FORGOT THE ALAMO

MAGA Senate Hopeful Scraps Grand Finale After Awkward Rallies

Ken Paxton’s campaign has canceled a splashy final campaign event just days ahead of Election Day.

Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate nominee in Texas, has canceled his final campaign push at a Texas landmark.

Paxton was supposed to end his “Come and Take It” bus tour at The Alamo on Monday. But those plans have been upended as his campaign added additional stops in Conroe and Allen, suburban towns in the Houston and Dallas areas, respectively, that are hundreds of miles away from the famous battleground.

Paxton’s campaign had originally settled on The Alamo, a landmark of the Texas Revolution, to end his campaign. His closing message to voters was set to be “When they come after Texans, Ken Paxton goes after them.”

His opponent, Democratic state Sen. James Talarico, has harped on Paxton for canceling the event.

“No one’s going to Ken Paxton’s rallies, so he’s canceling them and hoping Elon Musk will buy this seat for him,” Talarico said in a statement Friday, pointing to the $200 million the world’s richest man has put into the race for Paxton. “Texas deserves a Senator that shows up — not one that hides behind a pile of money.”

Talarico has been on a bus tour of his own. His campaign has called it “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts” in an apparent nod to the television series Friday Night Lights, which centered around football in the state.

Paxton’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast.

While the Texas Tribune reported that it remains unclear why his Alamo event was scrubbed, the scandal-ridden Texas attorney general has seen abysmal crowds at his recent events. A rally in Abilene last week appeared sparsely populated, with a small crowd clapping awkwardly and exclaiming “Yeah” as Paxton finally walked out.

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Polling also shows that Talarico has a real shot at becoming the state’s first Democratic senator in around three decades.

A CNN/SSRS poll released Thursday for the Senate race between Democrat James Talarico and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton showed Talarico up 6 percent. In the same poll, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa was down 2 percent.

Voters in the state have expressed enthusiasm as, among all states, Texas has seen the largest share of early voting at 40 percent, or 7.6 million ballots. Of those who have cast a ballot, 44 percent were cast by registered Democrats, 45 percent by Republicans, and 11 percent by another party.

President Donald Trump, whose endorsement of Paxton pushed him over the finish line in a bruising primary against Sen. John Cornyn, has been trying to rally the troops to turn out the vote on Paxton’s behalf.

But the president hasn’t been able to help himself from commenting on Paxton’s looks, going so far as to call him ugly several times.

“I have to say this about Ken. It’s so insulting, and I hope he doesn’t get insulted,” he said at the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas. ”He may not dress right. He may not talk exactly perfectly, and he may not be the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen, but you know what he is? He’s the greatest attorney general in America, and he deserves to be your next senator."

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Annabella RosciglioneReporter

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