christian state. To him, Ramaswamy’s religious objectors were just “morons who say stupid shit.” Once the actual event kicked off, however, even the speakers couldn’t help but strike notes of concern. “If you choose not to decide in this election, you are supporting a cast of characters that wants to take our state in a fundamentally dangerous direction,” said Secretary of State Frank LaRosa, invoking Rush’s “Freewill” as he opened for the guest of honor and promoted his own campaign for state auditor. “The Democrats are feelin’ chippy,” he warned. “But there will be no blue wave. There will be a bright-red Ramaswamy tsunami!” Ramaswamy finally took the stump to raucous applause and harped on his finely honed campaign planks—improving public schools, reducing property taxes and everyday costs, welcoming legal immigrants—while firing some culture-war drive-bys at the evils of “wokeism” and “transgenderism.” Former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel subsequently took the mic and felt the need to emphasize Ramaswamy’s devotion to God. “I’ve been with Vivek at churches all over the state. There’s this band of Christian warriors who are following and supporting Vivek because he supports them,” Mandel stressed. The sentiment proved to be a bellwether for the audience Q&A. An answer Ramaswamy gave condemning sanctuary cities wasn’t enough for a hoarse-voiced attendee who repeatedly interrupted: “Damned immigrants are hurtin’ everybody! We gotta get all of ’em out of here!”

Iran threatens wider strikes on economic and civilian targets if U.S. attacks

Iran’s message is stark: If the U.S. and Israel restart their air campaign, Tehran will respond with strikes not only on American bases and warships but on airports, pipelines and other civilian targets in the neighboring countries of the Persian Gulf. The warnings, issued publicly and in private diplomatic communications, are clearly aimed at deterring any attack with tough talk. But they also signal a real threat. Iran retains significant missile and drone stocks and the ability to use them. Analysts estimate Iran has hundreds to thousands of ballistic missiles, and U.S. and regional officials believe it has resumed production of ballistic missiles in limited numbers using stockpiled components and working in underground facilities. In the opening phase of the war, Iran inflicted significant damage on U.S. air bases, embassies and the headquarters of the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain. It also hit energy and industrial facilities in the United Arab Emirates, a major gas plant in Qatar and airports in Dubai, Kuwait and Bahrain.

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Tehran says it would seek to cause more pain in any new round, at a time when stockpiles of the air-defense interceptors the U.S. and Arab militaries need to absorb any attack have been running down. Israel’s interceptor supplies have also been under pressure. Raising the ante in any new fight would expose Iran’s infrastructure to attack when its economy is teetering. Its missile arsenal and launchers were battered by U.S. and Israeli attacks early in the war—the Pentagon said in September the U.S. had destroyed up to 90% of Iran’s drone, ballistic missile and naval industrial base—limiting its ability to sustain a long exchange. Still, analysts believe it would run the risk. “The consensus in Tehran now believes that deterrence requires imposing immediate, sustained and substantial costs on its adversaries,” said Sina Toossi, an Iran expert at the Center for International Policy, a Washington think tank. Yemen’s Houthi militants, working with training and technology from Iran, have hit Saudi Arabian refineries and shut down air traffic to the capital with a series of long range missile and drone attacks that Tehran could replicate. Drones fired from Iraq knocked the kingdom’s East-West pipeline out for days, threatening oil supplies.

Owning a home comes with a hidden price tag, and it's getting more expensive

The hidden costs of homeownership are rising and have increased by nearly one-third in the last five years as expenses like insurance, maintenance and property taxes take a bite out of homeowners' budgets. A new report by Zillow and Thumbtack found those costs amount to about $16,566 per year, which amounts to roughly $1,380 a month in addition to a mortgage payment. Within the $16,566 total cost, the typical U.S. homeowner faces about $11,171 in annual maintenance, $2,266 for homeowners insurance and $3,129 on property taxes. "Many households focus so much on winning the home and underestimate what it costs to live in it," said Zillow Senior Economist Kara Ng.

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"Long after they receive the keys, insurance, taxes and upkeep are recurring expenses to plan for. Since these homeownership costs vary so much by market, home shoppers should run the numbers and understand what they can truly afford before they make an offer." Hidden costs have risen in recent years, with the biggest jump occurring in homeowners insurance premiums, which are up 54% over the last five years. Maintenance costs had the second-fastest growth rate and are up 32% over the past five years, while property taxes grew 19% in that period. Overall homeownership costs increased 3% in the last year but are up 32% over the past five years. The Zillow and Thumbtack analysis found that maintenance costs showed the clearest slowdown, as annual increases in maintenance costs eased in each of the last five years, slowing from 9% in 2022 to 1% in 2026. Insurance is following a similar pattern, with premiums rising just 0.3% between February and June 2026. "The slowdown in maintenance cost growth is welcome news for homeowners managing a lot of competing expenses," said Kendra Sinclair, Thumbtack's home trends expert. "Planning for regular upkeep throughout the year can help prevent bigger repair bills and protect your savings when something unexpected happens."

MAHA activists jaded by top ally’s departure from White House

The abrupt resignation of one of the leading Make America Healthy Again advocates from the Trump administration on Thursday is a threat to discourage swing midterm election voters who want reforms to federal food policy. Calley Means, one of the founding figures in the MAHA movement, resigned from his position in the Trump administration on Thursday after reportedly clashing with members of the White House inner circle over delays in advancing food policy reforms central to his agenda. Means’s departure comes as Republicans are struggling nationwide in polls ahead of the elections on Nov. 3. His resignation is likely to spark disillusionment with President Donald Trump and the GOP among MAHA voters who voted for him in 2024.

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Kelly Ryerson, a food reform and anti-pesticide activist, told the Washington Examiner that Means’s resignation “is a strong signal that the administration is falling short on their commitments to our MAHA cohort,” but it might not be enough to tip the scales in favor of Democrats. “President Trump is surrounded by smart, shrewd industry players that hold enough power to silence the demands of our diseased population,” Ryerson said. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that MAHA voters will run and vote Democrat. It’s more a renewed, deep distrust in the entire political system that continues to leave our kids sick and medicated.” Means was one of the central figures in the summer of 2024 who connected Robert F. Kennedy with Trump, who at the time were rival presidential candidates. After Kennedy was appointed health and human services secretary, Means has been a key adviser to Kennedy, including helping with the revision of the dietary guidelines and negotiations with food companies to remove artificial dyes from certain products.

The oppo mastermind who could take down Roger Marshall

Early in September, a New York Times investigation rocked the Kansas Senate race. The incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, the paper revealed, had sued some 700 patients over his previous, decadeslong career as an obstetrician-gynecologist in rural Kansas; in 81 of the cases, patients had gotten arrested over missed court dates. In an agricultural state already hard-hit by Donald Trump’s tariffs, and in a cycle with affordability as voters’ top issue, the revelation of struggling patients facing legal peril over medical debt — in one case of as little as $101 — changed the map, putting Republicans officially on the defensive in a state that had looked safe only months before. The story was a coup for the paper and veteran health care reporter Sarah Kliff who, as the paper noted, “reviewed thousands of court records and interviewed eight people whom Roger Marshall sued over medical debt.” But many also suspected a particular hand behind the initial tip: Tyson Brody, a 39-year-old opposition researcher and an alum of both the Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders campaigns, who moved home to Kansas to work for Marshall’s Democratic challenger, Rev. Adam Hamilton.

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Brody is “the kind of guy who, forget a skeleton in your closet — he will find every single dust bunny in your closet,” said Caitlin Legacki, a senior fellow at Third Way and a Democratic strategist who has worked with Brody in the past. The Times declined to comment, as did both Brody and the Hamilton campaign. Kliff has said on Kansas City public radio that she will not reveal who gave her the tip, as is standard journalistic practice. But journalists and operatives familiar with Brody’s work think it’s no coincidence that the Hamilton campaign’s oppo game is exploding as it happens to employ one of the Democratic party’s top practitioners of the craft — in his own home state. Marshall has said he treated every patient regardless of ability to pay. But in the weeks since the story ran, polls have tightened, prognosticators have moved the race toward Democrats (the Cook Political report now rates it a toss-up) and millions of dollars have rushed into what suddenly looks like a battleground on the prairie — in a state so associated with conservativism that Democrats use the book title What’s the Matter With Kansas? as shorthand for benighted farmers voting against what liberals see as their own interests. Giddy Democrats and despondent Republicans alike are contemplating the possibility that Kansas could send a Democrat to the Senate for the first time since 1932. And central to that phenomenon — along with a damaged incumbent and a unique challenger — is the old-fashioned, dark art of oppo research.

Copyright October 23, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved