Austin, TX
Vice President Kamala Harris to join Colin Allred at Houston campaign rally on Friday
Kamala Harris to deliver speech at AFT convention in Houston
Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a keynote address at the American Federation of Teachers National Convention in Houston on Thursday.
Fox – 26 Houston
Just 11 days ahead of the Nov. 5 election, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris will be in the Republican state of Texas. She will be joined by Senate hopeful Colin Allred at a rally in Houston that will focus on the loss of reproductive freedom — a central issue in both candidates’ campaigns.
Friday’s event will be the first time Allred, a Democratic congressman from Dallas seeking to upset Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz, and the vice president has shared a stage in Texas in the 2024 election cycle. Allred has so far been running a thread-the-needle campaign that seeks to keep the Democratic base in his tight grip, while not alienating independents and middle-of-the-road Republicans who might not want to award Cruz six more years in the Senate.
“Allred has gone from an arm’s length handshake to a full-on embrace of the Harris campaign,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor. “I think that’s because they’ve gone from persuasion to mobilization.”
Mere days away from the election, several polls show Trump and Harris neck-to-neck. A new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll from the first day of early voting shows Harris leads Trump by 63%-34%, close to 2-1. However, polls predicting Election Day turnout show Trump leading Harris 52% to 35%. Similarly, in a poll from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, Trump has a five-point lead over Harris, 51% to 46%.
Harris has been closely trailing Trump in Texas since her Democratic nomination this summer.
How to get Kamala Harris rally tickets
As of Wednesday morning, the exact location of Harris’ rally, along with the availability of tickets, had not yet been released by the Democratic National Committee.
The Democrats’ rally Friday, at a Houston venue to be announced later, will be an opportunity to remind voters that Trump appointed the three U.S. Supreme Court justices who anchored the 2022 decision that ended the right to an abortion, which had been in place for 49 years under the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. And it’s a chance to highlight Cruz’s long-standing opposition to abortion rights and his expressed support for the high court’s decision to leave it to the individual states to set abortion law.
Donald Trump to visit Austin for ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ podcast
Former President Donald Trump is set to appear on podcasting giant “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast later this week.
“The Joe Rogan Experience” is a popular podcast hosted by UFC color commentator Joe Rogan. The podcast is particularly among right-leaning men and is known for its wide-ranging interviews and discussions on politics, culture, and controversial topics.
Rogan is set to interview Trump in his Austin studio on Friday, USA TODAY confirmed on background. The studio is inside the Onnit Headquarters in South Austin.
This would mark Trump’s first appearance on Rogan’s popular podcast.
Read more: Former President Donald Trump is coming to Texas for ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ appearance
Kamala Harris campaign rally schedule
Harris’ decision to stop in Houston is a bit of a surprise. Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have expended much of their time and financial resources in such must-win swing states as Pennsylvania and Michigan, largely ceding Texas to the GOP, which has won the state in every presidential election since 1980.
- Harris is traveling to Pennsylvania on Wednesday and participating in a CNN Town Hall event in Chester Township, just outside of the Philadelphia metropolitan area.
- On Thursday, the vice president will be in Georgia for a campaign rally, joined by former President Barack Obama as Bruce Springsteen performs. The event will mark the first time Harris and Obama have appeared together on the campaign trail.
- Harris is expected to visit Texas on Friday to attend a campaign event in Houston focusing on abortion rights and rally with Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who is challenging Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. And finally, she’ll sit down for an interview with researcher Brené Brown, a podcaster who talks about feeling vulnerable.
‘This election is different’: Bill Gates responds to leak of his $50M to pro-Harris super-PAC
This week, it was revealed that Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder who is among the wealthiest people in the world, privately shared about his $50 million donation to a super PAC supporting Harris.
Gates has not publicly endorsed a candidate, and his donation to Future Forward’s nonprofit arm, Future Forward USA Action, was intended to remain private, according to the New York Times. The outlet also reports Gates has “concerns about what a second Trump presidency would look like,” as expressed in private phone calls.
Although Gates did not confirm or deny the donation and instead emphasized his bipartisanship, the billionaire also said that “this election is different.”
Obama introduced by Eminem at Harris rally, raps ‘Lose Yourself’
Eminem has shown further support for the Harris-Walz campaign this week. At a Detroit rally Tuesday, the rapper introduced former President Barack Obama. And Obama ensured the crowd got hyped.
“I have done a lot of rallies, so I don’t usually get nervous. But I was feeling some kind of way following Eminem,” Obama said when he took the stage in Detroit, Michigan.
“Now, I notice my palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, vomit on my sweater already, mom’s spaghetti, I’m nervous but on the surface I look calm and ready to drop bombs but I keep on forgetting,” Obama rapped as the crowd burst into cheers.
Obama raps Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’ at Harris rally
Rapper Eminem introduced former president Barack Obama at a Kamala Harris rally. Obama returned the favor by reciting Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.”
The lyrics came from Eminem’s 2002 song “Lose Yourself.”
— USA TODAY contributed to this report.
AUSTIN, Texas — Austin police say they are still investigating whether terrorism played a role in the Sixth Street mass shooting, describing it as a possible motive that remains under review.
On Thursday, the Austin Police Department released officer-worn body camera footage from the night of the shooting and played recordings of emergency calls placed in the moments after gunfire erupted early Sunday morning.
“Hello, this is Austin 911. There has been a shooting at Buford’s on Sixth Street. There are people dead,” a caller told dispatchers in one of the recordings. Authorities say numerous calls flooded the 911 center after a gunman opened fire, killing three people and injuring more than a dozen others.
Police Chief Lisa Davis said some of the footage investigators reviewed shows the suspect firing into a crowd, but those images are too graphic to release publicly. “Any video showing the suspect firing his pistol into the crowd is too graphic to show, and we will not be showing that publicly,” Davis said.
RELATED| APD releases bodycam footage, 911 calls from West 6th Street mass shooting
According to investigators, the suspect was driving on West Sixth Street toward Rio Grande Street when he stopped in front of Buford’s and fired into a crowd with a semi-automatic handgun. Body camera footage from responding officers captures the chaotic moments as police and bystanders reacted to the gunfire.
“I am with you,” one officer says in the video before shouting, “AR-15. AR-15. Down! Everybody down!”
Police say not all of the victims were inside the bar when the shooting occurred.“One of the victims was outside of Buford’s waiting for an Uber,” I said during a news conference. Chief Davis agreed that the victims were spread out. “These were not all the people who were in the bar,” she said. “Sixth Street is an entertainment area from east to west. It is an entertainment area. People come to walk along Sixth Street.”
Surveillance video shows the suspect later parking a black SUV, getting out with an AR-15-style rifle, and shooting a pedestrian. By that point, officers had already been dispatched and arrived 57 seconds after the first emergency call, police said. Investigators say the suspect then fired toward officers.“The suspect discharged his weapon at the direction of the officers. The three officers discharged their firearm, striking him multiple times,” Davis said. Body camera footage from the scene caught officers asking, “Where is he? Who shot them?” before additional gunfire is heard.
City leaders say the officers’ rapid response helped prevent further loss of life. Meantime, investigators are asking anyone with video or photos from that night to share them with them.
AUSTIN, Texas — An update to the Austin Police Department’s (APD) procedures outlines that officers are not required to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when a person is found to have an ICE administrative warrant if they have no other arrestable charge.
The update follows a controversial deportation from January, when a woman’s disturbance call to APD led to her detainment, alongside her 5-year-old child, who is a U.S. citizen.
The incident led to questions from the community regarding the way APD is supposed to interact with ICE.
In a March 4 memo, APD Police Chief Lisa Davis said that the directives provided by ICE administrative warrants could be confusing in their wording.
According to Davis, officers have not historically regularly encountered administrative warrants while using the National Crime Information Center database, which is used to conduct identity checks. However, in 2025, federal agencies began entering a large volume of administrative warrants into the system.
According to the memo, administrative warrants are formatted in a way that looks similar to criminal warrants in the system.
The APD General Orders have been updated to clearly define the difference between criminal warrants and ICE administrative warrants, as well as specific instructions for how ICE administrative warrants should be handled moving forward.
“APD recognizes the sensitivity of this issue, not only within our city but across the nation. These policies were updated to provide clarity to our officers, ensure compliance with state law, and maintain officer discretion guided by supervisory oversight and operational consideration,” Davis said in the memo.
The updated procedures instruct officers to contact their supervisor when a person is found to have only an ICE administrative warrant, but no other arrestable criminal charge. From there, the officer or their supervisor may contact ICE, but is not required to.
“Austin Police and City of Austin leadership share a paramount goal for Austin to be a safe city for everyone who lives, works, or visits here,” Davis said in the memo. “We particularly want to ensure that anyone who witnesses or is the victim of a crime feels secure in contacting the police for help.”
According to the memo, the entire APD staff will be required to complete new training regarding these updates.
“In concert with the policy updates, APD is launching a public webpage to help people understand their rights and provide links to resources available from the City of Austin and community organizations, such as Know Your Rights training,” Davis said in the memo. “The webpage will also include information on the option of using APD Victim Services as an alternative to calling 9-1-1, when appropriate, and links to all general orders and policies related to immigration.”
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