The richest man in the world — Elon Musk — is pumping a historic amount of money into the Texas midterm elections to support Republicans.
Musk has put approximately $190 million behind the Texas U.S. Senate race in 2026 — for Ken Paxton — according to campaign-finance reporting, with additional political spending elsewhere in Texas.
An investigation by The Texas Tribune revealed that Musk was responsible for much of a massive Republican advertising campaign supporting Paxton. His political operation is also working to influence competitive congressional races in South Texas.
The investigation by Gabby Birenbaum and Alejandro Serrano raises important questions about billionaire donors, campaign finance disclosure, corporate interests and how much influence one individual can have over an election.
Data center pause
After a rise in voter opposition to data centers in Texas, on Sept. 21, Governor Greg Abbott ordered Texas regulators to stop issuing permits for new data centers, saying the state needed time to study the enormous demands these facilities place on electricity, water supplies and the environment.
But a new investigation has found that the permitting process never completely stopped.
The environmental watchdog groups FracTracker Alliance and Public Citizen identified dozens of regulatory actions involving data centers after the governor's directive. These included applications advancing through review and approvals for construction-related stormwater permits.
Joining us to discuss the investigation is Sam Law, a researcher and communications manager with FracTracker Alliance and author of the report.
Certifying state elections
With the midterm elections less than two weeks away, a statement from the nation's top law enforcement official is raising new questions about what could happen after the votes are counted.
Attorney General Todd Blanche was asked Thursday whether the Justice Department might intervene to prevent states from certifying their election results. Blanche said the department had no intention of improperly interfering with elections, but he refused to rule out federal intervention in what he called a hypothetical "doomsday scenario."
But election certification is a responsibility of state and local officials, not the federal government. And election law experts say safeguards are already in place to prevent political interference with the results.
So what exactly happens when an election is certified? Could the Justice Department legally intervene? And what protections exist if officials refuse to certify legitimate results?
Joining us is Lauren Miller-Karalunas, an election certification expert with the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.
Dolly's Imagination Library
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library mails free books to children from birth through age 5.
In San Antonio, a local affiliate is working to get those books into more homes — and help families make reading together part of everyday life.
As part of Texas Public Radio’s Solutions Journalism series on Family Literacy, Yvette Benavides reports on how the program is building home libraries and supporting early language development.
This story has been supported by the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.
