New episodes of State of Texas are on KXAN or the KXAN+ app every Sunday at 8:30 a.m. Don’t want to wait? Scroll down to continue watching this week’s segments now.

AUSTIN (Nexstar) – Voters are just a few weeks away from a runoff election that could signal a major shakeup in Texas politics. The runoff will determine whether incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn will get the chance to defend his seat in the November election.

New polling shows a tight race between Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton. The Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston surveyed 1,200 likely Republican runoff voters between April 28 and May 1. The results show Paxton with 48% support and 45% support for Cornyn. The margin of error for the poll is +/- 2.83%

Paxton leads Cornyn, and Middleton leads Roy in poll on Texas Republican runoff races

Mark P. Jones, political science fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and a senior research fellow at the Hobby School noted that Paxton picked up a notably larger share of the support from voters who cast a ballot in March for third-place finisher Wesley Hunt, with 53% of Hunt voters backing Paxton and 34% opting for Cornyn in the runoff.

With both candidates running neck-and-neck, an endorsement from President Trump could change the entire race.

“Trump set a precedent with his endorsement of (Republican Comptroller nominee) Don Huffines and (incumbent Agriculture Commissioner) Sid Miller back in March, where he was willing to wait until the last day of early voting… until dawn on Election Day, May 26, we can’t actually rule out a Donald Trump endorsement,” Jones said.

While Huffines won in a landslide, Miller lost his race to Nate Sheets, a businessman endorsed by Gov. Greg Abbott.

“One would assume that if he is going to endorse, he would do so before the start of early voting,” Jones said. “(Miller) might’ve been successful had Donald Trump endorsed him before early voting started, rather than when it was effectively over.”

The winner of the Republican runoff will face Democrat James Talarico in November. A separate poll from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas showed Talarico leading both Cornyn and Paxton in hypothetical head-to-head race.

ICE detains high school senior weeks before graduation

An Austin Independent School District high school senior was detained by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement while driving home from his job at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen earlier this month, according to his family and others familiar with the situation.

Luis Fernando Cabrera Chavarria, 18, is a senior and the goalie on the varsity soccer team at Northeast Early College High School. Cabrera Chavarria was set to graduate in June, according to his sister and soccer coach. Government records show he is now being held at Karnes County Immigration Processing Center.

INVESTIGATION: ICE detains Austin ISD high school senior weeks before graduation

Austin ISD officials told KXAN they are aware of the report that a student was detained by federal immigration officials, but said that because the incident happened off campus, they were limited in the information they could confirm or provide.

ICE data shows, as of March 2026, most people detained inside Karnes County Immigration Processing Center, where Cabrera Chavarria is currently being held, do not have criminal histories. The latest data available shows, as of March 10, there were nearly 1,000 people detained in Karnes – 47 of whom are convicted criminals.

Texas plans crackdown as solar complaints rise

Texas is leading the way in solar power installations, but KXAN investigators found a growing number of Texans are filing solar panel-related complaints with the Office of the Texas Attorney General.

INVESTIGATION: Texans file thousands of complaints over solar panel deals; state oversight promised

Some consumers have even turned to KXAN for help trying to understand long-term contracts. State lawmakers have heard concerns too, and promise oversight is coming with key legislations which became laws last year.

Multi-million dollar plan aims to boost training for Texas electrical workers

Data center construction is booming in Texas. But investors behind those projects are having difficulty finding skilled workers to build the centers. Now, one of the largest private equity firms in the world is trying to fix the problem.

“As the largest investor in infrastructure, we hear in every project, ‘We don’t have enough workers. We can’t find the workers. We’re challenged. We’re going to have delays,” BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said. “When you have delays in your projects, that means it costs more money.”

BlackRock invests $30M in Texas electrician training amidst data center boom

It’s part of the reason BlackRock launched a nationwide “Future Builders” initiative in March to the tune of $100 million. On Wednesday, $30 million went towards grants to various Texas technical colleges to help train more electricians.

“I want to thank Larry Fink and BlackRock for what they’re doing,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said. The two shared a stage at Texas State Technical College (TSTC) in Waco on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate the investment and discuss the future of trade professions. “Electricians alone, I hear we need something like 10,000 of them in the state of Texas as we speak right now, even more in the future.”

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.