PHOTO ESSAY: A Texas Trump voter, struggling with cancer and medical bills, breaks party ranks

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — The Nov. 3 election is fast approaching at a moment when some Republican voters, frustrated by ever-rising prices, could turn on their party.

Cindy Banda, a Texan and three-time supporter of President Donald Trump, is one of them.

For Banda, 46, her political shift began after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

For more than a year, through a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation treatment, the single mother with six children in her care had to stop working even as her medical debt rose beyond $25,000.

The experience forced her into a grueling day-to-day financial scramble.

Her goal? “Keep the house. Keep the cars. And just keep the kids stable.”

To do that costs roughly $7,000 a month, exacerbated the rising tide of other costs, chief among them gas and groceries.

Banda tries not to dwell on death and debt because, she says, “it’ll consume you.”

She smothers those thoughts beneath her bubbly demeanor and avoids being alone. But that truce, between her insistence on positivity and the fears that it covers, is brittle.

Certain thoughts still arrive uninvited. Banda’s late sister, Melissa, didn’t have life insurance when she was killed. Banda, who cares for Melissa’s three children in addition to three of her own, makes sure it’s a payment she never misses.

“Sometimes I think, and I shouldn’t think like this, but I’m worth more gone than here,” she said one day, her eyes red and welling beneath her blue eyeliner.

“Obviously, the goal is not that, the goal is to beat it,” she continued, “to keep the house and keep the cars.”

And so far she has, the generosity of others helping keep her just beyond the reach of each month’s tide of bills.

That’s included financial help from the father of her 9-year-old, as well as Banda’s own father. Her high school classmates fundraised by selling food from a roadside tent. Two GoFundMe fundraisers raised near $30,000.

Still, the months of uncertainty took their own sleepless toll, and she recently returned to work selling internet services to businesses door to door, just before the midterms.

A lifelong Christian, Banda had voted her anti-abortion stance in past elections.

She voted for Trump in each of his campaigns, but two years into his second term, she has found no respite from high prices.

So when James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, visited one of Banda’s fundraisers — speaking about his diabetes and his work in the Statehouse to lower the price of insulin — it moved her.

Talarico supports a law guaranteeing abortion access nationwide, which Banda has voted against for years. But after she slid into debt to stay alive, Banda’s anti-abortion concerns have been superseded by costs.

“Because it’s what I’m living,” she said. “I’m living it.”

Banda cast an early ballot for Talarico.

“Never voted Democrat before today!!” she wrote in a text with blue heart emoji.

This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.

Cindy Banda leaves a flyer advertising Spectrum services near the door of Emporia Academy and Spa, Sept. 14, 2026, in McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Cindy Banda, who is battling cancer, visits the tomb of her sister, Melissa Banda, at Funeraria del Angel Highland Funeral Home and Memorial Park, Sept. 15, 2026, in Weslaco, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Richard "Trey" Ford III, left and his sister, Kimberly, seated at right, gather at the tomb of their mother, Melissa Banda, with fellow family members, Victoria, from seated left, Alejandra and Aaliyah Banda at Funeraria del Angel Highland Funeral Home and Memorial Park, Sept. 15, 2026, in Weslaco, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Cindy Banda, left, helps her father, Fidel Banda, put in new flowers by his daughter's tomb plate at Funeraria del Angel Highland Funeral Home and Memorial Park, Sept. 15, 2026, in Weslaco, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Richard "Trey" Ford III touches his mother's tomb plate at Funeraria del Angel Highland Funeral Home and Memorial Park, Sept. 15, 2026, in Weslaco, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

American flags fly over graves at Funeraria del Angel Highland Funeral Home and Memorial Park, where Melissa Banda is entombed, Sept. 17, 2026, in Weslaco, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Siblings Kimberly Ford and Richard "Trey" Ford III shop for flowers at Floreria Lee for their mother's tomb plate, Sept. 14, 2026, in McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Fidel Banda, right, is greeted by his grandchildren, Kimberly Ford, from right, Kathryn Shergold, center, Joey Leal III, rear, and daughter Cindy Banda, at Floreria Lee as they shop for flowers before visiting the tomb of his daughter, Melissa Banda, Sept. 14, 2026, in McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Cindy Banda walks back to her car after leaving flyers advertising Spectrum internet services at local businesses, Sept. 14, 2026, in McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Kathryn Shergold, right, solves a Rubik's Cube in the car as her cousin Kimberly Ford, left, looks on, Sept. 14, 2026, in McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Kathryn Shergold low-fives her mother Cindy Banda before returning to soccer practice, Sept. 16, 2026, in McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Cindy Banda waves to her niece Kimberly Ford, right, after dropping her off with a friend for an after school program, Sept. 14, 2026, in McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Cindy Banda, rear, watches as her daughter Kathryn Shergold jumps on the trampoline at dusk, Sept. 14, 2026, at their home in McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Cindy Banda drinks a home remedy after experiencing side effects from the targeted therapy pill Kisqali, Sept. 16, 2026, at her house in McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Cindy Banda, staying home from work after experiencing side effects from the targeted therapy pill Kisqali, watches the movie, "Toy Story," on Sept. 16, 2026, at her house in McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

EDS NOTE: NUDITY - Cindy Banda shows her mastectomy scar, Sept. 16, 2026, at her home in McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Cindy Banda massages her arm near her mastectomy scar to stretch the skin ahead of reconstruction surgery, Sept. 15, 2026, at her house in McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Cindy Banda shows her Kisqali targeted therapy pills, Sept. 15, 2026, at her home in McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Cindy Banda participates in a work meeting from home, Sept. 15, 2026, in McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Cindy Banda, who is battling cancer while caring for her sister's kids in addition to her own, holds her necklace as she drives past the house from where her sister, Melissa Banda, was abducted by her ex-husband before he killed her, in McAllen, Texas, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The Israeli military pressed ahead Sunday with a massive military operation in the occupied West Bank that has displaced hundreds of Palestinians and placed major restrictions on movement in response to a gun attack last week that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others.

The operation, focused on the city of Hebron, the site of Friday's attack, came as Israel enters the final days before a tense election, which is largely seen as a referendum on current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership and security policies during the past three years of war.

In new measures, the army said that most Palestinian workers with permits will not be allowed to enter Israeli West Bank settlements on Sunday and Monday, and crossings into Israel will remain closed until after Israel’s elections on Tuesday.

The military said it operated in more than 400 different locations over the weekend and arrested 40 Palestinians it claimed were affiliated with the Hamas or Islamic Jihad militant groups. No militant group has taken responsibility for the attack.

The Hebron municipality said the operation displaced more than 2,600 people.

The military said that troops were conducting searches in the area where the gunmen operated, and warned residents to evacuate Deir Bahha, the suspected gunmen’s neighborhood. After Friday’s attack, Israel’s military said it found weapons in the gunmen’s car and that they were likely planning to attack Israeli civilians before being stopped at the checkpoint where the shootout erupted.

All entrances and exits to the city remained sealed, with the operation focused in Deir Bahha and another part of the city called Al-Jalda, according to Hebron Mayor Yousef Zuhair Al-Jabari.

“People cannot reach or enter the city, and they cannot leave it. The blockade has affected every aspect of life,” Al-Jabari said. He added that the blockade is forcing businesses to close and has also shuttered a mosque.

“The army told us that this area would be closed for 12 days. Now they’re saying 12 days, but maybe they’ll leave the area after two or three days,” said Shadi al-Qawasmi, a Hebron resident who was displaced with his family. “This may be because of the elections or some political matter. No one knows except God Almighty.”

The army declined to say how long the operation might last.

The operation forced some families to leave the city on foot. At some military gates, people passed sacks of flour and gas canisters through the gates, while an elderly man pushed his wife in a wheelchair through an opening beside one of them. Another family attempted to navigate the gate to access medical appointments.

Hebron municipal officials said families had been displaced from nearly 500 apartments in Deir Bahha and surrounding neighborhoods.

Six Israelis have been killed this year in attacks in the West Bank, which is experiencing a surge of violence. During the same period, 112 Palestinians have been killed, including the suspected gunmen, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The attack sparked outrage in Israel, with Netanyahu traveling to the attack site and vowing to respond forcefully. On Sunday, hundreds of mourners attended the funeral in Hod Hasharon of Sgt. Yuval Shai Svilem, 20, one of the Israeli soldiers killed.

With the election approaching, Netanyahu is under pressure to demonstrate a strong show of force against Palestinian attackers to bolster his image for Israelis concerned with security.

Roughly 3 million Palestinians and 540,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war. Hebron is one of its most tense cities and the only place where Jewish settlers live in the heart of a densely populated Palestinian area under Israeli military protection. The international community overwhelmingly considers all Israeli settlements illegal.

Associated Press writer Sam Metz in Hebron, West Bank, contributed to this report.

Israeli soldiers take up positions during an army operation in the West Bank city of Hebron Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. A day after a Palestinian shooting attack in the area. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israeli soldiers close a gate to vehicles during an army operation in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, a day after a Palestinian shooting attack in the area. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israeli soldiers take up positions during an army operation in the West Bank city of Hebron Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. A day after a Palestinian shooting attack in the area. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian men sit at a road, blocked in an effort to prevent Israeli settlers from entering the area, after settlers were spotted nearby in the West Bank town of Sinjil, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Palestinians transport bags of semolina past a military gate closed to vehicles during an Israeli army operation in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, a day after a Palestinian shooting attack in the area. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)