MAGA’s Heckler Headache Trickles Down to Must-Win Candidate
Ken Paxton is the latest Republican whose campaign rally has been derailed by a heckler.
Joel Angel Juarez
President Donald Trump’s heckler headache has trickled down to his MAGA candidates, too.
A heckler taunted Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton mid-speech on Saturday, much like the president has been interrupted at his own October rallies.
“Talk to your friends. Talk to your family,” Paxton said. “Tell them the difference between the parties and between me and James Talarico.”
That is when Paxton’s heckler saw an opportunity.
“Paxton, you take bribes,” a member of the crowd yelled out, cutting Paxton off mid-sentence.
The comment likely referred to Paxton’s 2023 impeachment on corruption charges. State House Republicans joined Democrats to impeach the Texas Attorney General, but he was cleared by his partymates in the state’s Senate.
Hecklers have disrupted Trump’s midterm rallies all month, provoking furious responses from the president, who briefly went as far as canceling rallies for two must-win Senate races—though he later reversed the decision.
On Friday, Trump shouted “shut up” when a heckler disrupted his speech and then ordered him to be ejected. At a rally in Kansas, protesters interrupted Trump more than six times. In Ohio, a heckler taunted Trump over traveling on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane, while in Mississippi a heckler told Trump to “shove that ballroom up your fat a--!”
Vice President JD Vance has also been targeted, reacting with a string of expletives when heckled at a rally in Kansas this week.
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Republicans are expected to face sweeping losses in next week’s election. Democrats have not held a Texas Senate seat since 1988, but polls suggest that voters in the state are increasingly disillusioned with rising prices and the cost of living. The most recent polls tracked by The New York Times put Talarico up by four points and three points.
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