Trump visits Texas to fundraise for Ken Paxton’s Senate bid

The visit marks Trump's first in-person push for Paxton's campaign, and it landed during a week that carried at least one bright spot for the Republican side: ad spending by Paxton's supporters topped Talarico's for the first time. Trump was greeted at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base by U.S. Rep. Brian Babin of Woodville, with more than a hundred supporters on the tarmac chanting his name.

The trip also included a NASA ceremony, giving the White House an official government event to pair alongside the political fundraising stop.

For West Texas Republicans who have watched Paxton as one of the state's most prominent conservative figures, the president's intervention signals real concern that a deep-red Senate seat could be in play. Talarico leading on both money and polls in Texas is not a sentence most political observers would have written two years ago.

Early voting is less than two months out. Whatever ground Paxton needs to make up, he needs to make it up fast.