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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton thanked an audience member for a lone clap during a campaign stop in Odessa on Wednesday.
Paxton stopped at Mama’s Kitchen in Odessa for the first of three campaign events in West Texas on Wednesday. The stops were part of Paxton’s "Come and Take It" bus tour. It is touring the state in the closing days of his Senate campaign against Democrat James Talarico.
The Texas race is crucial because it could help determine control of the U.S. Senate, challenge decades of Republican dominance in Texas, and shape the future direction of American politics.
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During the stop in Odessa, Paxton spoke to an audience of just a few dozen people about the biggest cases he has led as the state’s attorney general, including against Facebook and Google.
"We made them pay because they were invading your privacy. They were taking information from you without telling you, and they were monetizing it without telling you. So they were making the money. They weren’t telling you. They were being dishonest," he said.
"Facebook, similar: they were stealing our facial geometry and so we sued them. We recovered billions of dollars, $3 billion, almost $3 billion between the two," Paxton said. He paused for a moment after just one person in the audience clapped.
"Thank you. Thank you for that one clap," he said, prompting others to also applaud.
Newsweek has contacted the Paxton campaign for comment via an email sent outside regular business hours and is awaiting a response.
The moment led some online to compare it to the infamous moment when Republican Jeb Bush asked a silent crowd to "please clap" at a campaign stop during his 2016 presidential campaign when an applause line fell flat.
Paxton also drew a similar-sized audience at his second stop at the Arc Light Bar & Grill in San Angelo later on Wednesday, according to videos posted on social media.
Paxton, who has long avoided debating his political opponents, has spent the final days of the closely-watched campaign on a bus tour, addressing voters at retail establishments and other small venues.
He campaigned alongside President Donald Trump at two larger rallies on Tuesday, though his remarks were notably briefer than the president’s. Trump has repeatedly said he doesn’t like the way Paxton speaks, looks or dresses, but has hailed him as the "greatest attorney general in America." He urged voters to look past his appearance and elect him over Talarico in what has emerged as the closest Senate race in Texas in a generation.
If Talarico triumphs, he will be the first Democrat elected to a U.S. Senate seat in the state since 1988. With both parties vying for control of the Senate, Texas has emerged as a critical battleground.
Most polls show Talarico leading Paxton by two to five points. Democrats are more confident about winning Texas than they have been since former Representative Beto O'Rourke came within 2.6 points of unseating GOP Senator Ted Cruz in 2018.
...
What Did Paxton Say During Trump Rallies?
Trump made his fourth trip to Texas since Labor Day on Tuesday, speaking at rallies in Corpus Christi and Lubbock to shore up support for Paxton.
The Republican Senate candidate spoke for about 15 minutes at the rally in Corpus Christi, while Trump’s remarks went on for well over an hour.
But Paxton’s remarks as he introduced Trump made headlines after he mistakenly said the United States had recently celebrated its 200th anniversary when it was actually the nation’s 250th anniversary.
His opponent was quick to point out the error.
"It was actually our 250th anniversary," Talarico wrote on X. "Not that you would know—you spent it with the British," he added, referencing reports that Paxton had spent the July Fourth holiday in Britain.
At the rally in Lubbock, Paxton got on stage for just a few minutes during Trump’s lengthy speech—which saw the president disparage Paxton’s appearance while praising Senator Jon Husted’s physique.
Paxton was full of praise, asking the audience: "Is it not awesome and amazing to be on stage with the greatest president in my lifetime?"
He added: "I've had the great opportunity today to spend a whole day with the president of the United States…So he said something to me as we were arriving in Lubbock. He said, ‘you know, I don't usually do two rallies for anybody,' but he said, ‘I must really like you.’ Mr. President, I really like you too. I am so grateful that he is making America great again, and he is working harder than any president I've ever seen in a midterm electing Republicans in Texas and across this nation."
Talarico also held a rally in Lubbock on Tuesday that drew thousands of supporters. This is a significant turnout given Lubbock County is a longtime Republican stronghold that Trump carried by 40 points in 2024 and the president was campaigning for his opponent at the same time.
James Talarico vs. Ken Paxton: What the Latest Polls Show
Recent polls of the Texas Senate race have consistently put Talarico ahead.
A new CNN/SSRS poll, conducted among 923 likely voters between October 20 and 27, put Talarico six points head, 49 percent to Paxton’s 43 percent. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.
Another recent poll, from Univision and conducted by YouGov, also saw Talarico ahead, with 50 percent support to Paxton’s 45 percent. The survey was conducted among 1,000 registered voters from October 13 to 21. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
An ActiVote poll, conducted among 400 likely voters, found the race was tighter, with Talarico ahead of Paxton by two points, 51 percent to 49 percent. That survey was conducted among 400 likely voters from October 17 to 21, with an average expected error of 4.9 percent.
Verasight, polling for VoteHub from October 1 to 20, had Talarico leading 48 percent to 45 percent among 601 likely voters.
An Emerson College/Nexstar poll also found Talarico ahead, 48 percent to 46 percent, among 1,000 likely voters surveyed from October 17 to 19. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. When undecided voters were pressed to choose, Talarico’s lead narrowed to 49 percent to 48 percent, with Libertarian Ted Brown at 3 percent.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick and James Debens
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