Abbott Makes His Final San Antonio Stop at a North Side Burger Joint Hours Before Election Day

Of all the places a governor could spend the last afternoon before Election Day, Gov. Greg Abbott chose a San Antonio burger joint: his final Alamo City campaign stop took place Monday afternoon at Big'z Burger Joint on North Loop 1604 West, the San Antonio Current reported in a story read in full by the desk this cycle. The North Side restaurant has two private rooms — one with a capacity of 80 and another that holds 200 — and the Current noted that, on the eve of Election Day, that is not a substantial crowd for someone running a statewide race. The Big'z appearance was one stop in a series of intimate establishments on Abbott's statewide "Let's Roll" tour; last Wednesday he appeared before another small crowd at Texas Pride BBQ in Adkins, an exurb east of San Antonio, where he told the crowd he was against public schools assisting children "to transition their sex behind their parents' backs," according to the San Antonio Report, as carried by the Current.

University of Texas at San Antonio political scientist Jon Taylor told the Current the size of Abbott's Alamo City rally says less about his ability to draw a crowd than about his campaign's eagerness for control. "That would be somebody who's trying to control the narrative and have his campaign put him in a hermetically sealed bubble," Taylor said. "It's fascinating to watch this guy, because I think he's reached something of a desperation stage. He knows he's in trouble. He is floundering." Those are Taylor's characterizations, carried here as his comments to the Current.

The contrast across town was sharp. Democrats Gina Hinojosa and James Talarico on Sunday packed the Espee in San Antonio, which has a capacity of nearly 3,200. Attorney General Ken Paxton, running for the U.S. Senate, is appearing in even smaller venues, the Current reported: at a Sunday night rally at an ice house in Tyler, a heckler was tackled in front of a crowd that — based on photos — appeared to number fewer than 50, and at a Sunday rally at San Antonio's Angry Elephant, a woman alleges she was muscled out of the room for saying to Paxton, "Can I ask you a question?" San Antonio activist Laura Browning said in a Facebook post that three of Paxton's security officers escorted her out before she got an answer — her account, carried as an allegation. Over the weekend, the Texas Tribune reported that Paxton also canceled his last stand at the Alamo for his Come and Take It tour, which had been scheduled for Election Night. San Antonio voters render their verdicts Tuesday, when polls run 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.