Since Trump’s inauguration, ICE has arrested over 50,000 people in the agency’s Harlingen and San Antonio sectors, called an “Area of Responsibility” (AOR) by the agency, according to arrest data acquired by the Data Deportation Project. Around 20,000 of those people were in ICE’s Harlingen AOR, which covers most of the Rio Grande Valley.

The people in South Texas have seen this as betrayal, whether by the GOP or by their neighbors who voted for them. This was an affront against the electorate that, for years, local, state, and national GOP factions have looked at as the greatest coalition to get—an untapped bastion of anti-establishment sentiment after years of disinvestment by the Democratic Party. That anger could fit somewhat inside of a playbook of the anti-government screeds from the Republican soapbox, and, briefly, it did work. Because the core of their messages over these last election cycles was simple: Democrats have abandoned you, but you now have a place to go.

But for an electorate that votes based more on class and industry ties and, sometimes, solely for the personality–a legacy of the region’s boss rule politics and the strength of Blue Dog Democrat figures in the region–it is not so surprising to see what happened in South Texas on Tuesday night. Put another way, South Texans voted against policies that harmed them or their livelihoods, not necessarily for the Democratic Party, which campaigned on alleviating that pain.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261106130826/https://www.texasobserver.org/inundated-by-ice-and-rising-costs-of-living-south-texas-returns-home-to-democrats/

The law, which went into effect on July 1, 2024, does not differentiate between those using and those selling the drug, and it doesn’t require prosecutors to find evidence of trafficking. Instead, prosecutors can charge people with fentanyl trafficking if they possess at least 4 grams or 100 pills that contain fentanyl. InvestigateWest reviewed court records for all fentanyl trafficking charges filed through June 30 of this year. Among the 90 cases that included arrest reports, one-third of them lacked evidence such as scales, ledgers and small bags, which when found together are commonly considered proof that someone sold or intended to sell drugs. But court records show those people were charged with trafficking and face the law’s mandatory minimum prison terms based on the amount of fentanyl police said they had.

A sheriff deputy in western Idaho’s Nez Perce County arrested a man for drug possession after he dropped a bag of blue pills that the deputy identified as fentanyl on the floor of a casino, according to the police report. After counting 111 pills, “I changed the charge from possession, to trafficking Fentanyl,” the deputy wrote in the report.

One county north, Isaac Berger was charged with fentanyl trafficking by the Latah County Prosecutor’s Office after an emergency room nurse who was treating him for an overdose reported Berger to police. Less than three months later, Berger died of fentanyl poisoning. The detective who investigated Berger's death said there was no evidence that he was planning to sell or distribute the drugs, which Berger’s mother brought to the hospital in an effort to help healthcare workers save her son.

Prosecutors who supported the law during legislative debates continue to defend it, saying it deters drug dealers from bringing fentanyl into the state, though none provided evidence to support the claim.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261106130413/https://www.investigatewest.org/an-idaho-law-targeted-fentanyl-dealers-prosecutors-are-using-it-to-charge-users-too/

Anti-LGBTQ+ Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) followed in the president’s footsteps on Monday when he used an anti-trans slur to describe cisgender Democratic South Carolina Senate candidate Annie Andrews.

Scott said during an appearance on Real America’s Voice, “Annie Andrews, as President Donald Trump calls her, tr***y Annie, here’s a person who believes, as a pediatrician, for trans surgery, gender surgery for trans kids. That’s wrong. Period,” Scott said.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261105125550/https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/10/stop-embarrassing-our-state-gop-senator-slammed-for-using-slur-to-insult-democrat/

Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), appearing with four progressives who won in swing seats in the midterms, called for Democrats to pass populist legislation “every week” in the next term focusing on corporate corruption, lower costs, and higher wages. The Progressive Caucus, which expects to welcome at least 25 new members, and will begin the upcoming 120th Congress with more than 100, is putting down an early marker on how Democrats should conduct themselves, with what is likely to be one of the biggest House majorities since the early 1990s.

“We have won immense amounts of political power, and now is the most important time to deliver to keep that power,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), a vice chair of the caucus and co-chair of the CPC’s political action committee, which spent millions of dollars in swing seats this year. “The way we’re going to keep Democrats in office is by passing bold pieces of legislation that show you when you vote Democrats in office, your life will get better.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), a former CPC chair who still co-chairs the PAC, concurred. “We are not popular as a Democratic Party across the country right now,” Jayapal said. “We’ve got a shot to show that we can deliver on the bold populist change people ran on and won on.”

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261105130708/https://prospect.org/2026/11/04/progressive-caucus-wants-to-deliver-on-democratic-promises/

“One of the things that we heard last night, resoundingly across the country, is that we are in ... a new movement in this country,” Flanagan said. “Many of us were elected who refused corporate PAC money, who are beholden only to the people who elected us and are ready to fight for bold change. And so I think it’s time for new leadership.”

Archived at https://archive.ph/pvOKU

Voters on Tuesday preferred the Winchester Model 1873 rifle in early returns as their favorite to become Idaho’s state gun.

The Model 1873 had received 31.2% of the vote as of 1:10 a.m. Wednesday. The Winchester Model 1894 was next with 25.4%.

The vote, which was on a nonbinding advisory question, pit six firearms against each other for the possible honorific. The state Legislature would have to take action to make the designation official.

Archived at https://ghostarchive.org/archive/SzcDE

A measure that would ban transgender athletes from competing in gendered sports, from kindergarten through college, was too close to call Tuesday night.

At midnight, 52.2% of the votes tallied were in favor of Proposition 134 and 47.8% were opposed. That was with 73% of the votes counted in Colorado. The measure needs 50% of the vote to pass and changes state law, not the state constitution, which means the legislature could rewrite or even eliminate it.

Proposition 134 would affect transgender athletes playing sports from kindergarten through college at any school or sports association that receives state funding. It requires that students assigned male at birth play only on boys teams or co-ed teams and vice versa for females.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261104131327/https://coloradosun.com/2026/11/04/proposition-134-election-results-transgender-athletes/

An effort to ban transgender girls from girls school sports in Washington was leading in election results released Tuesday night.

According to the Secretary of State’s office, 54% of voters said yes on Initiative 638, one of three ballot measures backed by conservative political committee Let’s Go Washington. More votes will be counted in the coming days.

Archived at https://archive.ph/2dosL

Arizona voters appear all but certain excluding trans students from girls sports teams and the school bathrooms and locker rooms that reflect their gender identity.

Dubbed the “Protect Girls Sports in Arizona Act,” Proposition 318 threatens schools and athletic associations with lawsuits if they allow trans girls to join the sports teams consistent with their gender identity or let someone use a locker room, shower facility or bathroom intended to be for a person of the opposite biological sex. It is already illegal under Arizona law to permit trans girls to play on school sports teams designated for girls, but the initiative would extend that prohibition to private athletic organizations, like Little League.

Votes for Prop. 318 raced to a likely insurmountable lead of more than 200,000 votes when initial election results were released shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday. Those votes came from early ballots that were returned prior to Election Day.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261104050210/https://azmirror.com/2026/11/03/arizona-voters-back-prop-318-banning-trans-students-from-bathrooms-matching-their-gender/

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261104125845/https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2026-11-04/hakeem-jeffries-poised-to-become-speaker-of-us-house-of-representatives

This election will determine control of Congress. Rep. Pete Aguilar, who represents California's 33rd Congressional District, shares how Democratic Party leaders are feeling as results come in.

...

CHANG: Well, let me just ask you, Congressman Aguilar, are there serious plans if you retake the House as Democrats to try to impeach President Trump again?

AGUILAR: No. We are focused on delivering on the affordability agenda. Now, that doesn't mean that we are opposed to accountability and oversight. This administration needs that clearly. They are reckless and irresponsible at just about every level, including the most, you know, corrupt and inept Cabinet ever assembled. But I think we can start there. Keep in mind, it was a Republican who filed articles of impeachment on Pete Hegseth, and Speaker Johnson, who you just talked...

CHANG: Right.

AGUILAR: ...Who you just played there, actually sent us home, sent us back to our districts in September to avoid that vote because it was going to be bipartisan.

CHANG: Well, when it comes to...

AGUILAR: We believe (ph) strongly in accountability, and that's what we plan to do.

CHANG: In the last minute and a half we have left - when it comes to oversight and accountability, if Democrats were in charge of the House, do you expect to be investigating the Trump administration, and if so, what will you be looking into first?

AGUILAR: There will be a host of investigations, and Jamie Raskin with the Judiciary Committee and Robert Garcia with House Oversight will take leadership roles on those issues. And there is plenty to investigate, but I'll tell you what the American public wants us to investigate are the grift and the corruption, the self-dealing, the no-bid contracts, all of those things that are stealing taxpayers' money that otherwise could be going to deliver on the priorities that they care about, you know, delivering on healthcare.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261104125118/https://www.npr.org/2026/11/03/nx-s1-6026666/what-democrats-plan-to-prioritize-if-they-retake-the-house

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday considers a challenge by Catholic groups to a Colorado law barring anti-LGBT discrimination at publicly funded preschools, as conservative religious interests seek to extend their winning streak before the justices.

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Colorado children in 2023 became ​eligible under state law for 15 hours per week of publicly funded preschool before entering kindergarten. Participating preschools may be public or private, secular or religious. But in each case, under the law, schools must give all children “equal opportunity” to enroll, regardless of the ⁠sexual orientation or gender identity of the students or parents.

The Archdiocese of Denver ⁠along with other Catholic entities and a Colorado family sued as the state’s universal preschool initiative ​was ramping up. They argued that the program’s anti-discrimination mandate burdened their religious exercise.

The archdiocese oversees 34 Catholic preschools, according to court papers. ​Its policy is to admit students only from families who support Catholic beliefs, including on same-sex relationships and ‌gender identity.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261103124436/https://wifc.com/2026/11/03/us-supreme-court-to-weigh-catholic-preschools-challenge-to-lgbt-protections/