Trump rallies in Texas as Senate race tightens
President Trump campaigned in Corpus Christi and Lubbock for Republican Ken Paxton, who is in a close Senate race with Democrat James Talarico six days before the midterms.
President Donald Trump spent Tuesday campaigning in Texas, a state Republicans have long counted on, to shore up support for Senate candidate Ken Paxton one week before the November 3 midterm elections.
Paxton, the state's attorney general, is locked in a tight contest with Democrat James Talarico, whose campaign has drawn large crowds. If Talarico wins, it would be the first statewide Democratic victory in Texas in more than three decades, and it would make it harder for Republicans to keep their slim majority in the US Senate.
Trump's first stop was Corpus Christi on the Gulf Coast, where he spoke near a tanker carrying what he said was the first oil delivered to the US under a deal with Venezuela. He argued the shipment would help lower fuel prices, which have become a major concern for voters during the US war with Iran. He then headed to Lubbock in West Texas, where he talked up plans to ease methane rules for oil and gas producers and cast Talarico as too extreme for the state.
Talarico held his own rally in Lubbock the same evening, just a few miles away. He and other Democrats focused on the economy, high gas prices and rural hospital closures, and Talarico called Paxton corrupt.
Polls show the race within reach for either side. Control of one or both chambers of Congress is at stake nationwide next Tuesday.
This summary is original reporting by tehworldnews, written after checking the facts against several major international news outlets and official statements.