Trump rallies in Texas cannot save Republicans from gas prices

By Daniel Okafor · Reporting from New York · October 28, 2026

President Donald Trump rallied in Texas to protect Republican Senate control, but rising gas prices leave voters ready to punish the governing party.

The red stronghold on the line

President Donald Trump flew to Texas for the third time to keep a Senate seat in Republican hands, CNN reported. The state has not elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994, Al Jazeera reported. A 32-year statewide losing streak faces its test.

Trump spoke at a campaign rally in Corpus Christi and traveled to Lubbock, CNN and The Guardian reported. Democrats hope to end their drought in Senate and governor's races, CNN reported. A RealClearPolitics average of polls showed Democratic challenger James Talarico leading Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton by 1.7 points, Al Jazeera reported. An early October ReconMR poll showed Talarico with 48 percent support and Paxton with 44 percent, within the margin of error, ABC News reported.

The Republican Party is spending heavily to defend the seat. A Texas PAC, funded by more than $150 million linked to Elon Musk, produced an ad attacking Talarico over public safety and crime, CNN reported. Elon Musk gave $5 million to Governor Greg Abbott’s reelection campaign last month, CNN reported. Meanwhile, local authorities prepared strict security for the visit. The Lubbock Police Department closed Avenue O, Mac Davis Lane, and 9th Street, stationing a mobile booking unit at a designated protester area in Tornado Memorial Park, KCBD reported.

Supporters lined up hours before the event. Shelley Schulte, Dylan Howell, and Cheryl Howell camped out overnight for the Lubbock rally, CNN reported. Schulte said, "If you lay all the seats down it’s a perfect fit." She said, "I tried to sleep, I laid down, I don’t know if it was all the anticipation, the adrenaline, the excitement — I just could not sleep to save my tail."

Yet the political ground has shifted beneath the incumbents. Sabato’s Crystal Ball shifted 21 races in Democrats’ favor, including three Senate races in the South, CNN reported. Total ad spending for the midterm elections has surged, with California ranking first and Texas second, CNN reported. In the 2018 United States midterm elections, Trump campaigned heavily for down-ballot Republican candidates, but Democratic challengers vastly outperformed his margin in Republican-leaning states as the Democratic Party won control of the House of Representatives. To prevent a repeat of that blue wave, the administration is leaning hard on foreign diversions and executive pageantry.

High energy costs exact a political toll

At his Corpus Christi rally, Trump pointed to a crude oil tanker docked nearby, Al Jazeera reported. Trump said the ship "has 1 million barrels of oil on it from Venezuela," calling the cargo a "gift" from Venezuela. Trump said, “The oil in the ships outside is being provided to the United States at zero cost to the American taxpayer,” The Guardian reported. He added, “To the victor belong the spoils.” Trump also suggested that Venezuela could "maybe someday soon" become the 51st state, CNN reported.

The spectacle of imported oil cannot mask the domestic economic reality. National average gas prices sat at $4.26 per gallon on Tuesday, CNN reported. Trump stated that the United States is "making a fortune" off the war in Iran, CNN reported. Trump said, "I knew that oil would go up. I actually thought it would go up two or three times higher, and I was still willing to do it."

That willingness to run up energy costs exacts a direct political toll. An ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll found about 7 in 10 Americans say gas is unaffordable and the country is headed in the wrong direction, ABC News reported. Today's pressure stems directly from foreign conflict and petroleum supply shocks, echoing the 2016 United States presidential election, where an outsider candidate leveraged populist appeals and targeted rallies to flip safe states or maintain control. Persistent high energy costs driven by the Iran conflict will trigger a voter backlash that costs Republicans control of the United States Senate on November 3, 2026.

Critics argue that Paxton’s baggage makes the seat even harder to hold. Former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips endorsed Democrat James Talarico, writing that Paxton’s reputation will embarrass Texas in ways the state cannot afford, The Guardian reported. Talarico said during a Houston event, “Ken Paxton represents everything that’s wrong with this broken, corrupt system,” Al Jazeera reported. Paxton has described Talarico as "radical," Al Jazeera reported.

Trump mocked Talarico at the Corpus Christi rally, suggesting he had a mental illness or was "food poisoned by meat," CNN reported. Trump said, “He’s going around to so many barbecues, it’s probably why — either that or he has a mental illness.” Trump also said, “You ever see him go to a barbecue and he’s trying to show ‘I love the meat.’ Where is he? He’s behind the tent puking.”

The final verdict

The Republican defense of Texas rests on raw tribal loyalty and billionaire-backed media blitzes, but neither can obscure a national economy buckling under $4.26 gasoline. When a president boasts of engineering oil spikes while voters struggle to fill their tanks, rallies in Lubbock and Corpus Christi become exercises in denial rather than persuasion. The facts on the ground are stark: seven in ten Americans see the nation moving in the wrong direction over affordability, and no amount of executive theater or attacks on a seminarian's barbecue habits will reverse that verdict at the ballot box.

Trump rallies in Texas cannot save Republicans from gas prices

The red stronghold on the line

High energy costs exact a political toll

The final verdict

Sources