USAupdated 53m ago2 min read
Archive photo · 2 June 2025Trump Holds Dueling Corpus Christi And Lubbock Rallies With Marco Rubio Against James Talarico
“It was not immediately clear under what pretext the oil had been shipped or whether the details Trump gave were correct.”
“Trump spoke heavily about the Venezuelan oil tanker that arrived in Texas on Tuesday”
Photo: Daniel Torok, Public domain · Cropped for layout
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Trump held rallies in Corpus Christi and Lubbock, Texas, days before the midterms. He campaigns to boost Republican Ken Paxton against Democrat James Talarico.
Dueling Texas rallies
President Donald Trump held dueling rallies in Corpus Christi and Lubbock on Tuesday to boost Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton against Democrat James Talarico in the final week before the midterm elections.
Trump brought out his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, at the Lubbock rally, where Rubio said, “Our enemies are weaker. Our country is stronger, and our people are safer because Donald J. Trump is the president of the United States,”.
Talarico campaigned in Lubbock as well, telling rallygoers, “I know we’re not the only show in town tonight, so I appreciate all 4,000 of you,”.
Trump and Paxton framed Talarico as too extreme for Texas, with Trump referring to him derisively as “Talafreako,” while Talarico cast the contest as a fight against corruption and affordability pressures.
Trump’s Texas push also leaned on energy messaging, as Al Jazeera reported Trump pointed to a ship in the distance and said, “It’s got 1 million barrels of oil on it from Venezuela,”.
Rubio, Musk, and polling
Marco Rubio appeared briefly onstage with Trump in Corpus Christi, and Rubio said, “It is an honor to work for the greatest country in the world, for the greatest president in the history of the United States of America,”.
Elon Musk amplified the fight from outside the rallies, writing on X, “Talarico is a lunatic leftist,” as he attacked the Democratic candidate in the final days.
NBC News described Dr. Tim Jones, 66, an emergency room physician in Lubbock, saying, “We’re all closet Democrats,” and linking the turnout to anger about gas prices, diesel prices, inflation, and “lies, the war, all of it.”
ABC News said an early October ReconMR poll found Texas Democratic state Rep. James Talarico had 48% support while Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton had 44% support, within the poll's margin of error.
Fox News reported a separate poll showing Paxton and Talarico tied at 49% among likely voters, while it also said Democrats have not won a statewide election in Texas in 32 years.
What the race decides
Trump’s Texas rallies were aimed at defending GOP majorities in Congress, with ABC News saying the president was barnstorming deep-red states as Democrats made inroads in some unlikely places.
ABC News also tied the campaign to voter economic concerns, noting that “About 7 in 10 Americans say that gas is unaffordable and that the country is headed in the wrong direction,”.
The Hill described the Texas Senate race as one of the most contested and watched, saying Talarico and Paxton remained close in the polls and that Real Clear Polling called the race a toss-up with Talarico holding a slight lead.
Houston Public Media said a Talarico victory would give Texas its first Democratic U.S. Senate election winner since 1988 and end the party’s more than 30-year statewide losing streak.
Los Angeles Times reported that Trump would be accompanied by Rubio as he sought to keep Texas in the Republican column, and it said Rubio’s role included presenting a newly arrived oil tanker carrying Venezuelan crude for Texas refineries.