NEW: @tedcruz + @BetoORourke agree on something:

TEXAS is in play

My report from a trip last week to three crucial regions of a state that is smashing voting records + defying stereotypes

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/29/us/politics/texas-battleground-state.html

If you’ve not been following Tex:

-A series of exurban counties have already exceeded their 2016 total vote
-Asian and college+ whites have, as well
-Harris Co, the largest in the state, will surpass its 2016 total votes today.

There’s still two days left of EV + e day.

The Dems are making a more aggressive final play than Republicans in Texas.

But Texas Dems want more - namely an 11th hour Biden trip

“We’ve got another million votes to deliver in Harris County,” said @LinaHidalgoTX, the 29-year-old county judge, beckoning Biden

Some pics from Texas...

First, the Rio Grande Valley.

This is a mix of Cameron and Hidalgo County:

More from the valley:

Drive-in voting and more in the valley

This fellow had a lot of points behind this spot in the Brownsville-McAllen market last week:

Old and New Texas:

@Whataburger and a classic Houston stripmall sign: sushi, kolaches, thai and a crawfish joint

Onto Houston (yes, that’s the Astrodome)

The tents are for the drive-thru mail ballot drop

That liberal hotbed River Oaks >

FORT WORTH

Bacon burnt ends, standard Texas q, Tarrant County Dem HQ and the county’s main early vote center (in English, Spanish and Vietnamese)

I visited 4 early voting locations in Tex. The most striking was in Tarrant Co, where the voting population is roughly half white & half non-white. Trump won it by 9

The voters I net were heavily young, non-white + for Biden.

Tarrant will exceed ‘16 turnout before e day

Last point on Texas

Trump’s constant tweets about guns and gas is a vivid illustration of how dated views of the state are

There are more Nguyens than Bakers in Houston

@tedcruz said it best - “We’re not home to just oil and gas wildcatters.”