We didn’t expect Texas to be an epicenter of the midterm elections it could reshape the final chapters of Donald Trump’s second presidency.
But Republican Ken Paxton And Democrat James Talarico are blitzing last weekend in a U.S. Senate race that has become a measure of voters’ frustration with Trump’s leadership and his party.
Paxton, the longtime attorney general who defeated Republican Sen. John Cornyn earlier this year with Trump’s help, warned voters against restoring Democratic control on Capitol Hill.
“The left in this country is becoming more and more radical,” Paxton said Saturday morning in Fort Worth. The election, he told his supporters, “will be fought down to the wire” and will be about rejecting “every dangerous idea that Democrats across the country are currently putting forward.”
Talarico, a state lawmaker, was expected to rally support in Houston later Saturday.
The final sprint in Texas arrives as early voting is coming to an end 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 will be on the phone, not on stage
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.
The president bombarded the final weeks of October with rallies across the country, including in states he comfortably won in each of his three campaigns. On Sunday, Trump 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, among other actions, with his overhaul of military leadership and dismissals of senior generals and other officers.
“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 warnings about Democrats.
“It’s a spiritual battle,” the outspoken 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, describing Democrats as an atheist 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.”
Paxton, plagued by years of controversy but backed by Trump, followed a similar script of dire warnings and again on Saturday singled out Talarico as the leader of a far-left agenda and Washington power men like Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York.
“I’m not exaggerating when I say if we lose Texas, we lose America,” Paxton said. “This is what we are fighting for. This is our moment, our time to draw our line in the sand that generations of patriots have drawn before us.”
He urged Republicans to match Democrats’ enthusiastic early voting turnout. Then he made another supplication.
“Pray for our Texas,” he said. “Pray for me.”
Trump leaned into anti-Muslim rhetoric, focusing in particular on Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who faces Republican Mike Rogers in one of this year’s most competitive Senate races.
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.
Democrats face new unrest in Michigan
As enthusiastic as Democrats are about their prospects, they still have to deal with internal divisions in Michigan’s Senate race for a seat they already hold.
El-Sayed and her 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 at 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. t
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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