|
| |
White |
Hispanic |
Black |
Asian |
Trump |
Cruz |
Possible General Election Lineup |
| SD 09 |
54% |
26% |
11% |
7% |
+17 |
+12 |
Rehmet (D) vs. Wambsganns (R) |
| CD 09 |
28% |
59% |
10% |
2% |
+20 |
+11 |
Virts (D) vs. Mealer (R) |
| CD 15 |
18% |
78% |
2% |
1% |
+18 |
+10 |
Pulido (D) vs. De La Cruz (R-Inc) |
| CD 23 |
33% |
57% |
5% |
4% |
+15 |
+8 |
Padilla-Stout (D) vs Herrera (R) |
| CD 28 |
9% |
90% |
1% |
1% |
+10 |
+0.2 |
Cuellar (D-Inc) vs. Tijerina (R) |
| CD 32 |
52% |
22% |
14% |
10% |
+18 |
+12 |
Barrios (D) vs. Binkley (R) |
| CD 34 |
21% |
74% |
2% |
2% |
+10 |
+2 |
Gonzalez (D-Inc) vs. E. Flores (R) |
| CD 35 |
35% |
54% |
8% |
3% |
+10 |
+4 |
Lira (D) vs. De La Cruz (R) |
|
Trump Heading to Texas Coast for Rally
on Last Day for Early Votes in Primaries
Capitol Inside
February 24, 2026
President Donald Trump will be jetting to Texas on Friday for a rally in Corpus Christi on the final day for early voting in Texas for a primary election
in which he's invested substantial political capital with endorsements for nearly three dozen Republicans for congressional seats but none in the battle at the top of the ballot here.
The news of Trump's latest Texas travel plans triggered a round of schedule scrambling for the GOP leaders and lawmakers who've been invited to attend. Governor Greg Abbott, as the prime example, had a timing conflict initially with an appearance planned for a get-out-the-vote rally in Lockhart for GOP State Rep. Stan Gerdes, who promptly moved the event to 8:30 a.m. to accommodate the guest of honor.
Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick are expected to take the stage with the president at the event on the coast. But U.S. Senator John Cornyn, Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt will be no-shows apparently after being snubbed on the invitation list - according to reports - in light of Trump's holdout on an endorsement for the U.S. Senate race in Texas in round one.
The president has teased the possibility of a Texas Senate primary endorsement at some point before next Tuesday's vote. Trump says he likes all three major GOP contenders for the Senate because they're good at their jobs and have always supported him. Cornyn has warned that the GOP's down-ballot candidates in Texas could face a massacre in November if Paxton wins the Senate nomination next week or in an expected spring runoff. With Cornyn and Paxton running close in a race that the AG has led slightly in recent polls, a seal of approval from Trump would be expected to decide the race.
The prevailing sentiment at the outset of the contest had been that Paxton would have the edge in the chase for a Trump endorsement. Paxton and Trump have been close since the Texas state lawyer sought to overturn the 2020 election on his behalf at the U.S. Supreme Court. Paxton has been no stranger to Mar-a-Lago in recent years as a result.
The president's decision to stay out of the marquee Texas race has appeared to be a victory for Cornyn for all practical purposes as a consequence. But Cornyn and GOP establishment forces in his corner argue that Democrats will have a much better shot at flipping the Senate seat if Paxton is the nominee. U.S. Senator Jasmine Crockett and State Rep. James Talarico are the frontrunners for the Democrats in the countdown to the first vote of 2026.
Trump's endorsement is clearly still the gold-standard for GOP candidates in the Lone Star State despite increasing division and unhappiness in the MAGA base. But Trump has the potential to be a major liability for the party's down-ballot contenders here in the general election if he fails to stop the bleeding that's evident with approval ratings that keep hitting new lows. A CNN poll on Monday found more than three-fourths of the Hispanic voters who were surveyed dissatisfied with the president with disapproval marks that were almost as high as they were with Black voters.
Trump has endorsed 18 congressional Republicans for re-election races in Texas along with eight candidates in open contests for the U.S. House. But one - U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of San Antonio - could be persona non grata at the Corpus Christi event in the midst of growing calls for his resignation amid revelations about an alleged relationship with a staff member who died after lighting herself on fire. Trump has yet to acknowledge the furor in which the Gonzales campaign has been entangled severely in the past few days.
Trump has endorsed a pair of challengers - Eric Flores and Tano Tijerina - in South Texas congressional districts that Republicans in Austin redrew last year at his command on a map designed to give the GOP five new seats. Flores is competing against a former short-term House member - Mayra Flores - who Trump supported in the past - for the seat that Democratic U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez is seeking again in one of the targeted districts. Tijerina expects to face veteran U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar in another targeted Texas district where the incumbent will be running as the favorite in the fall in the absence of a dramatic reversal in the president's sinking stock with Hispanic voters.
The Republican-controlled Legislature based their projections for five new GOP seats on Trump's support in 2024 when his popularity was peaking. The Republicans could do no better than a three-seat gain on the new Texas map if their support in the Latino electorate fails to rebound.
Trump has endorsed Jace Yarbrough, Alex Mealer and Carlos De La Cruz for U.S. House seats that incumbent Democrats who are running in other districts currently represent. Democrats in the best case scenario for the fall could actually come out ahead on the new congressional map if the hemorrhaging of Hispanic support doesn't stop. The Democrats would have shots to flip the districts where Trump is supporting the scandal-plagued incumbent Gonzales and U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz - whose brother Carlos has the president's endorsement for a separate House seat.
The list of Republican congressional candidates who've been snubbed by Trump in the endorsements dishing include the aforementioned Mayra Flores, State Reps. Briscoe Cain and John Lujan in target districts where he's supporting Mealer and Carlos De La Cruz. Trump has refused up to now to heed calls for dumping Gonzales from the endorsement list in favor of the new favorite in his district - Brandon Herrera.
The list of contenders for open House seats with Trump's endorsement includes Chris Gober, Mark Teixeira, Trever Nehls, Jessica Steinmann and Jon Bonck.
more to come ...
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