Are the Midterms Bigger in Texas?

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That's AvocadoGreenMatress.com to get up to 20% off AvocadoGreenMatress.com. It's Wednesday, October 28, and the political spotlight is big and bright. We start here. Deep in the heart of Texas, President Trump makes a last-ditch appeal. Did he make America great? No, he made it worse. But the voters that once propelled him to victory might not be riding with him here. Tell me if you've heard this one before. Bolsonaro is on the run. Fleeting to the United States after losing an election, becoming something of a family tradition for the Bolsonaro's. Like father-like son, now the Trump administration is offering Brazil's presidential candidate, Safe Harbor. And whether you knew it or not, judges were halting thousands of deportation cases a year. Not anymore. It was a one-sentence order. It did not include any reasoning. The new ruling from the Supreme Court. From ABC News, this is Start Here. I'm Brad Milky. [MUSIC] President Trump has visited a lot of states ahead of next Tuesday's midterm elections, but you can tell he's placed a special attention on Texas. It's an incredible state, which I won all three times with more votes than any candidate in history, all three times. His rally in Lubbock last night was his third visit to the Lone Star State in the last month, and while he's certainly trying to help Attorney General Kempaxden get over the line in the Senate race against Democrat Games Talleriko. >> We are the underdogs. It's David versus Goliath. It's the powers that be versus the powers that ought to be. >> There are lots of races that seem very much in flux here. In lopsided states incumbent governors usually would have an advantage. Well, Republican Greg Abbott is in a dog fight against Democrat Gina Inahosa. And in House race after House race, candidates who might have thought that they were Texas toast are now dusting off their good boots for election night. Let's take you there this morning. ABC's Capitol Hill Correspondent J. O'Brien is on the ground in Fort Worth, Texas right now, Jay. What is the vibe there? Because just looking by the early vote at least, it's absolutely huge numbers. >> You're exactly right. Upwards of 4.5 million Texans have already voted early. That's upwards of 20% of registered voters in the state. It's one of several states that's broken early vote records in these midterms. And an analysis by ABC has shown that this is one of the states where you can see the early vote giving Democrats an edge. Look, it's still early. We're six days out from election day. But that is a trend that Democrats like. At the polls, I can tell you. >> Just in terms of like registered Democrats are voting early. So then you assume they'll vote Democrat here. That's the idea. >> Exactly right. Because remember midterms are a turnout game. You do not see the same kind of turnout in a midterm that you do in a general election. And so it's about both trying to convince those swing-ish voters that I talked about. But largely it's about getting your reliable voters out to the polls. And Democrats feel that they are doing that. And they also feel that they have the issue profile on their side. >> We had to deal with tariffs and that put a big blow in our system. >> I live in this economy and it is a viable move for me every day. >> There are so many voters that we've talked to across the country. But in Texas too, who say the economy is their top issue. And they are just not feeling the economic benefits that the president says that he's brought. >> Well, and then zooming in specifically on perhaps the biggest race. They're really one of the biggest races in the country. We're talking about James Tallerico against Ken Paxon. Where does that stand? Because Tallerico would not have been given a chance. You know, this time six months ago. >> Yeah, look, this is one of those Senate races, Brad, as you know, that could decide control of that chamber. And it's in a red state that Republicans knew they were going to have to play defense in, but probably not to this degree. >> If he's nominated, there's a high risk that Paxton would lose the Senate seat. >> John Cornon spent around 100 million trying to buy this seat. >> Think back to the primary, right? It's John Cornon, the incumbent Republican Senator, up against Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has had a tumultuous political career. He's had a very close relationship with President Trump. >> So he said something to me as we were arriving in, in, in Lubbock. He said, you know, I don't usually do two rallies for anybody. They said, I must really like you. >> And there were a number of Republicans who were concerned about Ken Paxton's viability as a statewide candidate. Well, ultimately after dragging his feet, the president throws his arm around Ken Paxton, says he's got his endorsement, and that propels him to victory in the primary. And there were a number of Republicans who broke with the president after that, and said that they liked the president, but they just cannot support Ken Paxton. That's the situation Ken Paxton is in now. This race is tight between him and James Tallarico, who's tried to make inroads with what you'd call typically Trump voters. Some in the MAGA base, but certainly he's tried to make outreach to those moderate Republicans who do not like Ken Paxton. >> Whether you're a little more conservative, a little more progressive, whether you're rural, suburban, urban, whether you're black, white, brown, we're all getting screwed by this broken system, by the people at the top. >> And it's proved successful because this race is so close. Also, there's been tons of money dumped into this race, including from Elon Musk, who's got a big footprint in Texas, and has obviously a vested interest in the outcome politically of what happens in this state. But here's the thing, Jay, I feel like I'm always hearing how close Texas is to turning purple. For a decade, people have been describing more Latinos live in Texas, which that theoretically should make it easier for Democrats. Well, guess what? In 2024, a lot of Latinos swung toward President Trump and Republicans. So what if anything is changing? >> Look, first and foremost, you're exactly right. All of these Texas flipping blue narratives, you should always take them with a grain of salt. Take it from someone who was a reporter who covered the Beto Ororque campaign, if anyone can remember that, against Ted Cruz. So, yes, always take it with a grain of salt. But there is a phenomenon here that is different than years past. Remember, President Trump ran on this platform of mass deportation. And when he got into office, he started those mass deportations across the country. And they particularly hit Hispanic communities hard. And one of the things we've heard from some Hispanic, some who identify themselves as conservative, some who identify themselves as swing voters, is that they are concerned about what they've seen out of the President's immigration policy. >> You were wearing hats and make America great. >> No, he made it worse. >> Arm Arthur Raditz was along the border in the Rio Grande Valley with the President campaign yesterday, and she talked to some of them. >> Well, he told us he was going for the criminals. For those that truly do not deserve to be in our country. But the way he's doing it now, breaking up families, breaking up communities, people have died. He's heartless. >> And we've also seen that when you go down to the granular level of congressional districts. If you go along the Texas-Mexico border, there are a number of typically Republican districts, where you've got Republicans who have tried to kind of walk this balance of saying, they support the President, so it's not alienated as base, but also saying that they do have some concerns about the tactics of ICE and the scope of these deportations. And we've seen that in communities across the country. >> Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far. >> Think about Congressman Maria Salazar in Florida, who put out that ad, if you'll recall, saying that the President had essentially gone too far with his immigration policy, and had lost the trust of some Latino voters. That is showing up in some of the voting data that we've seen. The question is, is it a big enough trend to flip Texas or to flip some of those districts I was talking about along the border come election day? And one more thing to keep an eye on, Brad. Keep an eye on the governor's race. Greg Abbott has a stronger than expected challenge from Gina Hinojosa he was just talking about. And one of the central issues that's emerged in that race, curiously enough, is not immigration, it's not the economy, it's data centers. And the concerns from rural Texans about data centers being built in their communities. >> I was going to say Texas lawmakers take a lot of pride in it being a business friendly state. Well, then some of these business just show up and look at residents like, whoa, whoa, whoa, we don't want that company in here taking all of our, you know, electricity and water and driving our bills up like that. Jail Bryan in Texas right now, thank you. >> Thank you, Brad. Next up on start here, Brazil's election was just a few days ago. Now, is the loser already on the run? We're back in a bit. This show is sponsored by Zip Recruiter. The holiday season is a time when you start seeing hiring everywhere. 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Authorities investigated whether Bolsonaro had actually attempted a coup d'etat. They told him to hand over his passport, but then Bolsonaro fled to the US. Lawmakers in the US are demanding the former leader of Brazil be extradited. Jair Bolsonaro is reportedly living in Florida. Eventually, he returned to Brazil, where he's now facing a criminal sentence for plotting to overthrow the government. Are you coming up all the former Brazilian president being arrested today? No, I don't know anything about it. Are you willing? Are you willing? Are you willing? I didn't hear you. Is that what happened? Yes, there's a fight deeper. It's too bad. Well, fast forward a few years, and this week, Lula was facing Jair's son, Flavio Bolsonaro. Again, Lula won. Again, Bolsonaro, this time Flavio, disputed the results possible. It is impossible to understand the election results in context, given when these events took place. We will take legal action. I will request that these elections be an old. And once again, with the government, warning him to stay put, Flavio Bolsonaro has gone in the hiding with the Trump administration openly offering him a place to land. Let's go to ABC Shannon Kingston, who covers the State Department. Shannon, as we're recording this, no one seems to know where Flavio Bolsonaro is. What is going on? Yeah, Brad, the details are still coming into focus, but already this has all of the contours of a political spy thriller or something like that. Because we know that failed presidential candidate, Flavio Bolsonaro was supposed to turn over his passports to Brazilian authorities on Monday. Well, not only did he not turn over his passports, he also was nowhere to be found. His whole family gone, vanished. Brazilian authorities have been trying to track them down. And we know at the same time up here in the US, the Trump administration has been keeping an eye on their plans. We learned yesterday that they were believed to be in route to the United States. State Department official says that once they arrive here on US soil, they will be granted visas and allowed to stay welcome into the country. But wait, so why would Flavio Bolsonaro leave? Like, there were no coup attempts or riots after his election, right? Like he has basically given up now. So what does he think would happen to him? Yeah, that's right, Brad, no signs of any coup plotting, but he has been under investigation on a number of fronts. Authorities are looking into charges of corruption, money laundering and tax evasion. And he could feel the temperature of those investigations heating up. Now, of course, Bolsonaro supporters are going to say, Hey, this is political, he just lost an election. And now all of the sudden, the Supreme Court of Brazil wants to seize his passports. So the timing is a bit of a question mark there, but these investigations have been going on for some time. And it could be just a Brazilian authorities decided that hey, he was becoming more and more of a flight risk. Now that this election was wrapped up, which brings us to the US part of this, right? Because I several years ago, I would not have expected like the on the lamb former leader of Brazil to pop up in Miami with his wife and just be like living in normal life. That at one point seemed like what was happening with Jair Bolsonaro, then he went back and kind of surrendered to Brazilian authorities is Flavio now just going to do the same thing and come to the US. And why would the Trump administration take him in? Right, bullbrat. It looks like fleeing to the United States after losing an election becoming something of a family tradition for the Bolsonaro's. There have been so many rumors and kind of myths about how Bolsonaro and his family were able to flee Brazil. Did they dress up in disguises, crossed over the border into neighboring countries in South America? We're still trying to parse all of that out and figure out exactly what role the Trump administration played here. But it's clear Brad that they're willing to offer a safe harbor at least for right now to Flavio Bolsonaro and his immediate family. President Trump has been very closely aligned with the Bolsonaro's in the past. He did express some tacit support for candidate Flavio Bolsonaro before the election. And then after he lost, Trump did say earlier this week that he believed the election was rigged in Brazil without offering any evidence. I didn't take sides. I didn't endorse anybody or anything, but I watched the election and it looked so so corrupt. So it's clear that his administration is sympathetic towards Flavio Bolsonaro. Right, Trump expressed support, but he didn't say he would help him in any way. And that's almost when you heard the tone shift from Flavio Bolsonaro. He had disputed the election results. Then when Trump's statement came in, he was like, well, I guess we were not getting any help. I guess the election's over. All right, Shannon Kingston wild story. We'll see what happens today. Thank you. Thank you, Brad. We talked about attitudes from Hispanic voters earlier. Well, it can't go and said that the Trump administration is setting records for deporting people from the US. A reporter Laura Romero says one third party analysis puts the number at a million deportations in just 18 months. Well, yesterday, the US Supreme Court issued a decision that could raise that number even higher because a policy that allowed immigration judges to in some cases halt deportation proceedings has just been scuttled by the high court. Let's hear from ABC's Laura Romero right now. So Laura, I didn't even know this was a thing where if the US government wants to deport someone, a judge can kind of step in and be like, nah, like explain what we're talking about here. Yeah, hey, Brad. So historically immigration judges have had discretion to do what's called administrative closure, which is essentially placing migrants deportation case on a temporary pause. Now, this has generally been viewed as a positive outcome for migrants because it temporarily stops deportation proceedings so that individuals can seek other forms of relief like asylum or other types of visas. And in 2024, the Biden administration kind of issued a formal regulation that codified this authority for immigration judges. Now, fast forward to this year, the state of Texas sued the federal government in June arguing that this policy acted as, quote, indefinite amnesty that allowed undocumented immigrants to remain in the country without a final ruling. Now, the Trump administration's DOJ agreed with Texas on the same day, actually, that the lawsuit was filed and vacated this rule nationwide. Okay, so then judges have been able to use their discretion and be like, no, no, I'm putting the pause on this whole thing, which, like you said, good for the migrant who wants to stay here, I suppose, what is changing now? What's the word from the court? Right, so yesterday, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to restrict the policy. It was a one sentence order, it did not include any reasoning, there were actually no noted dissents. So this essentially means that immigrants are forced to fight their active deportation cases, while they also pursue other forms of legal relief, which could take a lot longer than their deportation cases. it takes away from authority that immigration judges previously had. Now to me what I find interesting in all of this is that last year the Trump administration actually used administrative closures for their immigration crack down agenda. We saw inside immigration core, DHS attorneys actively pushing immigration judges to terminate or close deportation cases. This was so that they could argue migrants no longer had active ongoing court proceedings in the US. And that's when we began to see those plain clothed federal agents waiting in court hallways and immediately arresting immigrants as they walked out of their court hearings. So this was definitely an interesting turn of events. Oh, that's like they can't pop out and arrest you if you have pending litigation. But if a judge inside has just gone great, I'm putting this on hold. There is no pending litigation. And that's when when DHS would come out and grab you in the hallways, wow. Right. And so now with this Supreme Court order, it has cleared the way for the Trump administration to restrict this policy that allowed immigration judges to put a pause on these deportation cases. Right. But it also means more people get deported in the first place. But Lord, this is the thing. It sounds like this is one of many, many levers that the Trump administration has been pulling to increase the number of overall deportations. But you cover this tough 24/7. So I've been wondering what is the most surprising to you in recent weeks? Like, what does the deportation picture look like overall right now? Right. So this ruling comes as, you know, we are days away from the midterm elections. We know that immigration remains a top issue for voters. And the Trump administration has continued its aggressive immigration enforcement agenda. We have seen an increase in third country's deportations. Those are removals of migrants to countries other than their own alongside just to continue to enforcement actions across the country. And now this latest order adds to the administration's tools to expand deportations and detention. And to what advocates say is an overhaul of the immigration court system. Really interesting. All right. Outlaw of Romero covering immigration. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Brad. Okay. One more quick break. When we come back, you don't need a leash for this dog walking gig. You need a remote control. One last thing is next. Today, I want to tell you about our friends at Lug. If you're traveling the season, whether you're seeing family or catching some son in a tropical destination, Lug can help you and your essentials get everywhere you need to go. Lug makes sturdy premium quality hard-sided wheelie bags for all kinds of travel. The hard shell means your stuff stays protected no matter what. No more worrying that your souvenirs will get destroyed when your bag inevitably gets tossed around by the ground crew. With four smooth 360-degree spinner wheels, it rolls on all surfaces like a dream. And the TSA approved combination lock keeps your belongings secure from the moment you hand off your bag at the airport to the moment you open it up in the hotel. 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She's a bit old, she's a bit overweight, and she's got one eye. It can take 10 minutes to go a hundred feet. Anyone could do this. Well, recently an advertisement started making the rounds in San Francisco, specifically in the neighborhood they called Dog Patch, offering to pay dog walkers 20 bucks an hour. They weren't there to walk dogs though. They were there to walk robot dogs. I don't really see too much of a difference between robot dogs and real dogs. This is Stosh Pommature, the 26 year old founder of a tech firm called Dimensional, which creates open source operating systems for robotic devices. We are currently the most popular operating system for kind of humanoid and quadrupeds in robot arms. Kind of similar to Windows is the most popular operating system for computers. And he says the mission here was not as bonkers as it might have appeared from the outside. He believes more tasks can be done by robots, particularly the tasks that are destroying people's bodies. My dad's a plumber. I spent like all my household years doing plumbing and seeing what that was like. And I think that in particular is a great profession, but there's many places in which like you're crawling into a crawl space or like running a drain snake. The hope he says is to eventually have AI agents control these robots in lots of different jobs. And while the word robot might evoke images of humanoids on two legs, four-legged dog-like robots are actually better suited to many of these tasks. They balance more easily. They can move faster. They can get into tighter spaces. And unlike those little rolling robots that deliver groceries, they don't get stranded by a six-inch high curb. But it's tough to program robotic dogs to roam the sidewalks, delivering groceries if they've never been on the sidewalks, which is how you get dozens of dogwalkers in dog patch hovering over four-legged friends made of metal. These dogs did not bark that didn't make any mess. They do have to be carried if their battery runs out. They also don't make the average passerby go, "Oh, cute." What did people think? Well, I think like we had a few occasions where people were like openly hostile. Think about the implications here. Robots have physical bodies. Some of those bodies have superhuman strength and stamina. Well, once they're programmed by AI, you're also giving them a kind of brain. And we know none of this technology is foolproof. Are we just bringing Frankenstein's monster to life? Pommester says it's a legitimate concern. Part of why we started this company and we started as an open source company was because we saw so many people just throwing agents on harder with no safety. Which is why he says he's the good guy in the scenario. Like if robots are going to perform human tasks, you better make sure there are humans overseeing them at first hence the dogwalkers. But the question is, will there come a point where you don't need humans anywhere in the equation? At what point will a robot dog show up at my door ready to take my real dog Lola on a walk? Also, if San Franciscans are confused by a new tech experiment, like if they're passing by being like, "Whoa, this place is weird." That tells you something, right? All right, I got to go take Lola off the block so I'll be back in an hour. I'm Brad Milky, see you tomorrow. Okay, you want me to go for a walk? Okay. From the producers of the Traders comes the all-new Hulu original series The Mom. Welcome to Italy! Hosted by Parker Posey, 12 celebrities will compete in the ultimate game of power. You'll be doing jobs. Let's go! The darn decides who gets paid and who gets taken out. You do what you gotta do. Let the games begin. The all-new original series The Mom. New episodes Mondays. Streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers turns apply. 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