Ken Paxton makes closing pitch to anxious Republicans — and even some opponents

ALLEN, Texas — Ken Paxton didn’t mince words on his final day of campaigning for Texas’s open Senate seat about what was at stake in Tuesday’s midterm elections: the Texas way of life.“Texas has never been this close to slipping away. We have never been this close to losing everything that we hold here: our jobs, our livelihoods, our way of life in Texas,” Paxton, the state attorney general, said at one of his final rallies of the season Monday. “If Texas falls, we don’t have another Texas to move to.”That sense of urgency has enveloped Republicans in the Lone Star State as voters face what could ultimately be their closest Senate race in decades. A couple hundred supporters showed out for each of Paxton’s two closing events Monday, one in the Houston suburb of Conroe and the other outside of Dallas in Allen. But while eventgoers were cautiously optimistic about Paxton’s chances to stop state Rep. James Talarico from becoming Texas’s first elected Democratic senator since 1988, not everyone in attendance was on the same team.Among them was Tim Bachle, a Houston accountant keeping to himself toward the rear of the Conroe rally held at an outdoor music venue. The 45-year-old voted early for Talarico and was curious to experience a Paxton event firsthand. But he wasn’t overly optimistic about his preferred candidate’s odds.“I’ve had my hopes before, and they get dashed,” Bachle told the Washington Examiner. “It feels the same as like when [Beto O’Rourke] ran for Democrats.” An attendee at a midterm campaign rally for Texas Attorney General and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Ken Paxton, in Conroe, Montgomery County, Texas, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026 Texas Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at a midterm campaign rally for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in Conroe, Montgomery County, Texas, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026 Ken Paxton speaks at a rally in Conroe, Montgomery County, Texas, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026 People attend a midterm campaign rally for Texas Attorney General and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Ken Paxton, in Conroe, Montgomery County, Texas, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026 O’Rourke, the 2018 Democratic nominee and a then-congressman, lost to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) that midterm election cycle by 2.6 points, or just under 215,000 votes. By many accounts, the Paxton-Talarico matchup could be far closer, and it could determine party control of the upper chamber in a year that has Republicans sweating seats across the country, including Texas, that have previously offered otherwise relatively safe havens for GOP candidates.Cruz, who stumped for Paxton in Conroe, warned of his own past reelection struggles and cautioned the “rough” headwinds facing the incumbent party in power in an effort to fire up the crowd.“I think a lot of people are so concerned today about inflation,” said 80-year-old retiree Stephen Wagstaff, who attended the Allen rally.Others weren’t so sure Texas is as much of a battleground as the polling suggests.“I don’t think it’s as close as everybody’s saying it is,” said Gwen Withrow, the chairwoman of the Montgomery County Republicans, where the Conroe event was held. “But Montgomery County is not taking any chances, and we are coming out to vote strong.”People attend Texas Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton’s final campaign rally of the midterm elections in Allen, Texas, on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner) The toss-up contest has featured no shortage of dramatic twists and turns, including Paxton’s ouster of longtime Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the primary with the help of President Donald Trump. Paxton’s more conservative policy chops bode well for him with rallygoers, particularly up against Talarico’s progressive track record. But his political baggage, which includes an indictment, a state impeachment trial, and a messy divorce, is a controversial component of his past that several supporters proactively addressed.“I’m kind of overlooking some of his major faults,” Wagstaff said. “But I still feel he’s the best candidate of the election.”“I feel like Paxton has a much better service record than Talarico, so it’s easy to support him,” said Scott McKenzie, a 59-year-old in sales and marketing also at the Conroe event. “He’s got conservative values, and I’m not voting for my pastor. I’m not voting for my best friend. I know the guy’s screwed up in his personal life.”A sorer subject for Paxton-backers was Cornyn, the fourth-term senator whose support for the nominee ends with casting a ballot for the GOP ticket. Cornyn maintains his primary election criticisms that Paxton is unfit for the job and has declined to campaign or fundraise for him. Whether Cornyn could have presented a more formidable general election challenge or boosted Paxton by becoming more involved were hypotheticals many did not wish to entertain.Alice Rekeweg, from the Harris County Republican Party, attends a midterm campaign rally for Texas Attorney General and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Ken Paxton, in Conroe, Montgomery County, Texas, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner) “Senator Cornyn is not a Republican. What he did is turn his back,” said Alice Rekeweg, an activist with the Harris County Republican Party. “I’m sorry he was ever voted into a public figure.”TED CRUZ WARNS OF ‘ROUGH’ GOP HEADWINDS AT KEN PAXTON ELECTION EVE RALLYMeanwhile, Talarico appeared in the state capitol of Austin at his final rally of the campaign, along with Texas Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Gina Hinojosa. He maintained the race was centered on opposing the “embodiment” of political corruption that is his Republican rival.“We are running against the embodiment of this corrupt system,” Talarico said. “We are running against the most corrupt politician in Texas history, Ken Paxton, and he represents everything that’s wrong with our politics. He doesn’t serve us. He serves himself.”