Talarico and Hinojosa Bring Their Final Push to Dallas: 'This Is the Last Play of the Last Drive'

Democrats Gina Hinojosa and James Talarico rallied supporters together in Dallas on Thursday night, a joint final-push stop in the closing days of the midterm campaign, according to FOX 4's report of the event. Recent polling shows Talarico holding a narrow lead over Republican Ken Paxton in the U.S. Senate race, while Hinojosa polls slightly behind Republican incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott in the governor's race. A win for either would be a first for their party in more than three decades: Democrats have not won a statewide election in Texas in over 30 years.

Both candidates worked the same themes through the night — public education, families hurting financially, and corruption — according to FOX 4. Hinojosa called the stop bittersweet after a year on the campaign trail. "The stakes could not be higher in this fight," Hinojosa said. "If we choose to forge a new way forward together, then because we are Texas… the rest of the nation will follow." Talarico told the crowd he had traveled "to every corner of the state, from Beaumont to El Paso, from Amarillo to Brownsville," and said, "We have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis."

The two also aimed at their opponents' ties to billionaires, including Elon Musk. A Texas Tribune report earlier this month, cited by FOX 4, said campaign finance filings showed Musk poured nearly $190 million into the U.S. Senate race. "In the final days of this election, they are coming at us with everything they've got," Talarico said. "The billionaire megadonors and their super PACs are spending more than $200 million to try to stop us." Hinojosa's lawsuit seeking access to communications between Abbott's office and Musk was also part of the night: a lower court briefly granted her access before the Fifteenth Court of Appeals ruled the governor does not have to comply. "I think Greg Abbott's embarrassed that those emails are going to show he sold us out," Hinojosa said Thursday. The governor's office has previously called the litigation "a sham lawsuit in a rigged district court."

Paxton was on the trail the same night, holding an event in Beaumont on Thursday as part of his "Come and Take It" tour, after two rallies alongside President Donald Trump earlier in the week, FOX 4 reported. Talarico closed the Dallas night with a football frame for the final days. "This is the last play of the last drive, Dallas. This is the moment we leave it all on the field. We are the underdogs," he told the crowd. Early voting ends Friday, Oct. 30, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, with polls closing at 7 p.m.