Reporting Texas
News and features from UT-Austin's School of Journalism
byLucas Armbruster
Inside the Travis County Democratic Party headquarters on Banister Lane, a constant hum of overlapping voices fills the room. Volunteers sit at folding tables, holding their phones and watching their laptop screens automatically cycle through numbers using Scale to Win, a cloud-based predictive phone dialing system.
“This is really an important time, and I’m really hoping for some change,” said George Vance McGee, a Travis County Democratic Party volunteer who returned to phone banking this election cycle after decades away from the headsets.
In the days before the Nov. 3 election, this high-volume dialer setup at Banister Lane represented the traditional, centralized approach of campaign field strategy. The Travis County Republican Party ran a different operation, highlighting two contrasting voter-mobilization strategies in Central Texas.
For phone banking volunteers, the challenge isn’t just navigating technical difficulties, but also weathering the emotional consequences of cold outreach. Out of every 10 calls dialed, only two or three result in an actual pick-up. The rest vanish into voicemails, disconnected numbers, or incorrect records.
byAdele Doat
A frenzied crowd of supporters met Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico as he emerged from the Whataburger on Guadalupe Street after an October campaign rally at the University of Texas at Austin. Whataburger is not the only emblematic Texas food brand Talarico has featured on his Instagram profile in the final stretch of the 2026 midterm election campaign. Last week, he also stopped by a H-E-B grocery store, a Mr. Taco restaurant and a Buc-ee’s. In contrast, Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton, meanwhile, has centered his social media presence on rallies featuring an abundance of American and Texas flags.
bySaile Aranda
Burning candles and bright orange marigolds decorate San Jose Cemetery II as guests walk through the smoke of copal incense on the Day of the Dead, a Mexican tradition celebrated annually on Nov. 1 and 2 for more than 3,000 years.
Joaquin Rodriguez, founder of San Jose Montopolis Cemetery Association, said he thinks these traditions have been happening for so long because it’s a way of having a common language within the community.
Rodriguez, who was adopted, said he always felt connected to Mexican culture although it was never practiced in his home. As an adult, he sought out connections to his birth family and ancestors, which helped him find his heritage.
byAlly Bonsall
More than 2,000 dachshunds filled the grounds of Sherwood Forest Faire on Halloween for the fourth annual Texas WienerFest.
Halloween morning stirred with the pitter-patter of thousands of paws. Adorned in costumes, the tiny dogs traipsed through the morning dew at Sherwood Forest Faire, their low-rider stomachs mere inches from the grass, with their excited owners in tow.
“It’s kind of like this weird little wiener community,” dachshund owner Nicole Brooks said.
