James Talarico Closes in Austin, Ken Paxton at the Alamo: Texas' Senate Race Ends Its Long Tour at Home
Nineteen cities for one candidate, thirty stops for the other, a shattered ad-spending record - and both campaigns finish Monday night in the two Texas cities that define them.
Texas' U.S. Senate race comes home on Monday night. Democrat James Talarico is appearing at an event in Austin tonight, the Wall Street Journal's live election coverage reported, closing out his quest to become the first Texas Democrat to win statewide in more than 30 years. The Austin rally culminates Talarico's 'Clear Eyes, Full Hearts Tour,' which kicked off in Plano on October 18 and ran through 18 other cities, Austin Monthly reported. Republican Ken Paxton closes the same night at the other end of the state story: his 'Come and Take It' tour, some 30 stops, plans to wrap up with a rally at The Alamo in San Antonio, Austin Monthly reported.
Talarico's closing argument has been aimed at one man who is not on the ballot. In San Antonio on Sunday, he railed against Elon Musk for pumping more than $160 million into Republican-aligned groups backing Paxton, the Journal reported. 'He is trying to buy Texas,' Talarico told several hundred supporters. 'Texas is not for sale.' The money theme runs through the whole race: the Texas Senate contest has shattered the nonpresidential ad spending record, Fox News reported on the final weekend.
The seat at stake is the one held by Sen. John Cornyn, and the history is the hurdle: Texas has not had a Democratic U.S. Senator since 1993, and no Democrat has won any statewide race in more than 30 years. By Tuesday night, after a record early vote in Travis County and across the state, Texans will know whether that streak survived its hardest test in a generation.
