US President Donald Trump has campaigned in the traditionally solidly Republican state of Texas, seeking to boost Senate candidate Ken Paxton fend off what could be the first Democratic victory in 32 years.
With high fuel prices weighing heavily on the campaign for November 3 congressional elections, Trump scheduled a pair of stops at opposite ends of the oil-producing state.
He appeared before a tanker containing Venezuelan crude in the Gulf of Mexico, and planned to announce the easing of methane rules for oil and gas producers during a later stop in the West Texas city of Lubbock.
The trip marked Trump’s third visit to Texas this month to mobilise support for Paxton, who is locked in a close race with Democrat James Talarico. A loss in Texas next Tuesday would complicate the Republican Party’s path to retaining its slim Senate majority.
The rally took place within view of an oil tanker, moored near the Port of Corpus Christi, that Trump said was loaded with the first oil received from Venezuela under a deal that Washington made after deposing the country’s former leader Nicolas Maduro.
“We’re celebrating the greatest oil victory in history. To the victor belongs the spoils, right?” Trump said. Texas has long been one of the main refining centres for Venezuelan crude oil.
Trump announced in August an agreement that grants the US access to a fifth of Venezuela’s crude reserves. The White House said in September that oil from the deal would probably hit US reserves in November.
The oil is slated to head to refineries owned by ExxonMobil and Citgo, a White House official told Reuters.
Texas has consistently voted Republican for 30 years, but Democrats raised their hopes this year when Paxton won the Senate nomination with Trump’s backing.
Paxton was indicted on securities-fraud charges in 2015 and impeached by the Texas House in 2023. The criminal case was dismissed in 2024 after an agreement with prosecutors, and the Texas Senate acquitted him in the impeachment trial.
Trump has publicly criticised his longtime ally Paxton, calling him “a pain in the ass sometimes.” He also heavily criticised Talarico, whom he accused of opposing Texas values on issues such as oil production, immigration and transgender rights.
“Our policy has always been drill, baby, drill. And man, we are drilling now. But if Texas elects Communist James ‘Talafreako,’ that wealth will rapidly disappear,” Trump said, applying his preferred nickname to the Democratic candidate.
Talarico has used the nickname as a fundraising tool, selling ‘I’m a Talafreako’ T-shirts, while also responding, “We are a threat to their corrupt system.”
with AP
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