Texas
In Texas visit, second gentleman Douglas Emhoff raises more than $1 million
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Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff raised more than $1 million at a San Antonio fundraiser for Kamala Harris presidential campaign Monday night, the largest presidential fundraiser in the city’s history.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg made the announcement at a reception hosted by Frank and Cecilia Herrera that was attended by prominent area Democrats like Henry Cisneros, a former San Antonio mayor and former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Development, State Sen. José Menéndez, and U.S. Rep. Greg Casar.
“We have to work, even here in Texas,” Emhoff told the guests at the fundraiser. “We can’t take any state off the map. We gotta make sure we’re doing the work here. And even if we can’t turn Texas blue this time around you have a good chance of sending [U.S. Rep.] Colin Allred to the Senate.”
Emhoff also said that voters could also make “serious changes” to the state by flipping some statehouse races and their statewide leaders.
He acknowledged that the presidential election was very close and urged the guests to knock on doors, register to vote and help raise more money for the campaign to continue its fight all over the electoral map.
Earlier in the day, Emhoff attended a rally organized by Texas Democrats in San Antonio. He stumped with down-ballot Texas Democrats and railed against Republican efforts that he said were “attacking the right to vote.”
“Under the guise of election integrity, they have made it harder to vote,” Emhoff said. “They know the only way they can win is if fewer people vote. … Texas, unfortunately, has been ground zero for unchecked MAGA power grab.”
Emhoff, who was making his first visit to Texas since his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, became the Democratic presidential nominee, said if Trump returned to the White House it would usher a national abortion ban, more inaction on mass shootings and policies that benefited only the wealthy.
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But he sounded a note of confidence even as a New York Times/Siena Poll Monday morning showed Trump leading Harris in Arizona by five percentage points and also ahead in the battleground states of North Carolina and Georgia.
“I am really excited about Texas. Are you?” he said to applause from about 1,200 people in the gymnasium at the Candler Physical Education Center at San Antonio College. “Are we going to send my wife Kamala Harris to the White House?”
The rally included brothers Julián Castro, a former San Antonio mayor and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio.
The effort was part of the Texas Democratic Party’s “Texas Offense,” an effort to coordinate rallies and political resources from the top to the bottom of the ticket. Comedian and actress Cristela Alonzo and social media influencer and political activist Olivia Julianna also attended the event.
The Democratic speakers attacked Republican state officials for what they said were efforts to suppress the votes of people who do not align with their political views. They pointed to recent investigations by Attorney General Ken Paxton on Latino groups who work to register people to vote. The speakers urged the crowd to make their voice heard in November by casting ballots for Democrats.
Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa told the crowd that Republican officials like Attorney General Ken Paxton were “attacking the vote” because of the tight races for president and U.S. Senate.
“He knows they’re in trouble,” Hinojosa said.
Emhoff’s visit is a boost for Texas Democrats. National politicos may not see the state as a battleground — despite the state party’s best efforts — but any boost to down-ballot candidates could help the minority party make up ground in state elections. It also gets those candidates in front of new potential voters.
Texas political leaders tried to energize the crowd through Emhoff’s visit.
“Texas is in play and if you need proof of that, we’ve got second gentleman Douglas Emhoff here,” Casar said.
The event also included Kristian Carranza and Laurel Jordan Swift, two San Antonio Democrats vying to unseat Republican incumbents in crucial statehouse races.
Republicans hold a majority in the Texas House and are likely to push for legislation that would allow for the use of public money to pay for private education at least in some way. The issue is a top priority for Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Democrats are trying to make dents in the majority to hold the line against that type of legislation.
Carranza’s race against Republican John Lujan is seen as one of the top targets for Democrats and Swift is running for a seat that is vacant because moderate Republican incumbent, Steve Allison, was defeated in the primaries by Marc LaHood, a Republican challenger who is further to the right.
John Harrison, 72, of Kerrville who drove about an hour to attend the event with his wife Jo, said Emhoff’s visit showed that national Democrats were still throwing some support behind the state.
“It means they haven’t given up in Texas and that they can turn some races blue,” Harrison said. “I hope we can beat Cruz and Trump. It’ll be tough but still possible.”
Texas
North Texas middle school closes after a norovirus outbreak
A middle school in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD is closed Friday after an outbreak of norovirus.
According to the school district, they closed Creekview Middle School in Fort Worth on Friday to sanitize and clean the building. The district said they plan on reopening the school on Monday.
The district said children started to get sick on Tuesday with what appeared to be a stomach virus and that on Wednesday it spread to a larger group.
EMSISD said they reached out to the Tarrant County Public Health Department and that they recommended disinfecting and cleaning the school on Wednesday night and reopening the next day.
More cases continued to be reported on Thursday, so the public health department then recommended that they clean again and close the campus on Friday.
Parents were notified of the district’s decision on Thursday afternoon.
The district has not said how many students and staff were sickened in the outbreak.
Officials with Children’s Medical Center said that because norovirus is highly contagious and resistant to many common hand sanitizers, it presents a unique challenge for families.
The hospital says hand sanitizer isn’t enough and recommends thorough hand washing with soap and water. They also recommend parents keep their children home for a full 48 hours after symptoms stop to prevent further outbreaks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there are approximately 2,500 norovirus outbreaks in the United States each year and that they are most common from November through April. For further tips on preventing the spread of norovirus, visit the CDC.
Texas
Trump heads to Texas, where 3 friends are battling it out in the Senate Republican primary
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump just can’t seem to choose among friends in the Texas Senate Republican primary.
So when he travels to the state on Friday for his first post- State of the Union trip, where he plans to promote his energy and economic policies, Trump will have all three candidates in the competitive race join him — just days before his party casts ballots in the primary race.
Sen. John Cornyn is battling for his fifth term and is being challenged by state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt in a primary fight that has become viciously personal. And all three men, missing the coveted endorsement from Trump, have been trying to highlight their ties to him as they ramp up their campaigning ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
For his part, Trump will be seeking to ride the message of his State of the Union address from Tuesday, where he declared a return to economic prosperity and a more secure America — two centerpiece arguments for Republicans as they campaign to keep their congressional majorities this fall.
Trump’s hesitation to endorse in the Texas Senate primary speaks to the tricky dynamics of the race.
Cornyn is unpopular with a segment of Texas’ GOP base, in part for his early dismissiveness of Trump’s 2024 comeback campaign and for his role in authoring tougher restrictions on guns after the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. But Senate GOP leadership and allied groups see Cornyn as the stronger general election candidate, in light of a series of troubles that have shadowed Paxton.
Paxton beat impeachment on fraud charges in 2023, and has faced allegations of marital infidelity by his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, right, is joined by former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, left, during a campaign stop in Austin, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. Credit: AP/Eric Gay
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have urged Trump to endorse Cornyn. They and allied campaign groups argue that the seat would cost the party hundreds of millions more to defend with Paxton as the candidate.
“It is a strong possibility we cannot hold Texas if John Cornyn is not our nominee,” Scott told Fox News on Wednesday.
Hunt, a second-term Houston-area representative, was a later entry to the race, but claims a kinship with Trump, having endorsed him early in the 2024 race. Hunt campaigned regularly for Trump and earned a prime-time speaking slot at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
If no candidate reaches 50% in Tuesday’s primary, the top two finishers will advance to a May 26 runoff.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, arrive before President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. Credit: AP/Allison Robbert
Cornyn’s campaign and a half-dozen allied groups have poured more than $63 million into the race since last fall, chiefly trying to slow Paxton but recently attacking Hunt in an effort to keep him from making it to the runoff.
Earlier this month, Trump feinted toward weighing in on the race when he said he was taking “a serious look” at endorsing in the Texas primary. He has since reaffirmed his neutrality.
Still, you wouldn’t know it from watching TV in Texas. Cornyn has been airing ads since last year touting his support for Trump’s agenda, even though his relationship with the president has been cool at times. Paxton and Hunt both have ads airing now featuring them standing with Trump.
“I like all three of them, actually. Those are the toughest races. They’ve all supported me. They’re all good. You’re supposed to pick one, so we’ll see what happens. But I support all three,” Trump said earlier this month.
The GOP battle comes as Democrats have a contested primary of their own in Texas between state Rep. James Talarico, a self-described policy wonk who regularly quotes the Bible, and progressive favorite U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
Trump hasn’t been shy about wading into other contested Republican primaries in the state. Parts of Corpus Christi fall within Texas’ 34th congressional district, where former Rep. Mayra Flores is fighting to reclaim her seat against the Trump-endorsed Eric Flores. (The two are not related.) The winner of the primary will face off against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, long a target of the GOP, whose district was redrawn to make it easier for a Republican to win.
Eric Flores will be at the Trump event at the Port of Corpus Christi, which technically is located in a neighboring district.
Elsewhere in the state, the president has also endorsed Rep. Tony Gonzales, who is fighting calls from his own party to resign from Congress after reports of an alleged affair with a former staffer who later died after she set herself on fire. Gonzales is refusing to step down and has said that there will be “opportunities for all of the details and facts to come out” and that the stories about the situation do not represent “all the facts.”
Gonzales is facing a primary challenge from Brandon Herrera, a gun manufacturer and gun rights influencer who Gonzales defeated by fewer than 400 votes in their 2024 runoff. The White House did not return a request for comment on Thursday on whether Trump stands by his endorsement of Gonzales.
Texas
Man sentenced to 15 years in Texas crash that killed founding member of The Chicks
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after admitting his reckless driving caused a head-on collision in rural West Texas that killed Laura Lynch, a founding member of the country music group now known as The Chicks, prosecutors said.
Domenick Chavez, 33, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with Dec. 22, 2023, crash in Hudspeth County, according to a news release Tuesday from El Paso County District James Montoya, who also oversees nearby Hudspeth County.
The news release said Chavez was driving a truck westbound when he tried to pass four vehicles on a two-way undivided highway and collided head-on with Lynch’s eastbound truck. Lynch, 65, of Dell City, was trapped in her vehicle and died. Prosecutors said Chavez was traveling between 106 mph and 114 mph.
Prosecutors said alcohol wasn’t a factor in the crash but that Chavez was driving on a suspended license, which had been revoked due to his failure to comply with DWI-related surcharges and penalties from convictions in 2014 and 2017.
Lynch, along with Robin Lynn Macy and sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer, formed The Dixie Chicks in the late 1980s. Lynch and Macy eventually left the band and Natalie Maines joined the sisters. The trio hit commercial fame with their breakthrough album “Wide Open Spaces” in 1998 and have won 13 Grammys. In 2020, the band changed its name to The Chicks.
In a social media post after Lynch’s death, The Chicks said Lynch had “infectious energy and humor” and was “instrumental” in the band’s early success.
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