Trump spoke last. Lee Greenwood, then roughly two hours, then night one was over.
Check out what he said here: [VIDEO]
The line that organized the speech was turnout. “When I’m on the ticket, Republicans always do very well,” Trump said. Midterms without him on the line are the problem he named. “So I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot.” About 35 races. Twice or three times if he has to.
The first name on that list was Ken Paxton.
“I’ll be coming back to Texas, because we have to elect Ken Paxton.” Then the bit he has been doing for weeks: the suit, the voice, “not the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen,” then “the greatest attorney general in America.” He looked for Paxton in the hall and said Ken would never speak to him again.
Paxton had already gone. Thanked Trump. “Protecting the Texas Promise.” 107 suits against Biden. Talarico as the most radical and most well-funded Democrat in Texas, out to destroy the American dream, California’s third senator, “obsessed with transitions.”
For Talarico, Trump used the trail nickname: Talafreako. Talarico already put that word on merch. Wednesday he was at a grocery drive across town.
The race is why Dallas was not scenery. Paxton beat Cornyn in the May runoff with Trump’s endorsement. Talarico won the Democratic primary outright. Texas has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1988. Cook and Sabato: Toss Up since late August. Inside Elections still Lean Republican into September.
The polls have sat inside the margin for months. Times/Siena late June: 47–47. Emerson mid-August: Paxton 47, Talarico 46. UT/Texas Politics Project August: Talarico 42, Paxton 39. RCP through late August: Talarico up about two. The survey that dropped the afternoon the convention opened, N+ Univision: Talarico 48, Paxton 43, 7 percent undecided. Overton late August: 50–50 with leaners. I am not picking a winner out of that stack. A Texas Senate race is this close in September.
Money is not close. Through June 30: Talarico $68.6 million raised and $21.5 million cash; Paxton $9.2 million and $1.8 million on hand.
Then the rest of night one — no roll call, Gruters on defying history, the policy blocks, Blanche on a partisan stage, the hall descriptions from people who were there, Thune booed, Iran and the Strait, Kirk marked for today, the $5,000 dividend, the close.
They noticed the midterm pattern and answered it by putting him in the building. In Texas the invented ticket already has a name. He spent the first candidate slot on Paxton, needled the suit, and promised to come back.
Watch Night One of the Republican Midterm Convention here: [VIDEO]
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