NPR as a comedy channel rivaling Babylon Bee

For much of my early adulthood, NPR was a trusted news source.  Sometime from the 1990s onwards they became more and more the mouthpiece of the Democratic party.  The news they reported was slanted, and often wrong and they actively chose to ignore stories which might reflect poorly on the Democratic Party.  From trusted news source to markedly unreliable was one transition.

Apparently they are in the process of one more transformation, this time into a comedy channel.

As I am driving this afternoon, I hear a "news" report from an on-the-ground NPR reporter in Texas providing information on the Governor's race between incumbent Republican Abbott and Democratic challenger O'Rourke.  Abbott has had a reasonably consistent 5-10 point lead for months and my impression was that the lead was solidifying as election day approached.

But there are always late surprises and the polls are unreliable.  

The reporter leads with a description of the tight governor's race.  Tight? Am I misremembering?  Or has there been a late-breaking development?  

Later in the report, as if to give emphasis to the importance of a competitive race, the reporter mentions that should O'Rourke win, it will have been 27 years since the last Democrat governor of Texas.  As if this were a reasonably possible prospect.

Then, at the close of the report, the reporter mentions that Abbott has a ten point lead on O'Rourke.  

There is no mis-remembering and no late stage development.  

How is one to make sense of this report?  The easiest explanation is that the reporter did not describe the race as tight.  I may have simply misheard him.  Possible, but the fact that he is positing the scenario of an O'Rourke win after a 27 year Democrat drought suggests perhaps not.

The reporter had a heavy accent as if English might possibly not be his native tongue.  Perhaps he was using "tight" as synonymous with "competitive", "contested", "challenging", "spirited", "strategic", or something along those lines.  Any one of those words would come at least a bit closer to being true than "tight."

None-the-less, on the balance of probabilities, it seems as if NPR is describing a race where one opponent has consistently led the other by as much as 13 points ever since first polling began in June 2022 (five months) and is currently leading by 10 points as of the day of election as "tight".  

This is parody humor with a perfectly straight-face.  It was delivered with sincerity.  Their future as a comedy channel seems bright.