Joe Biden’s campaign will be running television ads in El Paso, San Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth heading into Election Day. The Democratic nominee for vice president, Kamala Harris, is planning a visit to Texas during the homestretch of the campaign. And polls show the Biden-Harris ticket within striking distance — and, in some surveys, ahead — in the traditionally Republican state.

Less than a week out from Election Day and President Donald Trump is playing catch-up. In 2016, he won 30 states (and Maine's 2nd Congressional District) and their 306 electoral votes. Today, just 20 states, worth 125 electoral votes, are safely in his column. Former Vice President Joe Biden is holding 24 states worth 290 electoral votes in his column.

Some pundits and a whole lot of excited Democrats project the once fiery-red Lone Star State to be on the verge of going blue — or at least turning a shade of purple. Such a flip would upend national politics and threaten to put Republicans out of reach of the White House for a generation; Texas’s 38 electoral votes put it just behind California, which has 55, for the most. But the battle for Texas is likely to be a prolonged affair, a multiyear war of attrition that both parties are gearing up for.