Democratic Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico will not appear alongside Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders when the progressive independent brings his national tour to the Lone Star State next week, as new polling shows Talarico's lead over Republican Ken Paxton in some polls shrinking inside the margin of error. Sanders is scheduled to hold his "Fighting Oligarchy" rally in El Paso on Monday, October 19, with former Texas Representative Beto O'Rourke and Texas Representative Greg Casar, both Democrats. Talarico won't attend, his campaign told The New York Times on Wednesday.
The tour also lists a stop in Amarillo that same Monday and a Houston rally on Tuesday, October 20, again with Casar and O'Rourke as special guests. The El Paso stop falls on Texas's first day of early voting. The race between Talarico, a state representative from Austin, and Paxton, the state's attorney general, could play a role in which party controls the U.S.
Democrats have not won a Senate race in Texas since 1988. Newsweek reached out to the Talarico campaign for comment Wednesday. Talarico has spent the general election courting independents and moderate Republicans, while Paxton and the national GOP have tried to tie the Democrat to his party's left wing.
Vice President JD Vance rallied for Paxton in East Texas on Tuesday, days after President Donald Trump did the same in San Antonio. A number of polls have favored Talarico throughout the race following his victory over U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary.
A Marist poll released Wednesday found Talarico leading Paxton 47 percent to 45 percent among likely voters. Among registered voters, Talarico held a four-point lead, which was down from six points a month earlier. The poll's margin of error for likely voters was plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
The poll offered bright spots for the Democrat among independents, with 52 percent saying they backed Talarico. Paxton's favorability was 22 points underwater, with 34 percent viewing him favorably and 56 percent unfavorably. Despite those numbers, 53 percent of likely voters said they still expect Paxton to win the race.
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