Texas
In Houston, what’s on voters’ minds ahead of the election?
With Election Day approaching, candidates up and down the ballot are making their final push to reach voters. CBS News Texas has been following the polls and covering political events all year long in a quest to find the Texas State of Mind.
But ultimately, it’s the people who matter and who will decide what happens. In an effort to get a better understanding of what voters across the Lone Star State will be thinking about as they cast their ballots, reporter Jason Allen and a CBS News Texas crew are spending the weeks leading up to the election traveling across the state, speaking to people from the Chihuahuan Desert to the Pineywoods.
Jason’s final stop on this road trip: Houston.
HOUSTON – For our final stop on our road trip, we decided to hit up the biggest city and second-largest metropolitan region in the state.
Jason and the crew visited two different events in sprawling Houston: a farmers market and the annual Korean Festival Houston. We found out pretty fast that no matter where Houstonians are originally from, they love that they’re here.
“We have the best diversity, we have some of the best southern hospitality here and we have some of the best food from around the world,” said one woman at the farmers market.
Another man at the farmers market, a business owner selling Bundt cakes, touted the city’s reputation as a melting pot.
“There’s so many different people,” he said. “That’s what I like about Houston.”
We heard similar responses from nearly everyone we spoke with during our 24 hours in the city. In fact, most of the people we spoke with struggled to name things they don’t like about Houston.
“I think Houstonians are enormously proud of being Houstonians,” said Bernice Kearney, a former television news director. “Houston people love being from Houston. They brag about it.”
Kearney, who has worked in both Houston and San Antonio, said there’s a resilience to all Texans that seems heightened in Houstonians.
“I think they’re battle-weary here. They’ve gone through so many storms, so many natural disaster-type things,” she said. “I’ve heard this a number of times, ‘Well we’re used to it. Well you just go and fix it up again and you just go and get back on that horse.’”
Even those who said life is pretty good for them had some issues on their mind ahead of the election.
“I would say, woman’s rights,” said one man at the Korean Festival. “Government doesn’t have the right to interfere with a woman’s choice or a doctor’s choice to get an abortion.”
“Parents want the best for their kids,” said another man at the farmers market. “And we invest more in new schools outside of the city proper. I’d love to see more investment in the center of cities in general for that level of education.”
Another woman said she’d like to see Houston become a more walkable city.
One woman who immigrated from the Democratic Republic of Congo said, that despite feeling the pinch of rising prices, overall she feels grateful to be here.
“The way I think about it is there’s many people who don’t have what we have here in Texas,” she said.
This story is one of several CBS News Texas is releasing in the weeks leading up to the election, trying to find the Texas State of Mind. We asked every person we met on the road for their essential road trip song. Below is the playlist we put together of those recommendations.
Texas A&M has been hard at work attempting to rebuild the trenches on both sides of the ball thus far through the transfer portal window.
That journey has gone smoothly as well, with the Aggies landing offensive tackles Tyree Adams (LSU) and Wilkin Formby (Alabama) as well as interior linemen Coen Echols (LSU) and Trovon Baugh (South Carolina) on one side of the ball, and edge rushers Ryan Henderson (San Diego State) and Anto Saka (Northwestern) and defensive tackle Brandon Davis-Swain (Colorado) on the other.
Now, they have added another name to that mix on the defensive side of the ball, and have done so from another power conference talent.
According to multiple reports, the Aggies have gained a commitment from Illinois defensive tackle Angelo McCullom. He made his decision final following a recent visit to Aggieland.
Who is Angelo McCullom?
The sophomore defensive lineman has spent his first two seasons with Illinois and will have two years of college eligibility remaining.
The six-foot-two, 300-pound defensive lineman saw the field in all 12 games for Illinois this season and earned two starts. In his appearances, McCullom recorded 19 tackles, three tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, two quarterback hurries, and two pass breakups this season.
The sophomore was also on the field plenty throughout 2025 as he played 295 snaps, the most among Illinois interior defensive linemen, where he earned a 66.9 grade by Pro Football Focus.
McCullom saw the field quickly as a true freshman in the 2024 season, where he played in seven games and tallied two tackles, .5 tackles for loss, and .5 sacks.
The product out of Pickerington North High School in Lewis Center, OH, was a three-star prospect in the 2024 recruiting class. McCullom ranked as the No. 139 defensive lineman in the class and the No. 46 prospect in Ohio, per 247Sports, and committed to Illinois over the likes of Indiana and Pittsburgh.
McCullom now joins Davis-Swain on the interior, who committed to Texas A&M earlier this week on Jan. 5. The six-foot-four, 290-pound defensive lineman recorded 15 tackles, 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble, and one pass defended for the Buffaloes this season.
And his addition now brings in an experienced player in a physical conference like the Big Ten, with the size and frame that can hold up and be productive in the SEC.
The two additions doesn’t mean the Aggies are done on the interior defensively.
Rather, far from it. And far from being done in the portal overall.
Alabama basketball had every chance to beat Texas on Saturday. Time and time again, UA pulled it close, only to blow the opportunity to win.
Instead, the Crimson Tide fell 92-88, dropping to 1-2 to begin SEC play, and taking its second straight defeat. Afterward, Nate Oats went off on his team.
“We got guys that don’t care enough to lock in and follow a game plan,” Oats said during his postgame press conference. “Losing doesn’t bother them enough yet. I don’t know how many losses it’s going to take ‘till it bothers them, but it’s bothering me. It bothers the coaching staff, and as soon as it starts bothering the players enough, I’m sure they’ll change.”
On the defensive end, Alabama couldn’t get enough stops when it needed to. Texas’ Jordan Pope led all scorers with 28 points, tying his career high.
Dailyn Swain and Tramon Mark had 18 each for the Longhorns. UT averaged 1.314 points per possession.
Alabama’s defensive efficiency dropped to 79th in the nation following the loss according to KenPom.
“All of it starts with effort,” Oats said of the defensive issues. “Want to. Competitive edge. Guys who just don’t want to lose, they’re gonna give you everything they got. Guys are apparently too comfortable with losing right now because they’re not giving us everything they got on that end of the floor. SO I think it starts with having guys that just refuse to lose, to start with.
“From there it goes to guys in the moment having some personal pride on stopping their man. Too many blow-bys.Too many isolation plays were just beat one-on-one. Guys not locked in on the help side.”
Another issue for Alabama late in the game was poor free-throw shooting. UA hit 11-of-12 attempts in the first half, but went just 8-for-15 from the line in the second, which became crucial as the referees made their presence known late.
Oats was asked what went wrong from the charity stripe.
“When you’re worried about the wrong stuff,” Oats said. “When you’re locked in, you’re locked in. When you’re locked into defense, all you care about is winning the game. And when you’re locked in on the defensive end, then you go to the line and you’re locked in and you’re just focused on winning the game, you’re gonna step up and you’re gonna make your free throws.
“And when you’re worried about a lot of stuff that’s a distraction and you’re worried about stats and some other stuff and you’re not locked in, that’s when you get to the line and you miss. Especially when you’re a good shooter. Guys that should be making free throws at a high level.”
Alabama travels to Mississippi State on Tuesday to try and get back on track, before a Saturday trip to Oklahoma. Oats did offer some hope that his team would improve, drawn from the team that just beaten the Crimson Tide.
Texas coach Sean Miller had called out his team after its previous loss to Tennessee.
“It bothered Texas,” Oats said. “Texas lost two in a row and started 0-2 (in the SEC). That team looked a lot different than the team that played at Tennessee. So it obviously bothered them enough to change. So hopefully at some point it bothers our guys enough that they’ll invest on the defensive end of the floor.”
Tristan Jernigan, a Texas A&M sophomore linebacker who was a four-star prospect in high school, has signed with Cal out of the transfer portal.
Jernigan comes to Berkeley with three years of eligibility after seeing action in just two games this season. He played against Notre Dame without any stats and had three tackles, including one tackle for loss, against Samford.
He is the second members of the Aggies’ squad to join the Bears, following defensive end Solomon Williams, who signed last Sunday.
The 6-foot-1, 230-pounder from Tupelo, Miss., also drew interest from Tennessee, Memphis, Louisville, Ole Miss, Arizona State, Baylor and San Diego State.
Jernigan played eight games as a true freshman in 2024, primarily on special teams. He had 11 tackles, including five against McNeese State, and was named the team’s defensive scout team player of the year.
At Tupelo High School, Jernigan had 177 tackles with 11.5 sacks his final two seasons. Those teams compiled a two-year record of 22-4 with a Class 6A state semifinal appearance as a junior in 2022.
He was rated by 247 Sports as the No. 28 linebacker prospect in the class and the No. 9 recruit in the state of Mississippi.
He is not related to former Cal linebacker Myles Jernigan, who was from Grand Prairie, Texas, and spent five years in Berkeley through the 2023 season.
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