Two earlier PoliTalking posts covered notable Republican midterm ads and notable Democratic midterm ads. This post adds eight more, four from each side, that were not covered there. They include a profane cost-of-living spot, two ads built with AI, a fact-check rating of “Pants on Fire,” a candidate’s brother speaking in her defense, and a … Read more
This briefing reflects reporting and polling available as of September 26, 2026. Candidates, endorsements and polling can change before Election Day on November 3, 2026. Why This Race Matters Texas’ 15th Congressional District is one of the clearest tests of South Texas’ recent political realignment. Republican Monica De La Cruz flipped the seat in 2022 … Read more
This briefing reflects reporting and polling available as of Sept. 12, 2026. Candidates, endorsements and polling can change before Election Day on Nov. 3, 2026. Why This Race Matters Texas’s open attorney general seat has drawn less national attention than the state’s marquee Senate race, but it may be just as consequential for how the … Read more
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Senate campaign released an AI-generated attack ad on September 8, 2026 depicting a synthetic version of Democratic opponent James Talarico reading fabricated Bible passages, drawing sharp criticism from Talarico’s campaign. The ad, timed to coincide with the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, shows an AI-generated Talarico appearing to read invented … Read more
Why This Race Matters This briefing reflects information available as of September 4 and 5, 2026. Candidates, polling and endorsements may change before Election Day on November 3. Texas has not elected a Democratic governor since 1990, and Gov. Greg Abbott is seeking an unprecedented fourth term. For most of this cycle, that made the … Read more
Republicans will hold the first midterm-year national convention in the party’s history on September 9 and 10, a two-day rally at the American Airlines Center in Dallas built around campaign messaging rather than the nominations and platform votes of a traditional convention. Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to give the opening night keynote, and … Read more
Why This Race Matters This overview reflects information available as of September 4, 2026. Candidates, polling, and endorsements may change before Election Day on November 3. Texas’s 34th District, running along the Rio Grande Valley and Coastal Bend to Brownsville, was one of five Democratic-held seats Texas Republicans targeted in a mid-decade redistricting pushed by … Read more
An ICE officer charged in Minnesota with shooting a man and lying about it was released from a Texas jail Thursday after Gov. Greg Abbott declined to sign an extradition warrant, and a federal judge ruled he could not force the issue. Christian Castro, 52, had been held in Cameron County since late May, when … Read more
Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas on Monday, August 3 to pause new data centers’ ability to connect to the state power grid until the agencies complete a comprehensive audit of those facilities. The letter directs regulators to collect information from each proposed project … Read more
ICE paused most vehicle stops after two fatal shootings in Texas and Maine. DHS accounts, the available evidence and the push for body cameras remain central questions.
Federal officials and witnesses give conflicting accounts of the fatal ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston.
How Redistricting Works Every 10 years, the United States carries out a census, an official count of everyone living in the country. The most recent census was in 2020, and the next is scheduled for 2030. The population numbers from the census trigger a process called reapportionment, in which the 435 seats in the U.S. … Read more
