27 OCT 26 SITREP

• Former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia is back in California after her short stint in the administration. She said media attacks had sought to distract her from communicating President Donald Trump’s actions and that she had enjoyed continuing to advocate for him outside the White House. She also hinted at an upcoming announcement without revealing the details.
• Trump is in Texas today for two campaign stops supporting Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton against Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico. Zacharia questioned polling showing a close race and highlighted Trump’s announcement of an initial Venezuelan oil delivery under an agreement she put at 65 billion barrels. She argued that the deal would supply Texas with energy, lower prices, and advance energy independence.
• Zacharia credited Paxton and Texas Governor Abbott with deploying the National Guard, installing razor wire, patrolling the border, and pursuing wall construction during the Biden administration. She said the Democratic National Committee under chairman Ken Martin had adopted a platform of abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and challenged Talarico to clarify his position.
• In Michigan, Zacharia criticized Democratic Senate candidate Abdul Al-Sayed’s support for abolishing ICE and his comparison of cars to cigarettes, questioning his automotive union endorsement. She credited Trump’s tariffs and agreements with automakers Ford and GM with strengthening manufacturing. She also praised Vice President JD Vance’s campaigning in Ohio, Michigan, Nebraska, and Alaska, contrasting his activity with former Vice President Mike Pence’s approach during the 2018 midterms.

• Approximately 40 million Americans have already voted, with turnout presenting different challenges across competitive states. Some Democratic counties in Texas had produced stronger early turnout than Republican counties, prompting Republican appeals to cast ballots before election day. In Michigan, more than 16 percent of registered voters had returned ballots or voted early in person, while Detroit opened early voting with record numbers over the weekend.
• Republican organizing group Turning Point Action conducted an extensive Arizona ballot chasing operation targeting committed supporters and voters less likely to participate. Turning Point Action strategist RC Maxwell reported Republican advantages of approximately five to six percentage points in some recent ballot batches. In Maricopa County, he estimated that Republicans were approximately three percentage points above their 2022 position while Democrats were down. He identified the next two days before Arizona’s mail ballot return deadline as an important test of whether that advantage would hold.
• Turning Point Action’s New Hampshire operation included election day rides to polling places and paid opportunities to encourage voting outside polling locations. The effort targeted workers heading home, urging them to vote before finishing their commute. The organization had begun investing in New Hampshire and Nevada in 2024. Fellow organizing groups Citizens Alliance and Early Vote Action also supplied ground personnel, while Republican political spending groups Senate Leadership Fund and MAGA Inc. committed substantial campaign funding.
• Republican losses in Arizona in 2022 prompted a stronger emphasis on door knocking, repeated personal contact, and getting ballots submitted under existing election rules. The effort required an estimated five to seven contacts to bring even a committed supporter to the polls during midterms. Maxwell argued that continued Republican resistance to early voting had weakened participation in states where the practice had not been consistently encouraged.

• Author Joshua Lisec, who lives in Dayton, spent ten weeks in neighboring Springfield, Ohio, investigating residents’ experiences with Haitian migration over approximately five years. He interviewed more than 400 longtime residents and spent time within the Haitian community. He gathered complaints about employment, schools, housing, traffic, insurance premiums, public safety, and public health.
• Dangerous driving was the most frequent complaint Lisec encountered, including allegations that Haitian motorists disregarded road signs and traffic rules. He criticized media coverage that emphasized successfully assimilated Haitian families, arguing that it had overlooked residents reporting problems with housing, schools, employment, and neighborhood safety.
• A Springfield landlord told Lisec that a family had moved out of a home and sublet it to more than 12 relatives and acquaintances, leaving approximately 15 Haitian occupants living there. According to the landlord’s account, the occupants had stripped the property bare and raised rodents inside it. The purpose of raising the rodents remained unclear.
• Ohio Governor Mike DeWine publicly expressed support for Haitian neighbors, while Lisec accused him of putting migrants’ interests ahead of existing residents’ welfare. Lisec also alleged that churches were shielding Haitians without legal status from ICE arrest and deportation, justifying their actions through civil disobedience and obligations to fellow Christians. Lisec rejected that argument and advocated returning migrants to their countries of origin.