“If we lose Texas,” Ken Paxton warns, “we lose America.”
The warning from the Texas attorney general and Republican Senate nominee — who seems to be lagging in the polls behind Democratic candidate James Talarico — would hit a little bit harder if it hadn’t been delivered during the warmup hours of the GOP’s midterm convention. The emergency gathering, held in Dallas to emphasize exactly how important the state has become to the Republican Party’s cultural and electoral identity, is a first of its kind.
Paxton is speaking during the 5 p.m. hour of the convention’s first day of programming — not exactly a prime-time slot. Trump’s handpicked candidate in maybe the most crucial race of the year was given a measly five minutes to pitch his case, in his home state, while most of his prospective constituents were stuck in midweek traffic and nowhere near a television.
Maybe that was the correct call.
Paxton’s five-minute monologue was a snapshot of over a decade spent avoiding real campaigning. The MAGA loyalist has mostly floated through four election cycles as attorney general, boosted by the Texas truism that being the Republican on the ticket is usually enough to secure most statewide offices with little to no fuss. This year may be an exception, as Paxton, hands planted firmly on the podium to avoid the risk of making a humanoid gesture, delivered his prepared remarks in the flat, stilted monotone that electoral crowds go mild for.
“The press, the courts, and the establishment all tried to take President Trump down, but he’s won every single time,” Paxton says of the man who is not on the ballot next to him. The arena is only about two-thirds full The crowd halfheartedly claps during clear applause lines. “He’s delivered more for this country than anyone before, secured victories for America that no other president could, and always stood up for Texas,” Paxton drones.
Speaking of Talarico, Paxton makes sure to cycle through the tired digs against his opponent’s masculinity and religious convictions that have become a staple of his sporadic appearances on the stump. “He is a democratic socialist who never met a tax increase he didn’t love,” Paxton says.
Paxton and the president have a critical commonality in that they would both like to make this election cycle about Trump. For Republicans facing a potential blue wave wipeout, it’s a point of consternation. The anxiety stems directly from the amount of space the commander-in-chief wishes to occupy in the party’s midterm messaging. Trump is sitting in the crater of his popularity across two terms, and already put his finger on the Texas primary scale to help Paxton eke out a win over incumbent Senator John Cornyn — the preferred candidate of party members who viewed Paxton’s history of scandals and waterlogged-Levi’s charisma as a potential electoral liability.
Their concerns have panned out almost exactly as expected. Talarico, a Christian progressive looking to win over disaffected independents through a relentless focus on economic and anti-corruption policy, is consistently leading Paxton in the polls. The attorney general has stumbled through interviews and voter Q&As while clumsily dodging questions about his scandal-ridden past. Meanwhile, the comparatively young, tech savvy Talarico campaign builds a forceful ground game and outraises Paxton by exponential sums.
Texas Republicans can’t very well skip the party taking place in their own living room. When the president sought a 48-hour spectacle where he was once again the star, they had little choice but to oblige. For all the pomp and production being given to the first-ever midterm RNC, placing Paxton — a potential deciding vote in the balance of the Senate — in a C-tier time slot tells you everything you need to know about the GOP’s confidence in their candidate.
So did Trump’s comments later on Wednesday. “Some people may not like the way he dresses. I don’t,” the president said in his address to the convention, to laughs. “They may not like the way he talks. I can see that,” he added, to more laughs. He then explained that his advisers are going to be upset with him for making a punchline out of Paxton. He added that Paxton is a great attorney general.
