Good morning,

In yesterday's One Click Survey, we asked readers about the slurs Democrats have used against Trump supporters. Their answers are at the end of today's Texas Minute.

We have—finally—arrived at Election Day!

– Michael Quinn Sullivan
Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024

Ken Paxton Sues Biden-Harris Administration Over DOJ Election Monitors

• After the Biden-Harris Department of Justice announced plans to send election monitors to polling locations in Texas, the state has filed a lawsuit to block their presence. As Brandon Waltens reports, the DOJ plans to send staff into eight Texas counties today: Bexar, Dallas, Frio, Harris, Atascosa, Hays, Palo Pinto, and Waller.
      
• Late yesterday, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a lawsuit against the DOJ to block the monitoring program.
        
• “The Biden-Harris Administration’s lawless intimidation campaign infringes on the states' constitutional authority to run free and fair elections,” said Paxton. “Texas will not be intimidated, and I will make every effort to prevent weaponized federal agencies from interfering in our elections.”
       
• The DOJ did not respond to requests for comment.

Nine Million Texans Cast Early Ballots Ahead of Election Day

• Ahead of today's election, more than nine million Texans have already cast their votes.
       
• According to the Secretary of State’s office, 9,034,866 Texans have voted early. Of those, 8,687,678 cast ballots during the state’s two-week early in-person voting period, and an additional 347,188 sent mail-in ballots that have already been received.
       
• That early voting turnout represents 48.51 percent of registered voters. In 2020, 9.7 million Texans—57.22 percent of registered voters—voted before Election Day.

📺 Wednesday at Noon

• When the dust settles after the election, Brandon Waltens and I will discuss Texas' down-ballot races at noon tomorrow (Wednesday, Nov. 6).
      
• We will stream the conversation live on 𝕏, Facebook, and YouTube. 

Trump to Impose 25 Percent Tariff on Mexican Products on ‘Day One’ If Border Crisis Persists

• At a campaign stop yesterday, Donald Trump promised to impose a 25 percent tariff on all Mexican products on day one of his presidency if Mexico refuses to halt illegal border crossings into the United States. Will Biagini has more details.
      
• Trump said he would continue to raise tariff percentages until Mexico decides to cooperate. He wants Mexico to use its military to stop illegal border crossings into the United States.

RELATED NEWS

• It was recently revealed that 10 percent of Harris County jail inmates—over 1,000—were illegal aliens with an ICE hold.

Lottery Commission Caught Misrepresenting Rule Change

• Since an international syndicate cornered the Texas Lottery to win a $95 million jackpot in 2023, the Lottery Commission has been on defense. As Daniel Greer reports, commission employees have misled lawmakers in the process.
       
• The Lottery Commission has insisted that a 2020 rule change opening the door to online sales for all Texas lotto games was non-substantive. They have said they could not have predicted that the change would enable vendors to make online sales, including sales to out-of-state players and international syndicates.
       
• That narrative was upended last week during the Lottery Commission’s most recent hearing. It was revealed that the commission had already dealt with out-of-state buyers purchasing tickets through vendors in the 1990s, and rules were written to stop such play.
      
• Fast forward to today, and the TLC has brazenly taken the opposite approach by actively aiding out-of-state concerns in gaming the system.

Cruz Keeps Hitting Allred's Support for Men in Women's Sports

• A major theme in the final days of the U.S. Senate race pitting incumbent Republican Ted Cruz against Democrat Colin Allred has been biological men participating in women’s sports. Valerie Muñoz reports Cruz has made extensive use of Allred's voting record on the issue.
       
• An unearthed letter from 2022 finds Allred affirming his support for the “transgender community’s participation in sports.” Allred cited his support and co-sponsorship of the Equality Act, which would allow a person to play a sport or enter a locker room based on their “gender identity.”

Quote-Unquote

"Those who stay away from the election think that one vote will do no good. 'Tis but one step more to think one vote will do no harm."

– Ralph Waldo Emerson​

Y'All Answered

In recent years, the Democrats' leaders have employed a variety of pejoratives to slur conservative voters. Yesterday, we asked readers which putdowns they have adopted as a badge of honor.

Here's a sampling of responses we received after folks participated in the survey:

• “I feel it’s quite amusing how these left-wing dems seem to believe that hurling insults would seriously intimidate conservative voters who actually have brains and can use them. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to report to my Bitter Clinger and Deplorable Weird Garbage Club.” – Andra Haney
        

• “I proudly self-identify as weird, bitter-clinging, deplorable garbage. My pronouns are: Texian/Voter.” – John Bolgiano
        

• “I’m a proud bag of deplorable garbage that is voting for DONALD TRUMP!” – Dawn Gerstenberger
        

• “None of the above. I'm a proud retired military American who is tired of the evil trash that is trying to destroy our country.” – Howard Benham
      

• “Hobson's choice.....all of the above....plus a few more.” – Mary Casper
       

• “It was a tough decision, but I have been a proud deplorable since 2016!” – Ken Bentliff
     

• “I'll proudly wear them all when it means I stand for our Constitutional Republic. The funny thing is, they call us exactly what they are.” – Deborah Wilkey
     

• “We must decide whether to be the garbage left by Biden-Harris or the bag Trump uses to remove it and place it on the trash heap of history. I prefer to be the bag.” – Steve Sullivan
     

• “I am an adorable deplorable” – Cathy Hess
      

• “President Trump just calls us all American. I’ll take that!” – Bob Davis
       

• “I'm a weird, deplorable, bitter clinging garbage bag!” – Lisa Buck
      

• “I wear them all with the badge of honor because I’m a strong conservative Republican and believe in our constitution. I laugh at all their names.” – Gary Hunt
      

• “All their insults are offensive, but this time, I have placed my garbage cart in my front yard near my Trump sign. It will stay there through the election.” – Peggy Morris
      

• “I’m still sitting comfortably in Crooked Hillary’s basket of ‘deplorables’!” – Shilo Platts
      

• “As a precinct chair, I have been poll greeting every day during early voting. The only ‘bitter’ people I saw were Democrats; all the Republicans were smiling, happy, hopeful people.” – Sheree Rose
       

• “Whether I am a bitter-clinger, deplorable, weird, or garbage, I wear them all as a badge of honor, considering all these labels come from the mentally unstable, intolerant leftists!” – Jeff McDowell

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