SYNOPSIS: A raft of primaries and one special election in the South last week brought some fresh faces into the spotlight and offered tantalizing clues about this fall's midterms. This week we take a look at the high-profile Democratic and Republican contests for U.S. Senate in Texas, as well as a slate of anti-establishment votes in both parties in North Carolina. Plus, an Arkansas state House district flips blue. In part 2 of our look at ICE incarceration in the South, we drop in on a packed meeting in heavily Republican Wilson County, Tennessee — where nobody, Democrats or Republicans, wanted a massive new detention center. It's part of a bipartisan wave of resistance to the facilities across the country, which is complicating the federal government's plans for massive warehousing of immigrants. And we check in on an exhibit of the Kentucky photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard's work, at Atlanta's High Musuem.

SHOW NOTES: Wilson County Commission Feb. 17, 2026 "A Blueprint for Resistance: How Residents and Local Governments Are Shutting Down ICE Detention in Warehouses" Vera "MAP: All 23 industrial warehouses ICE wants to turn into detention 'death camps'" Courier Newsroom "'Not the right location:' Hanover supervisors, residents oppose DHS ICE facility" Virginia Mercury "Canadian company says Virginia warehouse sale to ICE won't proceed" Associated Press "Conservative Georgia town pushes back against ICE detention center: 'We are Americans after all'" The Guardian "Warnock tours Social Circle infrastructure amid concerns over proposed ICE detention center" CBS News "As ICE Buys Up Warehouses, Even Some Trump Voters Say No" The New York Times "Sen. Marsha Blackburn: ICE ends plans for Wilson County immigrant detention 'mega center'" Tennessee Lookout "Wilson County Mayor: ICE eyes immigrant detention 'mega center' in Lebanon to house up to 16,000" Tennessee Lookout "James Talarico defeats Jasmine Crockett in blockbuster Democratic primary for U.S. Senate" The Texas Tribune "Paxton says he'd consider dropping out of Senate runoff if Republicans pass voter ID bill" The Texas Tribune "He's No Beto, but Can Talarico Win? A Texas Writer Weighs In." The New York Times "What We Learned From North Carolina's 2026 Primaries" The Assembly "Arkansas Democrats just flipped a Republican seat" The Downballot "The Family Album of Ralph Eugene Meatyard" High Museum of Art

CONTACT:

Jesse Mayshark [email protected] (865) 214-7764