Daily Dispatch 1/15/26: Record Democratic Fundraising, New Senate Polling, And More

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

The Texas House Democratic Committee reports a record $2.2 million fundraising windfall in 2025, fueled largely by the summer Democratic House quorum break: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/01/15/texas-house-democratic-caucus-2-2-million-fundraising/

New Emerson College polling shows a nine point lead for Austin State Rep. James Talarico over Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic race for Senate, while incumbent Senator John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton remain in a low-scoring virtual tie: https://emersoncollegepolling.com/texas-2026-poll/

...Congresswoman Crockett put on a masterclass in destroying conspiracy theories yesterday, taking on January 6th types: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyHS28RsmQU

...While Rep. Talarico appeared this week on the New York Times' Ezra Klein Show: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-james-talarico.html

The special election runoff for the Texas Senate in Tarrant County's Senate District 9 is increasingly seen as a bellwether for the following primary and general midterm elections: https://fortworthreport.org/2026/01/14/a-bellwether-election-tarrants-texas-senate-runoff-draws-national-attention/

Local resistance in Hutchins, Texas is rising in relation to a massive planned "human warehouse" being developed there by Donald Trump's ICE. Initial report: https://baptistnews.com/article/trump-preparing-to-warehouse-immigrants-like-cargo/

...And an update: https://baptistnews.com/article/update-on-proposed-human-warehouse-in-texas/

Early voting in the March primary starts in mere weeks, on February 17 - the time to research your ballot is right now: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2026/texas-march-2026-primary-ballot/?_bhlid=7d8eca3d2a16adc7c9b44185414443fa32be6d84⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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