AUSTIN, Texas — President Donald Trump was in Texas for the third time in a month Tuesday in a last-minute push to block Democrats from notching their first statewide election victory in more than three decades in next week's midterm elections.
Trump was in Corpus Christi and Lubbock to boost Republican Ken Paxton's competitive U.S. Senate campaign against Democrat James Talarico. Not ceding the stage to the presidential spotlight, Talarico was in Amarillo, where he assailed a "broken, corrupt" political system. Like Trump and Paxton, he'll later appear in Lubbock.
The president leaned into cultural issues to portray Talarico as too liberal for Texas. And as Trump's war in Iran spikes gas prices and adds pressure on Republican candidates across the U.S., he sought to highlight an earlier military operation in Venezuela. Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefly appeared on stage with Trump, who used the trip in part to highlight the arrangement made with Venezuela to process more of its crude oil in Texas refineries.
“We’re celebrating the greatest oil victory in history,” Trump said in Corpus Christi.
Trump is entering the final week of his last midterms in a frenzied push to shore up Republican strongholds against unusually competitive Democratic candidates. Beyond Texas, he swung through Mississippi, Michigan, Georgia, Florida and Iowa over the past week, and his next stops are Ohio, South Carolina, Florida, Kansas and Iowa again.
He won all of these states in 2024.
Texas tests Trump's sway over the GOP
The campaign marathon is a bet that while Trump is broadly unpopular, he still holds sway over the GOP's most loyal voters — a bloc whose participation in the elections will be critical.
The strategy is facing its fiercest test in Texas, where Talarico has capitalized on the difficult political environment for Republicans and Paxton's history of ethical and legal problems.
Trump argued that Paxton was a “good man” and Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has joined Trump's effort to stop Talarico's advance.
“Talarico is lunatic left,” Musk wrote on his social media platform, X, to his 241 million followers, part of a drumbeat of attacks he’s posted against the candidate in the race’s final days.
Musk has headquartered Tesla and SpaceX, as well as himself, in Texas, and is so set on ensuring Republicans hold control of his adopted state that he appears to have sunk at least $158 million into defeating Talarico. Musk gave that much to the Senate Leadership Fund, which then gave the same amount to the Texas PAC, the largest contributor to Paxton’s campaign.
That’s helped make the race one of the most expensive in the country, with over $563 million being spent on advertising between the primary and general elections, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact.
While Musk’s investment is a challenge for Talarico, it also falls right into the Democratic campaign’s central message. At every stop, Talarico has argued that, for too long, the wealthy and their donations have corrupted politics, and that this corruption has fueled the affordability crisis.
Talarico has begun naming Musk in his stump speeches. Paxton tends not to discuss him.
That parallels the Texas governor's race, where Democrat Gina Hinojosa is waging a spirited campaign against GOP Gov. Greg Abbott.
Hinojosa has sued to be able to view communications between Musk and Abbott, arguing that their relationship evinces how cozy her opponent is with the ultra-wealthy in Texas.
On Monday, a judge ruled that Hinojosa, given her position as a state representative, must be able to review over 1,000 unredacted pages by Thursday.
Rubio's visit previews GOP's potential 2028 contest
As the midterms reach the final stretch, the early stages of the next campaign are already surfacing.
Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s national security adviser, was hitting the road with Trump for the first time as the president barnstorms the country. A State Department official said Rubio was traveling with Trump in his capacity as national security adviser and not secretary of state.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the travel plans, said Rubio “needs time with the president on all kinds of issues” and that “being on the plane with him gives him a chance to talk to him about these items.”
Rubio previously ran for president in 2016 and is considered a top prospect in 2028. He has not said whether he will run, and his political activities have been limited since becoming secretary of state.
He appeared on stage with Trump briefly in Corpus Christi — and only after Trump repeatedly called on him to come forward.
“It’s an honor to work for the greatest country in the world, for the greatest president in the history of the United States of America,” he said before exiting.
Another top Republican 2028 contender, Vice President JD Vance, has been more active on the campaign trail, stopping in Michigan on Tuesday, where he called the Senate race between Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed a "clash of competing visions."
In California, Xavier Becerra, a Democrat running for governor, urged voters to reject a voter ID ballot measure, which he said would make it harder for people to vote.
“We want democracy not just to shine, but be so resilient and so strong that Donald Trump cannot knock California down,” Becerra said in San Francisco.
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Sloan reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists Matthew Lee, Aamer Madhani and Michelle L. Price in Washington, Haven Daley in San Francisco, Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix and Joseph B. Frederick in Orangeburg, N.Y., contributed to this report.
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