Paxton's Monday Runs Through Conroe and Allen, Not the Alamo: The 'Come and Take It' Finale That Wasn't
Ken Paxton's campaign was supposed to end its 'Come and Take It' bus tour at the Alamo on election eve. Instead, its only Monday events on Eventbrite are an 11 a.m. stop in Conroe and a 5:30 p.m. stop in Allen — and the Alamo's own overseer says it never knew of a rally on the grounds.
Republican U.S. Senate nominee Ken Paxton appears to have scrapped the planned final rally of his 'Come and Take It' tour at the Alamo, the San Antonio Current reported. When his campaign first announced the get-out-the-vote push, it said he would end the bus tour at the landmark; on Saturday, two days before the rally would have taken place on the eve of Election Day, the campaign instead added Monday events in Conroe and Allen — the Conroe event set for 11 a.m. and the Allen event for 5:30 p.m. at a restaurant some 300 miles from the Alamo, per the Current's account. The only Monday events listed by Paxton's campaign on Eventbrite, where it has posted his tour stops, were Conroe and Allen, and his website listed no events for Monday; the campaign did not immediately respond to the Current's questions about the change.
The Alamo ending was the tour's framing device: Paxton drew on the landmark to drive home a closing message the Current quoted from his announcement — 'When they come after Texans, Ken Paxton goes after them.' But the Alamo Trust, which oversees the landmark, told Texas Public Radio on Friday that it was unaware of any plans for Paxton to host an event on the grounds, and the Alamo's rules generally prohibit political events on the grounds, the Current reported.
The Current also reported the Alamo change was not the tour's only late shift: Paxton's final push was dotted by other cancellations and reschedulings, including events in El Paso, Tyler, Texarkana and Mission, prompting Democrats to declare a 'Paxton bus tour crashout' and drawing a Friday statement from James Talarico that the Current quoted in part: 'Texas deserves a Senator that shows up — not one that hides behind a pile of money.' Paxton, the state's attorney general, remains locked in a neck-and-neck Senate race with Talarico; Texas polls run Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
