Candidates flood into San Antonio as South Texas becomes key in midterm races – San Antonio Current

Candidates flood into San Antonio as South Texas becomes key in midterm races  San Antonio Current

Around 2,000 showed up to see James Talarico in San Antonio, while owners of a New Braunfels eatery apologized for hosting a Ken Paxton rally. Texas Democrats’ optimism and the desperation of the state GOP were on full display over the weekend as candidates flooded the San Antonio area to make their final pitches ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Democrats focused on issues including affordability, healthcare and immigration reform, while Republicans ginned up fear about income taxes, Sharia law and transgender youth. UT-San Antonio political scientist Jon Taylor said Republican candidates’ mad dash through South and Central Texas over the weekend suggests internal polling shows a bloodbath not seen since the blue wave of 2008.

“If you consider where they’re targeting and spending money, it tells me that Republican internal polls must be really bad to see this stuff going on,” Taylor said. Indeed, Gov. Greg Abbott spent much of Sunday afternoon visiting a Hutto neighborhood in Williamson County — a county Trump won by 2.4 points in 2024. The three-term Republican governor’s remarks to Austin-based TV station KVUE didn’t sound too reassuring, either. “What we’re seeing in the early vote is very predictable,” Abbott said. “There’s going to be a big surge, early on, the first couple of days on the Democrat side, and then the Republicans pick