President Donald Trump urged Texas voters to support state Attorney General Ken Paxton in his Senate battle against Democrat James Talarico, as polls show the race is a toss-up for either political party, during a campaign swing through the state Thursday.
“We need Ken so badly, and that’s why I’m here. I wanted to stop here,” Trump said while speaking at the Peterbilt Motors in Denton. “Texas represents so much. It would be such a horror to the system to put a guy, a freak like that in there, would be such a horror to … your state and such a horror to the country.”
Republicans will have spent more than $300 million boosting Paxton as Democrats are hoping to flip the Senate seat. Texas PAC, which is affiliated with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), has spent $131 million to aid the attorney general, federal filings show.
The Cook Political Report rates the race as a toss-up, and Democrats are counting on voter frustration over the economy and high gas prices to help them capture a seat that has long been held by the GOP. Lloyd Bentsen was the last Democrat elected to the Senate from Texas, in 1988.
The president also suggested that Talarico is far too radical for the Lone Star State. “We’re all for Ken, how the hell could you be for the other guy anyway?” he asked. “Even if they had a good opponent, I’d be for Ken because he proved himself.”
Trump, however, pushed back against complaints that his administration has not done enough for the nation or that the scandal-plagued Paxton could lose the race.
“We need the votes, and I’m here for that, and I think we’re going to win,” said Trump. “Every place I’ve gone, we win.”
But numerous polls show that voters blame Trump for the Iran war, leading to high gas and diesel prices. The concern has even led several Republican lawmakers to call for an immediate end to the war or to distance themselves from Trump, whose approval numbers have reached record lows. Paxton continues to tout Trump’s support and appeared with him in Denton.
The attorney general did, however, lament that the midterm convention, held in Dallas during September, did not help his polling numbers against Talarico, according to leaked audio reported by the New York Times.
But on Thursday, Trump said under his leadership, the economy is actually prospering.
TALARICO HOLDS 5-POINT LEAD OVER PAXTON IN TEXAS SENATE RACE, POLL SHOWS
“We have literally the greatest numbers,” said Trump. “There are more people working in the United States right now than at any time in the history of the United States by far. More people working. We have the best poverty numbers, the lowest numbers on poverty in the history of our country.”
Trump is ramping up his campaign travel this month. But notably, all of his stops this week and early next week are in reliably red states such as Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Nebraska. Sources close to the White House rejected claims that Trump’s itinerary is due to fears that the states were slipping from the GOP’s control.
