Convenience Big Store: A Trumpy day in Texas

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Today, it's all about Trump, who evidently cannot resist one final cameo in Texas as early voting starts — even when he's not on the ballot.

Donald Trump stands in the foreground in a long black coat with a red tie, holding what appears to be a red MAGA hat. In the background is a crowd of people, a row of American flags and the dark black of a night sky.

Starring Trump, as himself

1. FLASHBACK TO JANUARY: Trump holds a rally in Conroe, drawing an estimated 70,000 people to the fairgrounds in conservative Montgomery County, the biggest crowd the sheriff recalls ever having seen there.

Saturday's rally in Robstown outside Corpus Christi probably won't draw so many people and cars, but it's on the eve of early voting in the Nov. 8 midterms, and the GOP appears closer than ever to wresting a long-blue congressional seat away from the Democrats.

What's his motivation? Trump's January visit came a few weeks before early voting started, so perhaps this weekend is part of that pattern. In South Texas, Trump could also get some credit for Republican Monica De La Cruz's potential victory. Her race is in the border district the GOP has its best chance of flipping.

What about Joe? Hard to imagine President Joe Biden drawing a crowd of 70,000 people to wait at a fairgrounds all day to see him. Even the Texas Democratic party kept Biden at arm's length during the state convention in July, but that was when gas was $4 a gallon.

2. THE BATTLE OF HOUSTON: A showdown over the county budget is giving voters clear dividing lines between Democratic Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Republican Alexandra del Moral Mealer, write Chronicle reporters Jasper Scherer and Jen Rice.

In 30 words or less: Hidalgo is calling for expanding the county's role into child care, housing stability, and criminal justice reform. Mealer wants to hire 1,000 more police officers in a get-back-to-basics push.

Check out this 22-minute video of the candidates making their pitches to the Chronicle's Editorial Board.

More election coverage

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3. O'ROURKE AND THE FIFTH WARD: Beto O'Rourke rode a wave of anti-Trump outrage in his campaign for U.S. Senate during the 2018 midterms, and pulled thousands of more votes from Texas Black communities than Wendy Davis did in 2014. But as he runs for governor, with a Democrat in the White House and market watchers across the nation warning of a looming recession, will those same voters turn out in 2022?

O'Rourke is almost certain to lose if they stay home, and he knows it. That's why he's working with neighborhood and local government leaders in the Fifth Ward and a half-dozen other urban areas across the state to boost turnout. Polls show O'Rourke winning 90 percent of Black voters.

Back in Abbott's camp: A spokeswoman says the governor has "substantial outreach and engagement of Black voters" and is connecting with them "directly about important issues facing the state."

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