Trump races to Texas to break Senate tie
The president will join Ken Paxton in Lubbock one week before the election as a new poll shows the race against James Talarico is deadlocked.
By Priya Marino ·
President Donald Trump is returning to Texas to rally Republican voters in a Senate race that has stalled in the final week of the campaign.
The president will hold a morning event in Corpus Christi on Tuesday, October 27, before traveling to Lubbock in West Texas. There, he will campaign alongside Republican nominee Ken Paxton at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center.
The visit comes one week before Election Day, with early voting already under way. The stop marks Trump's fourth trip to the state since Labor Day. He spent two days in Dallas in early September for the Republican midterm convention. He returned on October 1 for an event at a Peterbilt truck plant in Denton. Six days later, he joined Paxton for a rally in San Antonio.
A Fox News poll released Wednesday found the race to replace retiring Senator John Cornyn in a deadlock. Paxton, the state attorney general, and Democrat James Talarico are tied at 49 percent among likely voters. In last month's polling, Talarico held a two-point lead, 51 percent to 49 percent.
The contest is one of roughly a dozen Senate races that will determine if the Republican Party keeps its slim majority. Talarico, a former public school teacher and state representative, aims to end the Democratic Party's more than 30-year losing streak in Texas. Paxton defeated Cornyn in a contentious primary earlier this year. The primary went to a runoff after neither candidate secured a majority.
Both candidates will be in Lubbock on Tuesday evening. Talarico is scheduled to campaign at Texas Tech University while Trump and Paxton hold their rally. The dueling appearances highlight sharply different closing pitches. Paxton has tied Talarico to the national Democratic Party, arguing the Democrat is too liberal for Texas. Talarico has focused on voter dissatisfaction with the economy under Trump's administration.
The latest data shows Democrats hold an enthusiasm advantage. Sixty-nine percent of Democratic likely voters say they are extremely interested in the election, compared with 61 percent of Republicans. Paxton faces some resistance within his own party. Ninety percent of Republicans back him, while 98 percent of Democrats support Talarico. Paxton has faced legal issues over the past decade, including a 2023 House impeachment vote where he was eventually acquitted by the state Senate. He is also dealing with a divorce filed last year on biblical grounds.
Hispanic likely voters favor Talarico 64 percent to 34 percent, a shift from 2024 when they backed Trump by one point. More than twice as many voters say they are financially worse off than two years ago as say they are better off, 43 percent to 20 percent. Voters who feel worse off break heavily for Talarico. Those who feel better off or about the same favor Paxton. The election will also test whether Trump's 2024 gains among Hispanic voters carry into the midterms.
