Candidates Flood Into San Antonio as South Texas Becomes Key in the Midterm Races

San Antonio became a required stop over the weekend as candidates in the Nov. 3 midterms flooded South and Central Texas to make their final pitches, according to reporting by the San Antonio Current published Monday. Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico drew a capacity crowd to Sunset Station in San Antonio, with the Current reporting some 1,800 people inside and another few hundred outside after the venue filled. Hours earlier on Saturday, his Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, held a rally at Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in New Braunfels, where a couple hundred people gathered, the Current reported.

The New Braunfels stop produced an aftershock of its own. After the Paxton rally, the restaurant's ownership said in a statement on Facebook, as reported by the Current, that they had no prior knowledge the rally would take place. "We are not in the business of endorsing candidates," the ownership wrote. "This is the action of a rogue employee and was not authorized by ownership and will be addressed internally." The Current reported the statement has since sparked online debate over whether the owners backtracked after public and customer blowback.

The weekend traffic was not only about the Senate race. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries came to San Antonio on Sunday to stump for Johnny Garcia, the Democrat and former Bexar County sheriff's deputy running in Texas' 35th Congressional District, a seat the Texas Legislature redrew to favor Republicans, the Current reported. Jeffries attended services at two East Side Baptist churches to help turn out the vote. "That's why I'm so thankful that Johnny Garcia made the decision to run, to step up to present himself, recognizing that we can't afford another two years of things going the way they've been going," Jeffries said, as reported by the Current.

Even the lieutenant governor's race drew a crowd in San Antonio. At least 40 cannabis enthusiasts lined up Sunday at the Kingpin Kush smoke shop on Loop 410 to meet Vikki Goodwin, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, the Current reported, with shop owner William Hunter saying he had used his stores to register 4,500 people to vote this cycle before handing a check to Goodwin's campaign. In Texas' 15th District, the Current reported, thousands have shown up to support Democratic congressional candidate Bobby Pulido in his bid to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz.

UT-San Antonio political scientist Jon Taylor told the Current the Republican push through South and Central Texas suggests internal polling is worrying for the GOP, and he pointed to anger over immigration enforcement and tariffs as factors working for Democrats in South Texas. Taylor also warned Democrats against mistaking rally energy for votes. "We can talk all day about vibes and gut feelings, and what we're hearing about boots on the ground, but the thing Democrats need to be watching for is a blue mirage," Taylor said, as reported by the Current. Gov. Greg Abbott, campaigning Sunday in a Hutto neighborhood, told Austin station KVUE the early vote pattern was, in his words, "very predictable," with Republicans picking up the pace in the second week, the Current reported.

Both Senate campaigns are due back in San Antonio in the final days. Talarico will return for a Nov. 1 rally at the Espee in St. Paul Square, and Paxton will conclude his statewide "Come and Take It" tour at the Alamo the following day, according to the Current. Early voting in Bexar County continues through Oct. 30, and polls reopen on Election Day, Nov. 3.