Talarico Chides Paxton for Rally Cancellations
after Dem Raises $146 Million for Senate Race
Texas General Election Polls
General Election Rankings
Capitol Inside
October 30, 2026
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D 72% |
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D 72% |
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D 79% |
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D 74% |
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D 66% |
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D 61% |
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D 60% |
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Democrat James Talarico contended on Thursday night that GOP foe Ken Paxton has been canceling rallies for his U.S. Senate campaign due to a lack of interest among voters after drawing skimpy crowds to several events in dark-red West Texas cities this week.
With the midterm election just four days away, Ken Paxton appeared to be writing off the sixth largest Texas city on Thursday when he pulled the plug on a rally that had been set for Sunday in El Paso.
Paxton gave no reason initially for the abrupt cancellation of the rally that he'd been planning as part of his Come and Take It tour across the state. But the state attorney general's camp subsequently announced that it would be holding a rally on Sunday in the Rio Grande Valley as well.
The Republican Senate hopeful cancelled a Come and Take It event in Tyler on Thursday so he could team up with Vice-President JD Vance at a rally in Weatherford instead. Paxton's scrapping of the Tyler event prompted the Smith County GOP chair to issue an apology to Republicans who turned out for the rally because they hadn't heard that the AG had called it off.
But Paxton's lowest moments may have come on Wednesday when he attracted a few dozen people to Come and Take It rallies in the Republican strongholds of Odessa, San Angelo and Abilene. Paxton tried to show a sense of humor at a breakfast rally at Mama's Kitchen in Odessa when only person clapped after he touted lawsuits that he waged against big tech titans Facebook and Google.
“Thank you for that one clap,” Paxton reportedly said in a response that sparked belated applause from some in the audience.
While Paxton attributed the shuttering of the El Paso rally to logistics and strategy, Talarico attributed the cancellations to the sparse audiences that the GOP nominee has encountered at events in the final week before Tuesday's general election.
"Ken Paxton is canceling rallies because nobody is showing up," Talarico said in an interview on CNN on Thursday night. "He can't recruit volunteers, so he uses AI bots. He doesn't have any grassroots donors, so he's relying on the richest man in the world to fund his campaign."
The Democratic Senate contender was referring to Elon Musk - the South African billionaire who stepped in to bankroll the Paxton campaign after the Republican candidate failed to raise a sufficient amount to compete with Talarico. The Democrat raised $146 million for the Senate race by October 14 - and he entered the final 17 days of the fight with more than $9.9 million in cash on hand.
Paxton in sharp contrast had rounded up $22 million for the race by October 14 when he reported a cash balance of $4.8 million. Paxton's anemic fundraising effort prompted Musk to pour $165 million or more into the AG's Senate campaign through a maze of super PACs.
more to come ...
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