November 11, 2026: All Newsclips

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.

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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.”

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.

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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.

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.

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“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.

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.”

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.”

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.

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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.

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.”

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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."

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.

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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.”

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.”

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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.”

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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