SAN ANTONIO – President Donald Trump urged Texas Republicans on Wednesday to rally behind embattled U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton, but his appearance in San Antonio was repeatedly interrupted by protesters.
The disruptions began during Trump’s remarks, including one protester who appeared to get close to the stage. Trump briefly moved away from the microphone before returning to address the crowd.
“He’s going back home to mom,” Trump said. “But what he doesn’t know is his mom voted for Trump.”
More protesters followed in succession, bringing the number of interruptions to at least six. Police escorted some of the demonstrators from the venue.
Trump initially continued speaking over the disruptions as supporters booed. But after the interruptions persisted, he remarked, “Those are really bad-looking people.”
The protest-filled rally highlighted the challenges facing Texas Republicans as this year’s midterm elections approach.
Texas remains the nation’s most populous reliably Republican state, and Trump carried it by nearly 14 percentage points in 2024. Yet with Election Day less than a month away, Republicans across the country are confronting weak approval ratings for Trump, the war with Iran and sharply higher gas prices.
Wednesday marked Trump’s third visit to Texas in under a month, underscoring the GOP’s effort to prevent a Democratic wave in a state party leaders had not expected to become competitive this year.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s absence from the evening event at Freeman Coliseum offered another sign of Trump’s political standing in the state. Abbott, a three-term governor who won reelection in 2022 by about 11 percentage points, has also found himself swept into the national political turbulence.
Abbott is facing a competitive reelection campaign against Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa.
Rather than join Trump, Abbott was set to headline the dedication of a hospital roughly 330 miles away. Democrats quickly used the governor’s decision as a political talking point.
“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.”
The governor’s race has attracted a sudden wave of Democratic fundraising, but the Senate contest has drawn even greater national interest as Democrats seek to take control of the chamber. Texas has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1988. Still, candidate James Talarico’s fundraising strength, Trump’s low approval ratings and persistent questions about Paxton’s character have made the race unexpectedly competitive.
Trump devoted much of his speech to the Senate contest, calling Paxton “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. “He’s a fantastic man.”
Trump did not address a recently leaked recording in which Paxton criticized the war in Iran and rising fuel costs, while also expressing frustration that Washington-based operatives were running his campaign.
Although Trump offered Paxton praise early in the speech, he devoted considerably more time to attacking Talarico, repeatedly referring to him as “Tala-freako.”
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Peoples reported from New York, while Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.
