Happy Wednesday! Your path can be rerouted.

☀️ Today's weather: Sunny, with a high of 83.

🎵 Sounds like: "I Walk the Line"

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🏒 Situational awareness: The Dallas Stars have contributed nearly $1 million to a PAC supporting Plano's Proposition A, which would approve up to five taxes to fund a city-owned arena for the team, the DMN reports.

Today’s newsletter is 780 electable words — a 3-minute read.

Gov. Greg Abbott has reversed course on key policy issues during his reelection campaign, as his critics have accused him of putting corporate interests above Texans.

Why it matters: Facing an unexpectedly tough challenge from Democrat Gina Hinojosa, Abbott has changed his tune on data centers, Flock cameras and the border wall.

Catch up quick: Not quite a year ago, Abbott called Texas the "epicenter of AI development" as he joined Google to announce a $40 billion investment in three data center campuses in the state.

• Starting in June, however, as rural Texans pushed back on data centers, Abbott issued a series of directives ostensibly intended to limit the construction of new data centers. (Despite that, data center developers have continued to obtain state permits.)
• In August, Abbott blocked state agencies from spending money for Flock license plate readers. But since 2023, a little-known state board appointed mostly by Abbott has directed $30 million in fees from Texans' auto insurance toward the purchase of 3,200 Flock cameras, the Texas Tribune reported.
• Also in August, Abbott claimed credit for a halt to federal border barrier construction in Big Bend National Park — even though he has lauded President Trump's approach to border security.

What they're saying: "These are political games," Hinojosa told CNN in August about Abbott's moratorium on data centers.

• Abbott "knows he's in trouble, he sees the same polling that we see."
• Abbott's campaign and press office didn't reply to interview requests.

Between the lines: "Abbott's evolving positions have nothing to do with Democrats, but shoring up his position among Republicans who have shown weak engagement throughout this cycle," Joshua Blank, research director for the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, tells Axios.

• "If Abbott manages to reengage those Republicans, part of that story will be his adept navigation of a difficult issue environment," Blank says.

Flashback: Abbott has shown himself politically malleable before. In 2021, Abbott co-opted some of the positions of former state Sen. Don Huffines, who was mounting a primary challenge from Abbott's right.

What the polls say

Buyers and sellers can both find an edge in Dallas's housing market. It just depends where you are, new Redfin data shows.

The big picture: Sellers outnumber buyers across the metro area by 122% — a complete reversal from the buying frenzy between 2020 and 2022, per Redfin.

Zoom in: Broken down by area, the numbers look very different.

• In Carrollton, for example, a growing share of listings are seeing price cuts.
• Meanwhile, in Plano, the supply of available properties has dropped compared to a year ago.

💵 Dallas spent $800,000 on the Republican midterm convention last month — but it's still unclear if the host committee or Republican Party will reimburse the city for public safety costs. (DMN)

🚨 Former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant was cited for a misdemeanor assault following a traffic dispute in Southlake. (NBC5)

🤖 AI hardware company Groq is moving its headquarters to Dallas. (D Magazine)

💸 Abbott raised $26 million in the latest campaign finance period, the most he's reported this election cycle. Hinojosa raised $17.5 million. (Texas Tribune)

• About one-fifth of Abbott's recent haul came from Elon Musk.

North Texas kids will have a little more daylight than trick-or-treaters in much of the rest of the country.

Why it matters: Whether your goblins prefer daylight or darkness, local sunset times can help you find the sweet spot for trick-or-treating.

By the numbers: The sun will set around 6:36pm in Dallas on Halloween.

• That's compared to before 6pm in nearly a quarter of U.S. counties.

What's next: The next day, much of the country will shift clocks back one hour.

• Sunday marks the end of daylight saving time, and the start of much earlier sunsets all around. Just as the weather is finally getting nice enough to enjoy being outside after work!

This newsletter was edited by Bob Gee.

Our picks:

💃 Naheed is out.

👩🏻‍💻 Megan is working on stories.

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