The Election Is on Tuesday. Here Are 15 of Our Best Reads.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/03/us/politics/midterm-election-news.html

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For the last 25 years, a blue Texas has seemed both inevitable and impossible. Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke see that very differently.

[Also read: Mr. O’Rourke may benefit from an unlikely support group: white evangelical women.]

After two high-profile losses on the national stage, a Senate bid was too good to pass up, even if it means dealing with Donald Trump.

As women run for Congress and state offices this year, they want to campaign and win on their own terms. Some are coming for their own party. And many are not willing to wait.

Phil Bredesen, the Democrat, has a centrist approach in a state that has traditionally embraced moderates. His campaign is testing whether that is still viable in Tennessee.

After President Trump’s popularity on social media helped propel him to an upset victory in 2016, Democrats vowed to catch up. Two years later, their efforts appear to be paying off.

Focused largely on economic issues, they constitute a potential bulwark for President Trump in many of the suburban districts that will determine control of the House.

[Also read: In 2017, signs began to appear that elsewhere in the suburbs, some voters were in open revolt against Mr. Trump.]

Disputes over politics have divided Americans’ homes, strained marriages, ruined friendships and invaded the workplace.

Many across America say no. “Stay-at-home moms in Nebraska who have a limited grocery budget to live off of — no politician can understand that,” one woman said.

Mobilized by the nation’s divisions on race and Donald Trump’s presidency, black women are using networks forged in segregation to turn out voters.

Franklin Graham brings Jesus — and a conservative political message — to a state with a vast pool of evangelical voters.

It’s a theme heard over and over again: Many supporters say they defend Mr. Trump even with some misgivings because they feel criticism of him is constantly overblown.

[Also read: Fans of the conservative provocateur Dinesh D’Souza said his new film was a confirmation of a worldview they feel is often ridiculed.]

Two friends in Mississippi, who agree on next to nothing about politics, navigate their differences as part of their daily shifts.

On the road with the students who became activists after a mass shooting at their school in Florida.

Ms. Rosen, a first-term congresswoman, is running against Senator Dean Heller, one of the most endangered Republican incumbents in November.

After years of being told to put on a suit and recite their résumé, women running for office are now revealing themselves in more complex ways.