With less than a month to go before the general election and early voting set to begin in just 10 days, the two candidates in Texas’s closely watched Senate race are facing unique challenges.
Democratic nominee James Talarico has canceled at least two campaign events after coming down with the flu, and Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton, meanwhile, has had another audio recording leaked, this time detailing his concerns about the effects of the Iran war.
Talarico disclosed his illness during a forum hosted by the U.S. Hispanic Business Council last week, attending the event virtually despite having planned to attend the Rio Grande Valley event in person. He was last seen at an event in New York hosted by actor Robert De Niro on Sept. 28.
The Democrat chalked up his illness to his aggressive campaigning.
“I guess I’ve been shaking too many hands on the campaign trail,” he said, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Talarico canceled two campaign events in Texas this week, including a fundraiser intended to turn out black voters in Austin.
In light of Talarico’s absence, Paxton released an ad asking, “Where is James Talarico?” The video lays out Talarico’s event cancellations and when he was last seen, noting that his campaign is recycling videos from past events on social media.
“While his campaign continues to lie to Texans, he is nowhere to be seen,” Paxton said.
But Paxton is facing his own challenges in the final stretch of the midterm campaign. The Republican has been plagued by leaked audio clips from closed-door fundraisers in Washington.
In a new audio reported by Axios on Wednesday, Paxton said the Iran war is one of the issues “dragging” his campaign. He noted that the war has caused prices to increase for voters, saying, “People are feeling the pinch.”
“I’m just trying to figure out ways I can help people. That’s the only way: I can propose legislation,” Paxton said in the recording, pointing to his tax plan that includes deductions for medical expenses and purchasing a home, as well as a child tax credit.
Paxton noted that many of the events affecting his campaign are out of his control.
“So many factors in this federal race are uncontrollable. I don’t make the decisions, and I don’t … know what’s behind some of the decisions,” he said.
Paxton’s campaign said the audio recording is a “non-story.”
“The Attorney General said what every Texan already knows: gas and diesel prices are too high, and hardworking Texans are struggling at the pump and at the grocery store,” Madison Cercy, a Paxton campaign spokeswoman, told the Washington Examiner. “President Trump is doing everything he can to bring prices down, and Ken Paxton is going to Washington to help him by putting money back in families’ pockets with a bigger child tax credit and larger deductions for health care and buying a home.”
Two other recordings of Paxton discussing his campaign surfaced this week. He blamed Republican leadership in Washington for controlling his Senate campaign in one recording, and he said President Donald Trump was a “little bit of a drag,” and in another, he said the Republican National Committee’s recent midterm convention did his campaign no favors.
REPUBLICANS WELCOME TRUMP’S HELP, JUST NOT IN BATTLEGROUNDS
Trump will head to Texas on Wednesday to stump for Paxton. Trump endorsed Paxton in the primary and is supportive of his campaign but has admitted to some of the attorney general’s weaknesses, saying, “He’s a little controversial, just slightly.”
Recent polls show Paxton narrowly trailing Talarico, as the two vie to replace Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). The incumbent has not backed the Republican nominee following their bitter primary race, prompting Talarico to say he would be open to an endorsement from Cornyn.
Continue reading...
[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
