Happy Sunday, and welcome to the RedState Weekly Briefing — where we take a quick look at the week’s most-viewed stories in case you missed any of them. What do you suppose caught people's attention as we head down the homestretch into the midterms? Grab a cup of coffee (or something stronger if you're so inclined) and sit down with this 21st-century Weekend Edition of your favorite (online) publication.
#1 - Ilhan Omar's Cover Story May Be Blown: Investigators Find Something Is Strangely 'Missing' — by Kyle Becker
Ilhan Omar is missing a lot of things in her cover story that she was just a poor "child refugee" escaping Somalia to find freedom in the United States.
If all of these swirling investigations lead to criminal charges, Omar may find herself back in her country of origin, wishing she had been more grateful for America's hospitality
#2 - Big Endorsement for Paxton in Critical TX Senate Race Is Not Going to Make Talarico Happy — by Nick Arama
It's hard to believe that anyone would support the Democrat candidate James Talarico. There's so much on the record besides his extreme statements and actions — things like missing 800+ votes in the state legislature and wanting a promotion after that. Yet, he's been trying to sell himself as a moderate, as we saw during his CNN town hall, and claiming things like he never called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when he did. There's enough there for folks in Texas to see what a slippery character he actually is.
Now Paxton may just have been given a big boost in the state with a critical endorsement — from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
#3 - Hillary Clinton Issues Chilling Statement About Dems' Intentions After the Next Election — by Kyle Becker
And the timing of Clinton's remarks is particularly rich. Just days ago, her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was lecturing Republicans about partisan rhetoric while campaigning for Democrats in Florida.
"If you think you can get elected on the cheap, you do it by demonizing whoever you're running against," he complained.
Apparently, Americans are supposed to take lectures about political restraint from one Clinton while the other discusses expanding the nation's highest court when Democrats have the political power to do it.
#4 - CBS Tries to Trap Vance With Guilfoyle Question, but They Go Down in Flames From His Great Reply — by Nick Arama
It really wasn't much of a trap; all he had to do was answer honestly, and it made the question look pretty silly. Vance wasn't biting at what Tony Dokupil was laying out there.
Vice President JD Vance DOESN’T HOLD BACK after being PRESSED by CBS News over allegations of CORRUPTION by former U.S. Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle. “First of all, if somebody's selling access to the White House, that's disgusting and despicable and they should suffer consequences.” “I want to make those judgments based on the facts and not based on a random news media report that I read.” https://t.co/Lhsy4IAagL
— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) October 16, 2026"First of all, if somebody's selling access to the White House, that's disgusting and despicable and they should suffer consequences," Vance responded.
He went on to say, "I want to make those judgments based on the facts and not based on a random news media report that I read."
#5 - Reporter Reveals What He's Been Told About Michigan Polling in Latest Concerning Sign for El-Sayed — by Sister Toldjah
I mean, pretty much every poll in July showed him handily beating his opponent, Democrat Rep. Haley Stevens (MI-11), by comfortable margins. Instead, he barely squeaked by in what turned out to be a nail-biter. Out of over 1.5 million votes cast in the Democrat Senate primary, he won by less than 13,000.
With all of that in mind, we turn to comments made on Monday by New York Times national reporter Jeremy Peters, who, as a Michigan native, has been following this race closely. On the Morning Joe program of all places, he, too, pointed to the real possibility that El-Sayed's support may be overstated and Rogers' support underestimated based on what he's seen and heard in Michigan:
“One of the factors that is really worth paying closer attention to are the number of Democrats, lifelong Jewish Democrats, especially in the Detroit suburbs, who are saying for the first time in their lives they’re voting Republican,” Peters said. “That’s a big deal.”
[...]
On Monday, Peters reported the polls may be overestimating El-Sayed’s odds of winning by oversampling college-educated voters. The Michigan native added he has heard people are reluctant to tell pollsters they’re going to be voting for a Republican for the first time in their lives.
What were your favorite RedState stories this week? Let us know in the Comments!