Trump and Talarico hold dueling Texas rallies

President Trump and Texas Senate candidate James Talarico (D) shared their competing visions Tuesday as the two held dueling rallies in the Lone Star State one week before the midterm elections.

Trump did two rallies in Texas — the first in Corpus Christi and another in Lubbock . It’s his fourth trip to Texas to support Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton.

Talarico held his own rally in Lubbock on Tuesday. He was in Corpus Christi on Saturday.

The Texas race is one of the most contested and watched Senate races in the country. Talarico and Paxton remain close in the polls — Real Clear Polling calls the race a toss-up, with Talarico holding a slight lead.

A Democrat winning the Senate seat would be a shock — none have won a U.S. Senate race in Texas since 1988, and Trump won the state by nearly 14 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election.

Democrats are vying to take control of the House and the Senate. The party would need to win four seats to win control of the Senate.

The president started off his rally in Corpus Christi saying that Texans would defeat “Democrat Communist James Talafreako,” using the nickname he’s given to the candidate.

At both rallies, Trump criticized Talarico on a range of issues like immigration, the Second Amendment and barbecue.

“If you’re running in Texas and if you don’t like guns, and if you don’t like meat and if you don’t like oil, I think you should be losing by a lot,” Trump said at the first rally about Talarico. “Where the hell did they get this guy?”

Trump spoke heavily about the Venezuelan oil tanker that arrived in Texas on Tuesday that is carrying oil to be refined in the state. He said that Talarico would try to take it away.

“Talafreako stated that he wants to dismantle Texas oil and gas and capitalism itself. He wants to take it apart,” Trump continued, adding that Talarico will “kill millions of Texas jobs.”

In Lubbock, Trump said Talarico “wants to get rid of your guns. He wants to get rid of your oil. Wants to get rid of your meat. He can’t stand the stuff.”

Talarico has denied being vegan and said he supports the Second Amendment, but advocates for gun control.

Talarico, for his part, thanked Texans for showing up for his rally in Lubbock, just three miles away from Trump’s, invoking Trump’s nickname for him.

“That’s a lot of Talafreakos in one room,” he said.

He said Texans are “ready for change” and hit the Trump administration over the Iran war and tariffs.

“Change that will roll back these corrupt tariffs that are raising grocery prices. Change that will end this corrupt war in the Middle East, driving up gas prices,” he said. “We are done with the extremism and the corruption. We’re done with the politics of division, and we are ready for something new.”

The Democratic Texan hit on Paxton, calling him the “most corrupt politician in Texas.”

“Ken Paxton is everything that’s wrong with our politics,” he said. “He doesn’t serve us. He serves himself.”

“Ken has spent his entire career enriching himself and his donors. I’ve spent my career working with both parties to cut your property taxes, lower your housing costs, and capping your insulin copays,” Talarico continued. “I have a legislative record. Ken Paxton has a criminal record.”

Paxton has never been convicted of a crime, though he has faced criminal indictments, federal investigations and impeachment while serving as the state’s attorney general, but he was acquitted.

Talarico compared Paxton to “that one guy” at a Texas bar.

“He’s loud. He’s obnoxious. He makes everybody feel uncomfortable. He hears you say your name to the bartender and then adds his drink to your tab when you’re not looking,” he said. “That’s Ken Paxton. And I don’t know about y’all, but I am done picking up his tab.”

“This isn’t a partisan thing,” he continued. “Republicans know just as well as Democrats that there is no place for guys like Ken Paxton in Texas.”