Trump Takes The Midterm Blitz To Texas, Where The Senate Race Is A Dead Heat

Two stops today — Corpus Christi, then Lubbock, where the Democrat holds a rally of his own tonight. The prize is a Senate seat Texas has not given a Democrat in three decades.

LUBBOCK, Texas — President Donald Trump brings his midterm campaign blitz to Texas on Tuesday, one week before Election Day, with two stops in a state whose Senate race has become one of the closest in the country. The president speaks at the Port of Corpus Christi at 2 p.m. Central time and headlines an evening rally at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center for Ken Paxton, the state attorney general and the Republican nominee for the Senate. It is his fourth Texas trip of the cycle, and it follows a Monday night rally in Corinth, Mississippi, for Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.

Dueling Rallies In Lubbock

Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for the Senate in Texas. *Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0 — via Wikimedia Commons.*

Paxton is not the only candidate working Lubbock on Tuesday. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee, holds a rally of his own in the same city the same night, and campaigned in Corpus Christi on Saturday. Talarico, a state representative, is trying to become the first Democrat to win statewide in Texas since 1994. Republicans hold the Senate 53–47, and a Talarico win in Texas would narrow the majority and threaten the president’s legislative agenda in the next Congress.

The Money And The Polls

The RealClearPolitics polling average has the race in a dead heat. A second average, Jim Acosta’s MAAP, puts Talarico ahead by 2.3 points; the two averages are printed here as published, and they do not agree. What is not in dispute is the money: Elon Musk has put more than $150 million behind Paxton, according to USA Today, and Talarico has made the spending a centrepiece of his campaign. “Texas is not for sale,” he told a rally in El Paso.

The Supporting Cast

Axios reported that former quarterbacks Johnny Manziel and Colt McCoy and Danny Amendola, a two-time Super Bowl champion, would join the president at both Texas stops, in an appeal to young male voters. The context Axios cited cuts both ways: Trump won men under 30 by 14 points in 2024, according to Tufts University research, but a Harvard Youth Poll released last week had Democrats ahead by 26 points among young men who say they will definitely vote. Vice President JD Vance is also campaigning in Texas this week, with a stop in Weatherford.

The Million-Dollar Post

The Texas swing comes a day after the president put a price on election-fraud tips. In a Truth Social post on Monday afternoon, reported by Reuters, he wrote: “Anybody reporting Voter Fraud in the past Elections, or the upcoming 2026 Midterm Election, will be paid $1,000,000 upon the arrest and conviction of those that created the Fraud!” He repeated the offer to reporters the same day. NBC News noted that no funding source or mechanism for the payments was stated; the White House pointed reporters back to the post. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3.

The Texas Blitz — In Short

President Trump campaigns in Texas on Tuesday — Corpus Christi in the afternoon, a Lubbock rally for Senate nominee Ken Paxton in the evening — while Democrat James Talarico holds a dueling rally in Lubbock the same night. The polling averages call the race a dead heat or a narrow Talarico lead; Elon Musk has spent more than $150 million for Paxton; and the president has offered $1 million for voter-fraud reports that end in conviction.

Sources: USA Today; Reuters; Axios; Lubbock Avalanche-Journal; the White House daily schedule — reporting of October 26–27, 2026.