Talarico Takes His Final Pitch to a Concert-Style Rally in Austin After a San Antonio Close That Cast Him as the Underdog
James Talarico's last event of the Texas Senate campaign is a concert-style rally in downtown Austin on election eve. He arrives off a Sunday stop in San Antonio where he told supporters 'we are the underdogs' against the richest and most powerful men in the world - and off a New York Times/Siena poll that put him ahead of Ken Paxton, 50 to 43.
HOUSTON - The Texas Senate race ends its campaign the way it was run: loud, in public, and aimed at young voters. Democratic nominee James Talarico hosts a concert-style rally in downtown Austin on Monday night, his final pitch to Texas voters on election eve, in the closely watched race against Republican Ken Paxton, the Associated Press reported. The Wall Street Journal's Monday watch list put the rally at the top of Texas's election-eve calendar.
The closing argument was road-tested Sunday in San Antonio, where Talarico appeared alongside gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa at The Espee on his 'Clear Eyes, Full Hearts' tour, FWRD AXIS reported. 'San Antonio, we are the underdogs in this race. We are literally going up against the richest man in the world and the most powerful man in the world,' he told the crowd. 'The powers that be have chosen their candidate; they have already bought and paid for Ken Paxton. But we are standing with the powers that ought to be.' The richest man in that framing is Elon Musk: 'He is trying to buy Texas,' Talarico said, pointing to the more than $160 million the Journal has reported Musk contributed to help Paxton's side.
The underdog posture runs against the last public numbers. A New York Times/Siena poll released Sunday showed Talarico at 50 percent among likely Texas voters to Paxton's 43 percent, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points - a lead, but one inside two margins of the tie the campaigns are planning for. The same survey found the governor's race effectively even, Hinojosa 48 to Gov. Greg Abbott's 47.
Texas votes on Tuesday with the country: a record 54 million people have already cast early ballots nationwide, AFP reported. Harris County's more than 600 vote centers open at 7 a.m. - and by Tuesday night, the underdog argument and the poll will both meet the only count that settles a Senate race.
