(The Center Square) – A new poll has Republicans ahead in key statewide races by slim margins. Several key races are statistically tied.
The University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs poll also posted a key benchmark not addressed by other polls: many say they aren’t confident in the election process or the state’s or counties’ administration of it.
Only 25% of Texas likely voters say they are “very confident that the November 2026 election will be conducted fairly and accurately” while 45% say they are somewhat confident, 22% not too confident, and 8% not at all confident, according to the new poll.
Only half of Texas likely voters say they are very confident that all U.S. citizens who want to vote in the November 2026 election will be able to do so; 27% said they are somewhat confident, 17% not too confident, and 6% not at all confident.
The sentiment comes after problems have been reported for months with the state’s voter registration system that left a backlog of more than 500,000 registrations in counties statewide. The state has since said the problem is corrected and a record more than 19 million Texans are registered to vote, The Center Square reported.
The majority polled also expressed concern about noncitizens voting.
The majority polled, 86%, support requiring all voters to show a photo ID when voting in person; 76% support automatically registering all U.S. citizens to vote; 52% support having federal law enforcement officers at polling locations.
The survey contacted 2,000 Texas registered voters expected to vote in the November 2026 midterm elections. It has a margin of error of +/- 2.19%.
When it comes to the direction of the country, 59% polled said the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction; 55% said Texas is.
Fifty-four percent of likely Texas voters polled said they have an unfavorable opinion of President Donald Trump, after Trump won Texas three times. Trump’s economic policies have been identified in multiple polls as the top reason why many Texas voters have soured on him and his endorsed candidates, The Center Square reported.
Similar to other polls, the Hobby poll has statewide races statistically tied. The difference it is has Republicans leading in all but one race, instead of Democrats.
In the race for governor, incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is leading his Democratic opponent state Rep. Gina Hinojosa 49% to 46%.
In the race for lieutenant governor, incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is leading Democrat state Rep. Vikki Goodwin 47% to 42%.
In the race for attorney general, two state senators are running, with Republican Mayes Middleton leading Democrat Nathan Johnson 47% to 42%.
In the race for Texas comptroller, incumbent Republican Don Huffines is leading Democrat state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt 47% to 40%.
In the race for Texas Land Commissioner, incumbent Republican Dawn Buckingham is leading Democrat Benjamin Flores 47% to 40%.
In the race for Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Republican Nate Sheets is leading Democrat Clayton Tucker 46% to 40%.
In the race for Texas Railroad Commissioner, Republican Bo French is leading Democrat Jon Rosenthal 45% to 43%.
The outlier is the U.S. Senate race where Democrat state Rep. James Talarico is leading Attorney General Ken Paxton, 48% to 46%. This is consistent with every poll conducted in Texas and nationally. The only difference is the margin by which Talarico is leading Paxton.
Early voting is underway through Oct. 30.
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(The Center Square) - Federal regulators authorized initial construction Tuesday on a southwest Louisiana gas storage project and related infrastructure that developer Black Bayou Energy Hub LLC says represents a planned $1.6 billion investment.The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Oct. 20 limited notice to proceed, listed under docket CP24-494-000, authorizes Black Bayou Gas Storage LLC, a subsidiary of Black Bayou Energy Hub, to begin construction of certain facilities. The project, backed by global energy trader Mercuria, includes a 720-acre site in Cameron Parish about 7 miles east of the Louisiana-Texas border.In a Sept. 10, 2026, announcement, Louisiana Economic Development said the state offered the company $1 million for infrastructure improvements and workforce assistance. LED said the company is also expected to participate in the state’s High Impact Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs. The announcement did not specify the value of those anticipated benefits.LED estimates the project will create 23 direct jobs and 35 indirect jobs across southwest Louisiana and Acadiana and support more than 1,000 temporary jobs at peak construction.“Receiving FERC certification is a key inflection point for the Black Bayou Energy Hub,” said Boris Bystrov, managing director of investments at Mercuria, in an Oct. 1, 2025, statement about the earlier certificate approval. “Strategic infrastructure projects like this are essential to our broader mission of enhancing market efficiency and supporting the energy transition. We are proud to back the development of this highly flexible and commercially significant asset in the heart of the U.S. Gulf Coast.”The construction authorization is separate from a capacity amendment that the company says FERC approved to increase the project’s working gas capacity from 34.7 billion to 44.4 billion cubic feet.Tuesday's approval allows the developer to begin work on aboveground buildings, well pads and the leaching plants required to carve storage space in the subterranean salt dome. The authorization also covers a high-capacity compressor station and 18 freshwater and saltwater disposal wells needed to create the underground caverns.The Black Bayou storage hub will connect directly to 10 major interstate natural gas pipelines, according to the developer’s federal regulatory filing. Those pipelines supply utilities across the eastern half of the country, industrial manufacturers and 10 liquefied natural gas export plants operating or under construction within a 25-mile radius.The company says current and planned LNG facilities within 25 miles represent more than 30 billion cubic feet per day of gas demand, while industrial projects with high energy needs and growing power generation at regional utilities also compete for supply.The Black Bayou hub's planned high deliverability rates would allow its operators to pull up to 1.6 billion cubic feet of gas per day off the interstate natural gas pipeline network for underground storage when supplies are plentiful. Alternatively, during extreme weather, the facility could rapidly deliver up to 2 billion cubic feet per day back into the regional market, which the developer says could help moderate price spikes.Lafayette-based Black Bayou Energy Hub expects to begin commercial storage of gas in two salt caverns in 2028 with construction on all four planned caverns extending through 2030.“More than $48 billion in LNG projects have been announced in Louisiana since 2024, and investment at that scale creates demand for the infrastructure and businesses needed to support it,” Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan B. Bourgeois said in the Sept. 10 announcement. “Black Bayou Energy Hub is a direct result of that momentum and an investment in sustaining it. This project strengthens the natural gas infrastructure that will serve major projects already underway while increasing Louisiana’s capacity to compete for what comes next.”
(The Center Square) – Two U.S. House committees are jointly subpoenaing the New Jersey State Department, accusing the state of not fully cooperating with an investigation into what it says are the more than 6,000 noncitizens recently found on the state’s voter rolls.
(The Center Square) - According to the former executive director of the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline, the state’s judicial branch has covered up judicial misconduct since 2018.
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