AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — President Donald Trump will be joined by one of his potential successors on Tuesday as he tries to keep Texas, which hasn't elected a Democrat to statewide office in 32 years, in the Republican column in next week's midterm elections.
The president will appear in Corpus Christi and Lubbock in his effort to boost Republican Ken Paxton's competitive U.S. Senate campaign against Democrat James Talarico.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to help Trump show off a newly arrived oil tanker filled with Venezuelan crude to be processed in Texas refineries, according to a congressional aide and two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Rubio’s schedule ahead of a public announcement.
"We’re going to accept a million barrels of oil, and I’m going to give it to you people to use it the way you want,” Trump said as he left Washington without mentioning Rubio.
The president is entering the final week of his last midterms in a frenzied push to shore up Republican strongholds against unusually competitive Democratic candidates. His Tuesday trip to Texas marks his third swing though the state since holding a first-of-its kind midterm convention in Dallas in September, a sign of the significance he's putting on a state that has spent decades as reliably Republican.
He swung through Mississippi, Michigan, Georgia, Florida and Iowa over the past week, and his next stops are Ohio, South Carolina, Florida, Kansas and Iowa. He won all of these states in 2024.
The campaign marathon is a bet that while Trump is broadly unpopular, he still holds sway over the GOP's most loyal voters — a bloc whose participation in the elections will be critical.
The strategy is facing its fiercest test in Texas, where Talarico has capitalized on the difficult political environment for Republicans and Paxton's history of ethical and legal problems. Talarico plans to hold events on Tuesday in Midland, Amarillo and Lubbock, potentially creating a split-screen moment with Trump and Paxton.
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has joined Trump's effort to stop Talarico's advance.
“Talarico is lunatic left,” Musk wrote on his social media platform, X, to his 241 million followers, part of a drumbeat of attacks he’s posted against the candidate in the race’s final days.
Musk has headquartered Tesla and SpaceX, as well as himself, in Texas, and is so set on ensuring Republicans hold control of his adopted state that he appears to have sunk $158 million into defeating Talarico. Musk gave that much to the Senate Leadership Fund, which then gave the same amount to the Texas PAC, the largest contributor to Paxton’s campaign.
That’s helped make the race one of the most expensive in the country with over $563 million being spent on advertising between the primary and general elections, according to the ad tracking firm, AdImpact.
While Musk’s investment is a challenge for Talarico, it also falls right into the Democratic campaign’s central message. At every stop, Talarico has argued that, for too long, the wealthy and their donations have corrupted politics, and that this corruption has fueled the affordability crisis.
Talarico has begun naming Musk in his stump speeches. Paxton tends not to discuss him.
In addition to the Senate race, Democrat Gina Hinojosa is mounting a spirited campaign against Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who is seeking a fourth term.
As the midterms reach the final stretch, the early stages of the next campaign are already surfacing.
It’s not clear whether Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s national security adviser, would take part in any campaign events. But it’s the first time that he’s hitting the road with Trump as the president barnstorms the country.
Rubio previously ran for president in 2016 and is considered a top prospect in 2028. He has not said whether he will run, and his political activities have been limited since becoming secretary of state.
Another top Republican 2028 contender, Vice President JD Vance, has been more active on the campaign trail, making stops in Montana and Kansas and swinging through Michigan on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters ahead of his trip to Michigan, Vance echoed Trump's concerns about another critical Senate race in Alaska. The president said last week that he ordered the Department of Justice to file a lawsuit to block certification of the race there if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses. Trump has long complained about the presence of a second candidate named Dan Sullivan, who Republicans fear could siphon away votes from the incumbent.
“When you put a person on the ballot explicitly to try to confuse voters, I think that’s the definition of electoral fraud and I don’t think we should endorse it,” Vance said when asked why voters can’t tell the Dan Sullivans apart.
Alaskan voters will see “Dan S. Sullivan” identified as a “registered Republican” and “incumbent” on their ballots, while “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.” will not have a party affiliation.
Alaska’s Republican election officials determined the other Sullivan’s campaign was an attempt to “mislead” voters and wanted him removed from the ballot. But both a state court and Alaska’s Supreme Court disagreed and kept the second Sullivan on the ballot.
___
Sloan reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Aamer Madhani and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.
