Texas Tribune Brief

In the first day of early voting, 474,938 Texans cast in-person ballots and 214,675 cast mail-in ballots in the 30 counties where most registered voters in the state — 78 percent — live. That turnout equals 34.3 percent of the total votes cast in those counties during the entire two-week early voting period in the last midterm election in 2014. So far this year, 5.6 percent of the 12.3 million registered voters in those 30 counties have voted.

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President Donald Trump, speaking Monday evening in Houston at an uproarious rally, cast his 2016 battle with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz as a thing of the past and blasted Cruz’s Democratic challenger, Beto O’Rourke, as a “stone cold phony.”

Early voting in Texas starts today and runs through Nov. 2. To help Texans navigate early voting, we’ve compiled an overview of everything you need to know about casting a ballot in the 2018 midterms.

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After the wettest September in Texas history, multiple Central Texas reservoirs are completely full. That has forced officials to consider releasing a historic amount of water down the Colorado River.

Plus, a federal appeals court finds Texas foster kids were endangered, but strikes down some attempts at reform.

And, in politics, Beto O'Rourke, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, said Thursday evening he was not "totally comfortable" with having used the nickname "Lyin' Ted" against Republican incumbent Ted Cruz in their recent debate.

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In a series of tweets following Tuesday night's debate between U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso, President Donald Trump said O'Rourke would "blow it all" if elected.

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U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and his Democratic rival, U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke of El Paso, faced off for their second — and maybe final — debate Tuesday night in San Antonio.

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President Donald Trump is headed to Texas on Oct. 22 to hold a rally at NRG Arena in Houston. Trump had promised to visit the state before Election Day to campaign with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in his re-election bid.

Cruz faces a tough re-election fight against El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke. And tonight the pair will debate for the second and final time ahead of the November election.

Tonight’s hourlong debate in San Antonio will cover domestic and foreign policy issues. Tune into www.texastribune.org at 8pm central for a livestream of the debate, courtesy of WFAA-TV.

Early voting for the midterm elections starts one week from today.

Texans will weigh in on hundreds of races.

But only a few are worthy of the Tribune’s hotlist.

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Advocates and lawyers on both sides of the border say this increased immigration enforcement from Mexican officials may be the result of cartel influence, politics or the United States itself.

Plus, the latest on the U.S. Senate race between Ted Cruz and Beto O'Rourke.

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The Democrats running against Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and Attorney General Ken Paxton outraised the incumbents in the most recent fundraising period.

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