SAN ANTONIO (AP) — President Donald Trump, facing protesters and a poor political climate, struggled to rally Texas voters. Ken Paxton, Senate candidate Wednesday night, aiming to avoid large Democratic victories in the nation’s most populous red state.
But Trump’s remarks weren’t just focused on Paxton.
Speaking to a packed Freeman Coliseum, Trump also pledged to award retired baseball star Roger Clemens the Presidential Medal of Freedom, reiterated his support for the death penalty for drug traffickers and clarified his recent comments in which he raised the possibility of Iran bombing American cities as part of a recurring argument over whether high fuel costs are “a small price to pay” for war.
“You want to see trouble? Let it hit San Diego, let it hit Los Angeles,” Trump said. “We are not going to allow this to happen. We are protecting our cities. We are protecting our country.”
The president’s message was interrupted several times by demonstrators, including one who appeared close to the scene. In total, at least a dozen protesters interrupted the president. Some were taken away by the police.
Trump briefly stepped away from the microphone after an interruption.
“He’s going home to mom,” Trump said. “But what he doesn’t know is that his mother voted for Trump.”
Texas has become an unexpected battleground for Republicans
The Republican Party did not plan to devote so much money and manpower to Texas this midterm season.
Texas is the most populous Republican state in the country, where Trump won in 2024 by nearly 14 percentage points. But with less than a month until election day, Trump’s poor approval ratings, the war in Iran and soaring gas prices threatened Republicans in virtually every state.
Wednesday’s appearance marked Trump’s third trip to Texas in less than a month, and party officials have so far devoted more than $300 million to elections in the state.
A sign of Trump’s bad reputation, Republican Governor Greg Abbott did not attend the evening gathering. A three-term Republican governor up for re-election in 2022 by about 11 percentage points, even Abbott has been caught up in the turbulent national currents.
He is in a re-election race against a Democratic state Representative Gina Hinojosa.
Instead of appearing with Trump, Abbott was scheduled to attend the inauguration of a hospital about 330 miles away. The Democrats took advantage of the governor’s absence.
“For years, Greg Abbott has never hesitated to support Donald Trump, calling him a ‘great friend’ and defending his agenda every step of the way,” said Jacob Long, a spokesman for the Texas Democratic Party. “But now, as Texas families are crushed by record prices driven by Trump’s tariffs and war with Iran, Greg Abbott suddenly has somewhere else to go.”
Trump focuses on helping the Senate candidate he supported in the Republican primaries
While the governor’s race has attracted a sudden influx of money from Democrats, it’s the U.S. Senate race that has gotten the most attention, as Democrats fight for the majority in the chamber. The state has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988, but candidate James Talarico fundraising, Trump’s low approval ratings and lingering concerns about Paxton’s character put the race on the line.
Trump devoted most of his remarks to the Senate race, describing Paxton as “perhaps the greatest attorney general in the United States of America.”
“He was tough and he was with us all the way,” Trump said of Paxton, whom he supported in the state’s Republican primary against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. “He’s a fantastic man.”
Trump made no mention of the recently leaked recording of Paxton lamenting the war in Iran and rising fuel prices, while also complaining that his campaign was run by operatives in Washington.
He has repeatedly criticized Talarico, notably on the death penalty, a point that would appeal to many conservatives in the state who leads the nation in executions.
Trump reiterated his support for the death penalty for “large-scale drug traffickers, human traffickers and anyone who kills a police officer,” while acknowledging that Nidal Malik Hasan, a former Army major who killed 13 people in a 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, will be executed by firing squad.
The president approved the method of execution earlier this week and suggested that Talarico oppose it.
Talarico’s campaign team did not immediately respond when asked about the candidate’s position on Hasan’s planned execution.
Paxton, invited on stage near the end of the rally, praised Trump, who was standing behind him: “I’m so grateful that you’re here.”
Trump makes big announcement, but not about Senate race
While Trump briefly promoted Paxton at the start of his speech, he spent almost as much time later talking about Clemens, the retired Red Sox and Yankees pitcher who was denied a spot in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame because of his alleged involvement in performance-enhancing drug use.
Trump brought him on stage and said he would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest civilian honor — and, Trump said, “a cut above” the Hall of Fame.
Clemens said he was stunned by the honor.
“This supersedes everything that I obviously did in my playing career,” he said alongside Trump. “And to get it from this man, from this president. … Are you talking about a winner? That’s a winner right there.”
___
Peoples have been reported in New York and Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed.
Gn usa
