Paxton fights to keep gains Trump made with Texas Latinos

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — Texas Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton is locked in a tight race with his Democratic rival, James Talarico, and Latino voters could play a pivotal role in determining the outcome. But some of Paxton’s own supporters question whether he is doing enough to win them over.A Fox News poll released Wednesday found Paxton and Talarico tied at 49% among likely voters, while Hispanic voters favored Talarico 64%-34%. The same voting bloc backed President Donald Trump by 1 point in 2024 after favoring Democrat Joe Biden by 25 points in 2020, according to the Texas Fox News Voter Analysis.In a series of interviews with the Washington Examiner at Palenque Grill, Paxton voters expressed concern that Republicans have not done enough to maintain the gains Trump made with Latino voters in 2024. Eric Ziehe, 66, told the Washington Examiner that he does not think Paxton is making the same inroads with Latino voters.“I think generally Latinos are very conservative, but they’re so used to voting Democrat generationally that it’s a hard hole to break,” Ziehe said.South Texas shifted sharply to the right in 2024, when Trump won all but two border counties, flipping areas that had voted Democratic for decades. Texas Republicans are banking on that realignment holding in 2026, having redrawn state maps to capitalize on the GOP’s gains in the region.To help shore up support, Paxton visited two cities on the Mexican border, Brownsville and McAllen, on Thursday as part of his “Come and Take It” tour. The rally opened with a prayer before the group danced to “Y.M.C.A.” as Paxton came onstage.The visit was the kind of outreach some of his supporters say Republican candidates need to undertake more frequently.“I really wish, if I had it the perfect way, I would have all of our candidates constantly visiting the border so that they can get familiar with our issues one-on-one because we can, we know we all want a protected border, but seeing it for yourself is something else,” Krystina Fonseca, a 41-year-old precinct chairwoman, told the Washington Examiner.Paxton sent a letter to donors earlier this month warning of the spending gap in the Senate race between him and Talarico, as it laid out a pathway for him to prevail by getting Republicans to turn out and appealing to Hispanic and Make America Healthy Again voters.“I don’t think he’s doing enough,” Bea Gossage, 54, told the Washington Examiner. “I think he needs to talk to the Latinos.“I think we need to make sure that people that are on the fence about voting, because a lot of times people don’t get involved in politics, but they need to know that they are actually here in the United States, that their vote matters, and they need to do their civic duty to vote, but I think we need to have people that are knowledgeable and what he stands for.”BETO O’ROURKE SAID HE CAN ‘FEEL THE ENERGY’ ON THE GROUND IN TEXASAt the Brownsville rally, Paxton acknowledged the importance of turnout, pleading with attendees to bring their friends and family to vote while pointing to the Fox News polling. He asked his supporters for three things: prayers, contributions to his team, and telling people to “vote Republican” every day until the election.“We will win if our people show up,” Paxton said at the rally.