GOP convention closes with Trump, Vance talking Senate, Texas delegation blasting Dems

Trump, Vance talk Texas Senate as convention closes

If attendees missed President Donald Trump’s comedy routine poking fun at Ken Paxton’s appearance Wednesday night, they got a do-over Thursday as he closed out the convention — this time with the camera cutting to Paxton’s reaction in the crowd.

Repeating his bit about Paxton’s style of dress, look and manner of talking, Trump joked that whether or not Paxton was offended was irrelevant because he knew the Republican attorney general would be a reliable vote in the Senate.

“I don’t know if he’s going to ever speak to me again — but you know, I don’t care as long as he wins,” Trump said. “I really don’t care. I don’t have to speak to him. He’s going to vote the way we would vote, so I don’t have to speak to him.”

Trump was the final speaker in the GOP’s two-day affair in Dallas, following Vice President JD Vance’s keynote address.

Vance, meanwhile, took a swipe at Talarico by suggesting, without evidence, that his web browser history would be untoward.

“In Texas, you have Democrats — grown men — who seem to be pretty obsessed with trans children,” he said. “I gotta say a guy that age who is so obsessed and focused on transgender kids, I don’t know about you, but I never wanna see that guy’s web browser history. It’s not a good place.

Vance rolled out past comments by Talarico that the GOP has cited repeatedly as evidence the Austin Democrat is too liberal for Texas, while crediting Trump for the “Talafreako” nickname Republicans have adopted for him. (Early in the general election, Talarico’s campaign began selling t-shirts declaring, “I’m a Talafreako” in response.)

“This Talarico guy will not shut up about how there are six genders, he will not shut up about how, quote, God is nonbinary,” Vance said. “I don’t know what the hell that even means, my friends. He won’t shut up about how having traditional Christian values makes you a bigot.”

Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian, has said some of his past remarks were “cringey” and “missed the mark.” He has more recently said he does not believe there are six biological sexes and that the point he was trying to make with his “God is nonbinary” remark is that God is beyond gender.

— Kayla Guo and Gabby Birenbaum

Gov. Greg Abbott says midterm election is “a choice between common sense and crazy”

After reciting a laundry list of issues he warned would worsen under Democrats, Gov. Greg Abbott argued onstage at the GOP convention Thursday that the midterm election represented “a choice between common sense and crazy.”

“Common sense always wins. It will win this year, too,” Abbott said. “Together, we are going to demolish the Democrats. We are going to keep Texas red.”

From sanctuary cities and defunding the police to sex changes for children and foreign entities purchasing land, Abbott said none of these things would develop in Texas because Republicans passed legislation preventing such “craziness.”

The governor’s speech focused heavily on the opposition, though he also touched on issues he said Texas Republicans would tackle legislatively if voters keep them in power, like the proliferation of sharia law.

“I designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist organizations,” he said. “We are not waiting on Washington, D.C. We will fully ban sharia law in Texas.”

Abbott is running for a historic fourth term against Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa. His campaign mentioned her by name for the first time this week, attacking her for positions she took in the Texas House on LGBTQ rights and property taxes. A string of recent public polls has shown Hinojosa narrowly trailing Abbott.

From the convention stage, Abbott continued to avoid mentioning Hinojosa himself, claiming that “Democrats running statewide in Texas” backed policies that “defy common sense.” As examples, he cited their votes against legislation that would raise the threshold for enacting a state income tax and clarifying that only U.S. citizens can vote. Texas has never levied an income tax, while state and federal law has long held that only citizens may vote. 

Democrats have not called for either policy to change, though Abbott’s campaign has promoted a 2016 clip of Hinojosa saying that Texas’ lack of an income tax is driving an overreliance on property tax income.

Democrats have not won a statewide position in Texas since 1994. Republicans have maintained majorities in the state Legislature since the early 2000s.

— Kayla Guo

Sen. Ted Cruz frames Democratic Party as overtaken by socialists and “Islamists”

In what smacked of a presidential stump speech preview, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz leaned hard Thursday into the idea that Democrats are now made up of a “new and dangerous red-green alliance: communists and Islamists.”

He tied together the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the killing of Charlie Kirk a year ago today and the assassination attempts of President Donald Trump as the products of the same “hate” he claimed had taken over the Democratic Party.

“They are united because they share the same enemies: They hate Christians. They hate Jews. They hate capitalism. They hate the Constitution, and they hate America,” Cruz said.

Last month, Cruz told Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on his podcast, “It’s no secret that I want to be president. I ran for president.” He added, “This is a bug that history has proved is rarely ended. It is a permanent and often fatal bug.”

Cruz acknowledged that “not every Democrat in the House and Senate” aligned with democratic socialist candidates who have won recent primaries. But he argued that all Democrats, nevertheless, should be painted with the same hard-left brush “because that’s where the money and the energy and the young people are in the Democrat Party.”

His remarks echoed those of other speakers at the GOP convention, which has broadly cast the midterm election as a battle for American freedom, capitalism and conservative Christian values. Like other Republicans on stage, Cruz repeatedly invoked progressive commentator Hasan Piker, Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as torchbearers of the “radical” ideas he said were overtaking the party.

“Over and over again, my father asked me, ‘If we lose our freedom here, where do we go?’ We go nowhere,” Cruz, whose father fled Cuba for Texas, said. “We will unite. We will stand up. We will defend our nation, and we will defend our freedom. From the dawn of America, God’s providential blessings have been on our nation, and his plan for this nation continues. And I believe His grace will endure.”

Meanwhile, even as Republican speakers repeatedly denounced socialism and warned Democrats would push socialist policy if elected, Trump on Wednesday night vowed to send $5,000 to every adult citizen if the GOP maintained a trifecta in Washington — what would amount to an extraordinarily expensive redistribution of wealth to the tune of roughly $1.3 trillion.

— Kayla Guo

Flores, Tijerina go hard on border politics at convention

Republicans Eric Flores and Tano Tijerina are both hoping to flip South Texas seats long held by Democrats this November — and they used their time on the convention stage to remind their voters which party they should trust on the border.

“Border security isn’t a campaign talking point for me,” said Flores, who is running in a district that runs from Brownsville to Corpus Christi. “Constituents of South Texas have lived it, and I have lived border security.”

Both Republicans are running in districts that are ground zero for the changing politics of the border. Long ancestrally Democratic, South Texas moved sharply to the right in 2024, when Donald Trump carried both the 28th Congressional District, which includes Laredo, and the 34th Congressional District. 

But down-ballot Democrats have been hard to defeat. Reps. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, two of the most moderate House Democrats, both won reelection even as their districts went for Trump. 

With border crossings at historic lows, the issue that animated much of the shift has fallen off the radar for some voters. But in their convention speeches, Flores and Tijerina both sought to remind voters who they should credit.

“[Democrats] told us to be quiet,” said Tijerina, who is challenging Cuellar. “‘Just keep voting the way you always have.’ Well, South Texas is done being taken for granted! And I tell you who did stand up for us — President Donald J. Trump! He stood for South Texas values. He secured our border, and for that, our border community will forever be grateful.”

Tijerina, the Webb County judge who changed parties after the 2024 election, described his political conversion, echoing Ronald Reagan’s famous maxim that the Democratic Party left him rather than the other way around. And both candidates sought to align themselves with Trump’s record on the border while tying their Democratic opponents — both of whom have been critical of their own party on immigration — to the era of high migrant crossings under Biden. 

“My opponent likes to call himself the right kind of Democrat,” Flores said. “These days, there’s no such thing.”

— Gabby Birenbaum

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick casts midterm election as choice between light and dark

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Thursday framed the upcoming November midterm as a choice between light versus dark, casting the election in starkly biblical terms during his address to the Republican midterm convention.

“Make no mistake: This election coming up is not about politics. It’s about darkness, and it’s about light,” Patrick said, calling Democrats communists and socialists. “It’s about those of us who love God and those who want to kick God out of our country. Because that’s what the Democrats want to do. It’s the very definition of communism, because it’s a godless government.”

Patrick, the first elected Texas Republican to take the stage on Day Two of the convention, named James Talarico, the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, just once in his remarks. And he did not mention the Republican nominee, Attorney General Ken Paxton. He instead heaped praise on President Donald Trump, calling him the “greatest president in the history of this nation.”

“As President Trump last night said, the radical Democrat communist movement in this country — it’s real, and it’s the most danger our country has ever faced,” Patrick said, echoing speakers throughout the convention who have seized on recent democratic socialist wins in primaries across the country to paint the Democratic Party as being in the grip of communism and higher taxes. 

Patrick is up for reelection himself, facing state Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin. In November, he vowed, Republicans “will end socialism, and we will put the Democratic Party and James Talarico and his like on the dust heap of history.”

— Kayla Guo

James Talarico calls on Attorney General Ken Paxton to sue DOJ over Epstein files

Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico on Thursday called on Attorney General Ken Paxton, his Republican opponent, to sue the Justice Department over what he called its “mishandling” of the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

At an exhibit dubbed the “Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room,” in Dallas, Talarico accused Paxton of “ignoring” survivors of Epstein’s abuse and of “refusing” to advocate on their behalf as attorney general. He said the feds had mishandled the case by releasing names and photos of victims without their consent and in deciding not to release an additional trove of 2.5 million government files on the disgraced financier.

Paxton “has an opportunity to use his power, his authority, to get justice, and we are demanding that he do so,” Talarico said. “Ken Paxton has two choices: He can stand with these survivors and get justice, or he can continue to cover up Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse. The choice is entirely his.”

David Garrett, executive director of the Institute of Primary Facts — which organized the exhibit — said the group invited Paxton and Talarico to visit and meet with survivors. Paxton did not respond to the invitation, Garrett said. Talarico met with Epstein survivors and their family members before his remarks.

“Ken Paxton, the door to the reading room — it’s open,” Sharlene Rochard, a survivor of Epstein’s abuse, said with Talarico by her side. “Protecting children isn’t partisan. Justice isn’t partisan, and the truth definitely doesn’t pick sides.”

In a statement, Paxton campaign spokesperson Madison Cercy said, “If James Talarico was really concerned about the survivors of Epstein’s horrific crimes, his campaign infrastructure wouldn’t have taken over $11.5 million from Epstein’s longtime associate, Reid Hoffman. Now, James Talarico continues to lie to Texans about his radical record with the help of Epstein money. It’s disgusting that the man claiming to run a campaign against billionaires is bought and paid for by Epstein’s billionaire buddy.”

Cercy did not address questions about whether Paxton would meet with Epstein survivors or sue the Justice Department.

A super PAC supporting Talarico has accepted $11.5 million from LinkedIn co-founder and billionaire venture capitalist Reid Hoffman. Hoffman, a major Democratic donor, drew scrutiny for his relationship with Epstein after documents released by the DOJ showed the two maintained a relationship well after the financier pleaded guilty in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution and registered as a sex offender. Hoffman has declined wrongdoing and said, “I regret ever interacting with Epstein.” 

Talarico’s campaign has said federal law bars coordination with the super PAC and that Talarico has no control over donations to the group, and emphasized that Talarico supports the full release of the Epstein files.

State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for governor, also visited the exhibit Wednesday. Garrett said the group invited Gov. Greg Abbott to meet with survivors as well, but had not heard back. Abbott’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The exhibit was opened to the public while Republicans were meeting nearby for their midterm convention. Trump closed the first night of the event with a Wednesday keynote address in which he told the party faithful to “pretend” he was on the ballot in November. 

Garrett said his group had already planned to launch the exhibit in Dallas this week before Republicans announced the convention would take place here, too.

Releasing the Epstein files became a major political headache for Republicans and the Trump administration last year, with Trump opposing an effort by Congress to require publication of the files even as much of his base clamored for it. Congress voted nearly unanimously to publicize the documents after Trump reversed course.

— Kayla Guo

Carlos De La Cruz says idea of distancing himself from Trump is “hogwash”

As the GOP midterm convention approached, battleground Republican candidates had a choice to make: Should they show up and embrace President Donald Trump or skip out and try to distance themselves?

For Carlos De La Cruz, a Republican running in a competitive congressional race in the San Antonio area, being part of the convention was an easy call.

“He’s our president,” De La Cruz said in an interview with The Texas Tribune. “I admire our president. I’m going to be working alongside him to move our country in the right direction — and so, any sort of concern of me distancing myself is just hogwash.”

De La Cruz is not alone in his calculus. Four of the five Texas Republican congressional candidates running in battleground seats are part of the convention programming, making their ties to the president evident.

The risk is that Trump’s approval rating has sagged, putting him underwater even in red-leaning states like Texas. A recent statewide poll of likely Hispanic voters — a bloc that makes up a narrow majority of the eligible voting population in De La Cruz’s district — found just 33% approved of Trump’s job performance.

Both onstage and in the interview, De La Cruz emphasized cost-of-living concerns as the top issue animating voters. He said groceries, gas and energy are “entirely too high” and that he would work with the Trump administration to “bring back jobs and build an economy that works for working families.”

That message is similar to how Democrats, including Johnny Garcia, the Democratic nominee running in the district, discuss the topic. But the difference is in the diagnosis — and De La Cruz will need to convince voters that the Biden administration and Democrats are to blame for economic woes while touting the elements of Trump’s economic agenda that are popular, such as tax deductions for tip income and overtime.

“This administration inherited a mess from the previous one,” De La Cruz said when asked about threading the needle between giving Trump credit while acknowledging voters’ economic struggles. “We saw record inflation. We saw gas prices well over $5. This administration, through its working family tax cuts … we’re working really hard to do right by the American people, to bring back jobs and continue to build an economy for those that are struggling.”

Democrats, of course, don’t see it that way. And they want high costs to be a millstone around the neck of all Republican candidates.

“In the two years Republicans have controlled Congress, they have done absolutely nothing to lower costs for South Texas families,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Madison Andrus said in a statement. “From the tariffs, to Republicans’ war-of-choice in Iran, to skyrocketing healthcare costs, De La Cruz owns his party’s failing agenda. This November, Texans are going to send Johnny Garcia, a real fighter for working families, to Congress.”

— Gabby Birenbaum

Trump ribs Paxton’s appearance and speaking style but calls him “greatest attorney general in America”

President Donald Trump on Wednesday pledged to return to Texas to get Attorney General Ken Paxton elected to the U.S. Senate.

But first, a word about Paxton’s appearance.

“Some might not like the way he dresses. I don’t — although tonight he looked very spiffy in his blue suit, I must tell you,” Trump said in his keynote address to the GOP convention Wednesday. “They may not like the way he talks. I can see that.”

Paxton was the first candidate Trump mentioned by name, about 15 minutes into his remarks. He highlighted the importance of Texas’ Senate race nationally and tried to gin up enthusiasm for the attorney general in his competitive race against Democrat James Talarico.

But in an echo of remarks he’s made over recent weeks, Trump couldn’t help but rib Paxton once more.

“It’s so insulting — you know, I hope he doesn’t get insulted,” Trump said. “He may not dress right. He may not talk exactly perfectly, and he may not be the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen. But you know what he is? He’s the greatest attorney general in America, and he deserves to be your next senator.”

Trump vowed to return to Texas multiple times to help get Paxton elected, which he said would be “a big part” of ensuring Republicans “defeat communism in America and vote for American freedom.”

“I’ll be coming back to Texas, because we have to elect Ken Paxton,” Trump said, adding later, “And if I have to, I’ll come back twice or three times. You’ll say, ‘Get this guy out of here. Get him out.’ They’re gonna be saying, get him the hell outta here. He’s here too much. No, I’ll come once or twice or I’ll come whatever.”

Trump called Paxton “instrumental” to the administration’s efforts to close the southern border, along with Gov. Greg Abbott, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, whose loss to Paxton in the Republican primary was all but sealed by the president’s endorsement of the attorney general.

“See, I’m being very nice,” Trump said. “Ted Cruz worked very hard on the wall, and so did John Cornyn.”

— Kayla Guo

Ken Paxton presents economic plan, bashes Talarico and thanks Trump

Attorney General Ken Paxton praised President Donald Trump and bashed James Talarico in his speech from the GOP convention stage Wednesday, a highly anticipated address as the Republican Senate candidate in the host state.

Paxton was introduced by National Border Patrol Council President Paul Perez, who initially endorsed Sen. John Cornyn in the primary before getting behind Paxton after he won the runoff.

In a 6½-minute speech similar to the one he delivers on the campaign trail, Paxton presented himself as a champion of the American Dream and Talarico as an opponent. The attorney general thanked Trump for delivering for Texans, saying he “delivered more for this country than anyone before,” while also noting the economic concerns voters have.

“Everywhere I go, I meet Texans working harder than ever but still worried that they will never get ahead,” Paxton said. “Those are the people that I’m fighting for. And I want every Texan to be able to buy a home, raise their family and live a healthy life.”

Paxton highlighted the tenets of his economic plan — a suite of tax breaks for housing and healthcare-related costs, making the Trump investment accounts created in Republicans’ 2025 tax bill permanent and doubling the size of the child tax credit.

He then pivoted to attacking Talarico on both taxes and social issues. Calling Talarico a “democratic socialist” — though Talarico is not a member of Democratic Socialists of America — Paxton said the state representative “never met a tax increase he didn’t love” and accused him of wanting to tax tips, income, overtime and Social Security.

Talarico’s tax plan involves raising rates on corporations and billionaires, eliminating the Social Security tax cap on people earning over $400,000 and expanding tax credits targeted at parents and low-income workers.

Paxton also acknowledged Talarico’s massive fundraising — the Democrat raised $30 million in the second quarter to Paxton’s $9 million.

“He is the most radical Democrat in Texas history, but he’s also the most well-funded,” Paxton said. “And that’s why today I need your prayers, your votes and your support.”

— Gabby Birenbaum

Brandon Gill takes the stage

Rep. Brandon Gill, a freshman lawmaker and rising GOP star, took the stage to lengthy applause from the audience.

The Flower Mound Republican is one of just a handful of candidates to address the convention who is neither in Republican leadership nor in a competitive race this fall. Gill’s Denton County-based district is heavily red. And he spoke for over 10 minutes, a longer speaking slot than most other non-leadership speakers.

Known for generating clip-worthy moments during back-and-forth in committee hearings, Gill ticked down a list of Democratic candidates that he called crazy. The list included Texas Democrat James Talarico, whom he nicknamed “James ‘God is nonbinary, there are six genders, we need to dismantle capitalism’ Talarico” and attacked for his interpretation of Christianity.

Talarico, who is a Presbyterian seminarian, “will hollow out your most deeply held Christian faith and wear it like a skinsuit,” Gill said.

He emphasized the contrast messaging that other Republicans on the stage have sought to detail, calling out Democrats for various “woke” opinions and framing the November election as a referendum on whether America should exist.

“This election is very clear — it’s the mainstream versus the extreme,” Gill said. “Because there’s another political movement in our country right now that doesn’t believe that America is or ever was great. They sometimes call themselves socialists. Some even call themselves communists. But most of them simply go by Democrats.”

— Gabby Birenbaum

De La Cruz siblings address the convention

U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, and her brother Carlos De La Cruz, the GOP candidate for the 35th Congressional District, were the first candidates to speak at the GOP convention Wednesday.

Both are running in majority-Hispanic districts that Democrats are eager to flip. Carlos De La Cruz is hoping to represent a newly redrawn district, based in San Antonio and including rural counties to the east, that President Donald Trump won by 10 percent in 2024. De La Cruz’s seat, anchored in Hidalgo County, also changed significantly. Trump won it by 18 percent in 2024. Their races are expected to be competitive — and indicative of where South Texas Latinos land this cycle after polling has shown the group souring on Trump.

The De La Cruz siblings both addressed affordability concerns and the border — blaming President Joe Biden and Democrats for the former and praising Trump for securing the latter.

“Working with President Trump, we ended the border crisis,” Monica De La Cruz said. “We cut taxes. And we turned a socialist nightmare back into the American Dream.”

The siblings also dinged their Democratic opponents, moderates endorsed by the centrist group the Blue Dog PAC, as overly liberal. 

Carlos De La Cruz, a first-time candidate and Air Force veteran, touted his military background and said he would “fight for the family sitting at the kitchen table tonight, doing the math on the rent, the groceries and the gas, and wondering how it all adds up.”

He blamed Democrats and the Biden administration for the rise in prices, and thanked Trump and the GOP for cutting taxes and securing the border. And he attacked his Democratic opponent, Bexar County Deputy Sheriff Johnny Garcia, as a rubber stamp for his “leftist party bosses” who would usher in a “return to open borders and higher taxes on working families.”

His sister led with a similar message, recalling the Biden era as one of rising rents and groceries and beneficial to the drug cartels while praising Republicans for following through on Trump’s campaign promises to end taxation on tips and overtime.

“Washington became a telenovela and every working family paid for each episode,” she said.

De La Cruz labeled her opponent Bobby Pulido, a Tejano musician who has appeared at quinceñeras and concerts around the district, a “corrupt, liberal celebrity.” And she attacked him over his former employment of a bandmate who is a registered sex offender.

“When Bobby Pulido isn’t endangering our families, he and the radicals in his party are trying to make life harder for them — higher taxes, higher prices and open borders,” De La Cruz said.

— Gabby Birenbaum

Talarico counterprograms RNC at grocery drive

James Talarico announced at an event Wednesday afternoon that a statewide grocery drive he kicked off over the weekend brought in over 20,000 pounds of groceries.

Comparing the cost of a ticket to the RNC convention to his food drive, the Democrat touted the contrast between the events.

“In just three days, our Love Thy Neighbor Grocery Drive has brought together thousands of people across the state,” Talarico said in a statement. “While corrupt politicians and their billionaire mega-donors pay $20,000 for a ticket into a Billionaire Ball, I’m proud to announce our campaign has collected over 20,000 pounds of groceries for working Texans. That’s real relief for Texas families who’ve been screwed over by corrupt politicians raising the price of everything.”

— Gabby Birenbaum

Illinois Gov. Pritzker joins Texas Democratic Party chair to launch Dallas pushback

Democrats kicked off their counter programming to the Republican convention in Dallas on Wednesday with a news conference featuring Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a widely anticipated 2028 presidential contender, and Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder. The presser was the first in a series of planned Democratic events this week meant to counter the GOP convention.

Pritzker and Scudder both bashed what they called the GOP’s corruption and lack of action to improve everyday people’s lives, along with the mid-decade push to gerrymander congressional lines in their favor.

“This bizarre Republican midterm convention here can’t paper over the fact that Republicans have done nothing to earn your vote,” Pritzker said. “In this moment, when America needs a new generation of leaders, fighters willing to stand up against tyranny, Texas Democrats have stepped into the breach.”

Pritzker, who hosted Texas House Democrats in Illinois last summer when they staged a walkout to delay passage of the state’s new congressional map, credited the lawmakers for kicking off the national resistance to the GOP’s redistricting effort.

After sounding a note of praise for the Democratic nominees for U.S. Senate and governor, James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa, Pritzker disparaged Gov. Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz — “each one a poster child for bad governance, bad morals and bad vibes, respectively.”

Pritzker sidestepped a question about whether a new PAC he launched would funnel money to help Talarico’s bid, saying he supported Talarico’s campaign along with those of other Texas Democrats on the ballot. The PAC has announced plans to spend in Texas’ 23rd Congressional District opposing the Republican nominee, gun rights activist Brandon Herrera. 

Democratic candidate for Tarrant County Judge Alisa Simmons and Houston Controller Chris Hollins also spoke at the news conference, emphasizing the need for voters to pay attention to down-ballot races. 

“Tarrant County is the epicenter of Trump’s Project 2025,” Simmons said as country music blared from the convention center venue next door. “While these people are in town partying — I keep hearing the music — we are out fighting. We’re knocking on doors or on the phones, and we are encouraging people to look at the party who is about their business, who knows what the mission is.”

— Kayla Guo

Read these Texas Tribune stories to catch up on the U.S. Senate race

Texas Democrats have been in the wilderness since 2018, when Beto O’Rourke came within a few points of unseating Sen. Ted Cruz. But after years of proclaiming that Texas was on the verge of turning blue, Democrats appear to have a genuine shot this year in James Talarico’s Senate bid against Republican Ken Paxton.

The race has attracted plenty of national attention, most recently around the question of whether President Donald Trump and other Republicans in Washington will ride to Paxton’s defense. The attorney general has been outspent and trailed by narrow margins in most polls, putting the GOP in jeopardy of losing its first statewide race since 1994.

Here are several Texas Tribune stories from recent weeks to catch you up on the latest twists and turns in what’s emerged as one of the nation’s marquee midterm races. And make sure to check out our polling and campaign finance trackers.

MAGA Inc. cavalry arrives for Paxton in Texas Senate as Trump’s PAC places $10 million ad buy, by Gabby Birenbaum

Elon Musk’s super PAC starts spending to boost Ken Paxton in Texas, by Will Hammann

John Cornyn is raising money for competitive Senate races — just not in Texas, by Gabby Birenbaum

Talarico floods Texas airwaves in U.S. Senate race as Paxton, GOP stay quiet, by Gabby Birenbaum

Ken Paxton omits rental income and mortgages from financial disclosures, obscuring his wealth, by Zach Despart, Kayla Guo and Alexandra Glorioso, via The Texas Tribune and ProPublica

And finally, the Tribune’s coverage of the candidates’ dueling affordability plans:

Ken Paxton unveils economic plan centered on tax breaks in U.S. Senate race, by Gabby Birenbaum

James Talarico rolls out economic agenda that takes aim at “false Gospel of trickle-down economics”, by Kayla Guo

— Jasper Scherer

RNC releases convention schedule. See when Abbott, Paxton and more are speaking

The Republican National Committee announced its schedule for speeches from the convention stage, which features prominent Texas politicians on both nights in Dallas.

The first Texan to hit the stage will be Heather Washburne, a co-chair of the Dallas 2026 Host Committee who has long been active in Dallas Republican circles. Following her in the 3 p.m. hour of the convention Wednesday will be Prestonwood Baptist Church Senior Pastor Jack Graham, who was a member of Sen. John Cornyn’s Faith Advisory Council during the Republican primary runoff for U.S. Senate. Attorney General Ken Paxton is a member of the Plano-based church.

Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, and her brother Carlos De La Cruz, the GOP candidate for San Antonio-based Congressional District 35, will also address the convention in the 3 p.m. hour Wednesday. Both are in competitive, majority-Hispanic South Texas congressional races that Democrats are hoping to flip in November.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, a former state representative from the Dallas area, will also speak in the first hour.

U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Flower Mound, a freshman lawmaker and rising GOP star, will kick off the 5 p.m. hour. Later in the hour, National Border Patrol Council President Paul Perez — who endorsed Cornyn but quickly backed Paxton after the runoff and introduced the attorney general at a rally in McAllen — will take the stage. 

Perez will be followed by Paxton himself. Running in a competitive race, many of the biggest names at the convention — and especially President Donald Trump himself — are working to help Paxton defeat James Talarico, including via fundraising and ad spending on his behalf.

Speakers in the 6 p.m. hour — and subsequent ones — will be competing with the NFL. The 2026 season kicks off at 6:20 p.m. with a rematch of last season’s Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots.

Wednesday will close with a keynote address from Trump in the 8 p.m. hour.

Thursday will open with Washburne again, as well as Senior Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas. Jeffress was a member of Cornyn’s Faith Advisory Council, as well.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s speech will close the 3 p.m. hour Thursday.

In the 4 p.m. hour, convention-goers will hear from two more South Texas congressional candidates in tight races — Eric Flores in the 34th Congressional District and Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina in the 28th Congressional District. Both are running against Democratic incumbents who have previously held their seats even as Trump won them in 2024, but which were redrawn to contain more Trump voters.

Sen. Ted Cruz, who will become the state’s senior senator come 2027 and is a potential presidential candidate, will close out the hour.

Gov. Greg Abbott will speak in the 5 p.m. hour, which will also feature a tribute to conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Finally, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, a former Democrat turned Republican, will speak in the 7 p.m. hour. Vice President JD Vance and Trump will close the convention out Thursday.

—  Gabby Birenbaum

Editor’s note: This post has been updated to reflect the correct time zone for Trump’s Wednesday keynote and for the speakers slated for the 5 p.m. hour.

Paxton to run new ad during convention featuring AI-generated Talarico

Attorney General Ken Paxton rolled out an AI-generated ad aimed at convention watchers Tuesday, highlighting controversial comments his opponent James Talarico has made, alongside a fundraising appeal.

The ad features an AI-generated Talarico coloring in a Bible and saying altered versions of the Austin Democrat’s past comments about his interpretation of Christianity. Republicans have seized on many of these remarks throughout Talarico’s U.S. Senate run.

“In the beginning, God was nonbinary, and he wasn’t a Christian — and God said, let there be six genders,” the AI-generated version of Talarico says in the ad. 

Talarico said in a 2021 speech that God is nonbinary, which he characterized later as a provocative comment meant to indicate that God is beyond gender. In a debate over transgender athletes in the Texas House in 2021, Talarico said, “modern science recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes — in fact, there are six.”

The Democrat referred to the comments Republicans have clipped as “cringey” earlier this year, saying some “missed the mark.”

The 30-second spot includes a QR code in the corner linking to Paxton’s WinRed fundraising page. The Republican has significantly lagged Talarico in both fundraising and campaign spending; Paxton raised $9 million in the second quarter of 2026 to Talarico’s $30 million.

Paxton’s campaign said the ad will air nationwide on Newsmax, a conservative television network, during the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas.

“His views are an insult to millions of faithful Texans, and it’s time for his extremist views to be exposed,” the attorney general said in a statement.

— Gabby Birenbaum

GOP’s “Trumpapalooza” convention to kick off Wednesday in Dallas

Republicans are gathering in Dallas this week for their first ever midterm convention, putting Texas at the center of the political world during the state’s most competitive election cycle in years.

The two-day gathering, at the American Airlines Center on the edge of downtown, will feature Texas’ top GOP elected officials and candidates, including Attorney General Ken Paxton, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Republican nominees in key battleground districts will also address the convention, as will President Donald Trump, who is closing out both nights — Wednesday and Thursday — with speeches.

National Republicans have branded the event as a “Trumpapalooza,” with a clear goal of energizing GOP voters during a difficult midterm environment — especially the MAGA types who have proven unreliable when Trump is not on the ballot. Republicans are also hoping to stock their campaign coffers during the convention, with five-figure ticket costs and fundraisers throughout the week.

Read more from the Tribune’s story previewing the event.

— Gabby Birenbaum and Kayla Guo