James Talarico ended his Texas Senate campaign before supporters at a music venue in Austin on Monday, while Ken Paxton addressed a restaurant 220 miles away in Allen. Two final polls gave the Democrat leads of 5.9 and 7 percentage points before voting began Tuesday, although neither result makes victory certain. Texans will decide whether Republicans preserve a seat central to their Senate majority or Democrats achieve a statewide breakthrough that has eluded them for decades.
Newsweek emailed the Paxton and Talarico campaigns for comment on Tuesday morning. Midterm elections usually create difficult conditions for the president’s party because voters can use them to register dissatisfaction without removing the president. That underlying pressure has helped turn a normally Republican Texas Senate contest into a competitive fight with national consequences.
Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate advantage, counting the two independents who caucus with Democrats on the Democratic side. Because the vice president can resolve a 50-50 tie, Democrats need a net gain of four seats to control the chamber. Talarico’s supporters packed into Stubb’s BBQ for a finale that mixed the atmosphere of a concert with the tension of a campaign confronting Texas’ long Democratic losing streak.
Around 1,800 people attended, according to a statement from Talarico’s campaign shared with The Texas Tribune and Fox News. Meanwhile, The Dallas Morning News reported in a post on X that “hundreds” had been there. On the eve of Election Day, Democrat James Talarico wrapped up his U.S.
Senate campaign with a final stop at Stubb's in Austin. Follow all the latest news and updates during Election Day at https://t.co/nomHuKQoII. https://t.co/4a8IrK9EjH Photographs and video showed spectators gathered across the venue’s floor and upper level, with more people waiting outside earlier in the day. James Talarico gives his closing arguments at his last rally on Election Day eve at Stubb’s in Austin, TX. #TXSEN https://t.co/vKGGITvXE1 “There’s that moment in every game, the last play of the last drive, when you have to leave it all on the field,” Talarico told the audience, his voice hoarse after weeks of travel.
The 37-year-old state representative and former public school teacher has presented himself as an economic populist, campaigning on universal child care, limits on credit-card interest rates and restrictions on congressional stock trading. For Democrats in attendance, the celebration carried an uncomfortable memory: promising Texas campaigns have repeatedly ended in defeat. One supporter, 26-year-old Nate Hill, told The Texas Tribune he had twice voted for President Donald Trump but cast his first ballot for a Democrat this year.
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