<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/texas/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Texas</a> Attorney General <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/ken-paxton/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ken Paxton</a>, the Republican <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/senate/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Senate</a> candidate, missed Vice President <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/jd-vance/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">JD Vance’s</a> South Texas swing at the Harlingen Convention Center on Wednesday afternoon.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Vance visited Texas to support <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/republican/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Republican</a> candidate Eric Flores in his race against Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) for the state’s 34th Congressional District. Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) was also not present at the event, but Vance praised the Republican leaders in his opening comments.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“First, I’ve got to send my best to a couple of patriots who could not be here with us today. One is your governor, the great <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/greg-abbott/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Greg Abbott</a>,” said Vance. “And second, of course, is the amazing Attorney General and your next senator, Ken Paxton.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This was the only mention of Paxton’s name by Vance during the approximately half-hour event.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A spokesperson for Paxton stated that the attorney general could not attend due to a rally in El Paso. Paxton is scheduled to appear with President <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/donald-trump/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Donald Trump</a> on Thursday during a campaign stop in Denton, according to the campaign.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Democrats are defending the 34th Congressional District, which has trended Republican since 2016. Republican state legislators redrew the district’s boundaries in 2025 to favor Trump in the 2024 election. Democrats are also attempting to flip the state’s Senate seat. Paxton trails Democratic state Rep. <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/james-talarico/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Talarico</a> by 3 points, according to <a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/senate/general/2026/texas/talarico-vs-paxton" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">aggregate survey data</a> from <em>RealClearPolling</em>.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Paxton was recorded commenting that the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention earlier this month did not help his numbers, according to leaked audio.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“So to be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers,” Paxton said in an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/us/politics/ken-paxton-trump-midterm-convention.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">audio recording</a> reported by the <em>New York Times</em>. “Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Hispanic voters in border states have shown declining support for the Trump administration due to its deportation policies. A <em>New York Times</em>/Siena College poll released this month indicated that 64% of Hispanic voters would vote for Democrats in a generic congressional race, while 28% would choose the Republican candidate. In a generic Senate race, 56% of Hispanic voters indicated they would vote for a Democrat, and 31% for the Republican candidate.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">During the event, Vance cautioned voters in the Rio Grande Valley, a majority-Hispanic area, that Gonzalez had voted consistently with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and against Republican legislation that aimed to eliminate taxes on tips for certain workers.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“It actually takes a special political talent to vote with Nancy Pelosi 100% of the time,” said Vance. “But Gonzalez voted to continue giving your money to fraudsters rather than American citizens. He voted to raise taxes on Social Security and overtime, while we fought to get rid of them.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Vance expressed strong support for Flores, describing him as a “fighter.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“He’s a fighter for the people in this room, but he’s also a fighter for his country. He’s a former federal prosecutor, a person who locked up the bad guys and made our streets safer,” said Vance. “He is a former Army officer who will always defend law and order across the great state of Texas. In fact, he’s taking the fight directly to the cartels, leading security operations on the border to protect great American cities like the one that we’re standing in right here.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Texas Senate seat is a key contest that will influence control of the upper chamber, but Vance’s speech largely focused on the congressional race. He did, however, criticize Talarico as a radical Democrat out of touch with voters.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“James Talarico, ladies and gentlemen, is a completely, a profoundly unserious person,” said Vance. “He has said he wants to represent the great state of Texas, but very proudly, he believes that there are six genders. He has said that God is, and I quote, non-binary, whatever the hell that means.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Talarico later acknowledged that he had misspoken about the number of genders. “I missed the mark on some of my past statements; I’ll be the first to admit it,” Talarico told Fox News this month.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Vance expressed skepticism about Talarico’s sincerity, stating, “Now Talarico sells himself as a new kind of Democrat, but ladies and gentlemen, he is the same old thing. He is disdainful, disdainful of us, disdainful of our beliefs, disdainful of the things that give us purpose and meaning.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Vance is also scheduled to campaign with Rep. <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/byron-donalds/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Byron Donalds</a> (R-FL), who is running in Florida’s gubernatorial race, this week as part of his increased campaign trail activities.</p>