SAN ANTONIO -- President Donald Trump, facing protesters and a poor political climate, fought to rally Texas voters behind Senate candidate Ken Paxton on Wednesday night in a bid to stave off sweeping Democratic victories in the nation's most populous red state.
But Trump's remarks were not focused solely on Paxton.
Speaking to a packed Freeman Coliseum, Trump also pledged to award retired baseball star Roger Clemens the Presidential Medal of Freedom, restated his support for the death penalty for drug dealers and clarified recent comments in which he talked about the possibility of Iran bombing American cities as part of a recurring riff about how high fuel costs are “a small price to pay” for the war.
“You want to see problems? Let them hit San Diego, let them hit Los Angeles,” Trump said. “We’re not going to let that happen. We protect our cities. We protect our country.”
The president's message was interrupted repeatedly by protesters, including by one who appeared to be close to the stage. In all, at least a dozen demonstrators interrupted the president. Some were led away by police.
Trump stepped away from the microphone briefly after one interruption.
“He’s going back home to mom,” Trump said. “But what he doesn’t know is his mom voted for Trump.”
The Republican Party did not plan to devote so much money and manpower to Texas this midterm season.
Texas is the nation’s most populous reliably Republican state, where Trump won in 2024 by almost 14 percentage points. But with Election Day less than a month away, Trump’s poor approval ratings, the Iran war and soaring gas prices have threatened Republicans in virtually every state.
Wednesday’s appearance marked Trump’s third trip to Texas in less than a month, and party officials have devoted more than $300 million to elections in the state so far.
In a sign of Trump’s poor standing, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott did not attend the evening rally. A three-term Republican governor who won reelection in 2022 by roughly 11 percentage points, even Abbott has been caught in the turbulent national currents.
He’s locked in a competitive reelection race against Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa.
Instead of appearing with Trump, Abbott was scheduled to attend the dedication of a hospital about 330 miles away. Democrats seized on the governor’s absence.
“For years, Greg Abbott has never been shy about embracing Donald Trump, calling Trump a ‘great friend’ and championing his agenda every step of the way,” said Texas Democratic Party spokesperson Jacob Long. “But now, as Texas families get crushed by record-high prices driven by Trump’s tariffs and war with Iran, suddenly Greg Abbott has somewhere else to be.”
While the race for governor has drawn a sudden influx of cash from Democrats, the state’s U.S. Senate race has drawn the most attention as Democrats fight for the chamber’s majority. The state has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988, but candidate James Talarico’s fundraising, Trump’s low approval rating and nagging concerns about Paxton’s character have put the race squarely in play.
Trump spent most of his remarks focused on the Senate contest, describing Paxton as “perhaps the greatest attorney general in the United States of America.”
“He was tough and he was with us all the way,” Trump said of Paxton, whom he endorsed in the state's GOP primary over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. “He’s a fantastic man.”
Trump made no mention of the recently leaked recording of Paxton lamenting the war in Iran and rising fuel prices, while also complaining his campaign was being run by operatives in Washington.
He repeatedly criticized Talarico, including on the death penalty, a point that would appeal to many conservatives in the state that leads the nation in executions.
Trump restated his support for the death penalty for “large scale drug dealers, human traffickers and anyone who kills a police officer,” while acknowledging that Nidal Malik Hasan, a former Army major who killed 13 people in a 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, will be executed by firing squad.
The president approved the method of execution earlier this week and suggested that Talarico opposes it.
The Talarico campaign did not immediately respond when asked about the candidate’s position on Hasan’s scheduled execution.
Paxton, invited onstage near the end of the rally, heaped praise on Trump, who stood behind him: “I am so grateful that you’re here.”
While Trump promoted Paxton briefly at the beginning of his remarks, he spent almost as much time later talking up Clemens, the retired Red Sox and Yankees pitcher who has been denied a spot in Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame due to his alleged involvement with performance-enhancing drugs.
Trump brought him onstage and said he'd be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest civilian honor — and, Trump said, “a step up” from the Hall of Fame.
Clemens said he was stunned by the honor.
“This supersedes anything that obviously I’ve done in my playing career,” he said, standing alongside Trump. “And to get it from this man, this president. ... You talking about a winner? That’s a winner right there.”
___
Peoples reported from New York and Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed.
