Texas was not expected to be the epicenter of midterm elections that could reshape the final chapters of Donald Trump’s second presidency.
But Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico began making closing arguments Saturday in a U.S. Senate race that has become a key measure of voters’ frustration with Trump’s leadership and his loyalists within the Republican Party.
WATCH: Candidates make final midterm stops as early voting surges
Talarico hammered Paxton, the longtime attorney general who resisted impeachment and removal and won Trump’s endorsement, as a particularly corrupt example of a rotten political system.
“This election is about whether you want a senator who puts money in your pocket or puts money in his,” Talarico said in Houston.
Paxton, who defeated Republican Sen. John Cornyn in this year’s Republican primary with Trump’s help, responded in Fort Worth by describing Talarico, a state lawmaker, seminarian and former teacher, as too liberal for Texas. And each portrayed the other as front men for dangerous figures.
“The left in this country is becoming more and more radical,” Paxton said, asserting that Talarico would be the lackey of Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, the New Yorker who would set the chamber’s agenda if Democrats won the majority.
For Talarico, the shadow opponent is Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who spent more than $150 million of his own money to help Paxton keep pace with Talarico’s fundraising.
“It’s David versus Goliath,” Talarico said, invoking the biblical story of the shepherd who slays a giant. “The people of Texas are my sling.”
The final sprint in Texas comes as early voting draws to a close in several states. The early vote total was approaching 50 million as the weekend approached. About 112 million people voted in total in the 2022 midterm elections.
Trump speaks to voters by phone
The president was moving away from in-person gatherings Saturday in favor of virtual events. He was scheduled to participate in six tele-rallies after spending the morning and early afternoon at the golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
MAGA Inc., Trump’s super PAC, said telerallies were planned for races in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Michigan and two separate calls for Florida. The White House has released few details about what to expect, but the president typically participates in such calls — a departure from his rally speeches, which often last more than 90 minutes.
“Answer your phones and ENJOY!” Trump posted on his social media site on Saturday.
READ MORE: As early voting surges, Trump shuffles schedule to add rallies in Iowa and Kansas
Trump spent the final weeks of October traveling around the country, including states he comfortably won in each of his three campaigns. On Sunday, he is expected to hold rallies in Iowa and Kansas that had been scheduled, canceled and then postponed.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who would become speaker if Democrats win the House majority, was campaigning in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District with former Rep. Elaine Luria, who is in a rematch with Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans. Luria lost his seat to Kiggans four years ago.
“We are going to fight hard every day for an affordable America,” Jeffries said.
In Virginia, Jeffries eyes Democratic control
He criticized Republicans for filling a “graveyard of broken promises” and reiterated his promise to hold votes on reversing Republican health care cuts, pass sweeping voting rights laws and limit Trump’s military actions against Iran.
“From day one, we’re going to hold the crooks accountable,” he said, anticipating aggressive oversight from the Trump administration. He specifically named Trump’s Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, who has angered Democrats and Republicans with his overhaul of military leadership and firing of top generals and other officers, among other actions.
“In the majority, one of the first things we’re going to do is run Pete Hegseth out of town,” Jeffries said, provoking perhaps the loudest roar of his 11-minute speech.
The southeastern Virginia district is among the most competitive on a House battleground map. Democrats are aiming for at least 60 seats. Trump won many of them by double digits in 2024.
Republicans lean toward extreme left-wing labeling
House Speaker Mike Johnson responded in a Michigan district with dystopian claims about Democrats.
“It’s a spiritual battle,” the conservative Christian speaker said, suggesting Republican voters must vote to a higher power.
“I know God doesn’t hold us accountable for results, but he does hold us accountable for being faithful to our duty,” Johnson said, calling the Democrats a godless party.
“They are Marxists, socialists, communists. This is their ideology,” he said. “Communists, as you know, murdered tens of millions of innocent people in the 20th century alone. That’s not who we are in America, and it won’t happen on our watch.”
At the same time, Trump has leaned into anti-Muslim rhetoric, focusing in particular on Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who faces Republican Mike Rogers in one of this year’s most competitive Senate elections.
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On Saturday, the president posted an Islamophobic cartoon on social media depicting a man armed with a flaming torch knocking on the door of the United States after burning down countries in Europe.
Paxton, beset by years of controversy, followed a similar script of dire warnings and reiterated them Saturday.
“I’m not exaggerating when I say if we lose Texas, we lose America,” Paxton said. He urged Republicans to match Democrats’ enthusiastic early voting turnout.
Then he made another supplication.
“Pray for our Texas,” he said. “Pray for me.”
Democrats face new unrest in Michigan
As enthusiastic as Democrats are about their prospects, they still have to deal with internal divisions in El-Sayed’s race in Michigan. He and his former primary rival Haley Stevens were scheduled to campaign together Sunday with Rep. James Clyburn, but that remains uncertain.
After Stevens renewed his criticism of El-Sayed, his campaign no longer welcomes him to events, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss internal matters.
However, Antjuan Seawright, a Clyburn councilman, said the congressman still invited them to join him for church Sunday morning. Stevens and her spokesperson did not respond to text messages asking if she still planned to attend.
Stevens demanded that El-Sayed condemn an ad linking U.S. support for Israel to rising food prices and also address concerns about his past rhetoric that has concerned some Jewish voters.
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Campaigning in Sterling Heights, Michigan, El-Sayed reiterated Saturday that “we should keep our money here to invest in schools here, in infrastructure here, rather than sending it somewhere else to drop a bomb somewhere else.”
He also alluded to how much more Stevens and his supporters outspent him in the primary. “They might as well have set their money on fire, because we beat them anyway,” he said.
But unlike some of his previous remarks, El-Sayed did not mention U.S. military aid to Israel or the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or his support for Stevens and, now, Rogers.
Republicans currently hold a 53-47 advantage in the Senate. Democrats need to win at least four new seats to gain a majority and would need at least five if they lose Michigan.
Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press journalists Joey Cappelletti and Will Weissert contributed from Washington.
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