- The first night of the Republican Midterm Convention included speeches from Texas politicians, including Ken Paxton, Brandon Gill, Monica De La Cruz, and Carlos De La Cruz
- President Trump used his keynote address to put a spotlight on some of James Talarico’s most radical positions and vowed to return to Texas to campaign for Paxton
- Other speeches from Texans addressed topics such as Democratic extremism, border security, and tax cuts
Several Texas politicians – most notably Attorney General and US Senate Candidate Ken Paxton – were among the speakers on the first night of the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas on Wednesday. The event featured a keynote speech from President Trump, in which he threw several jabs at Democratic candidate James Talarico and vowed to return to Texas to campaign for Paxton.
Introduced by National Border Patrol Council President Paul Perez, Paxton’s speech focused on his personal background as the son of an Air Force Veteran and promoted his “Protecting the Texas Promise” affordability plan, which has been the centerpiece of his campaign in recent weeks.
“Everywhere I go, I meet Texans working harder than ever, but still worried that they will never get ahead. Those are the people that I’m fighting for. And I want every Texan to be able to buy a home, raise their family and live a healthy life, and that’s why I unveiled the Protecting the Texas Promise Plan to put thousands of dollars back into your pockets,” Paxton told the crowd.
Paxton also painted a clear contrast between himself and his Democratic opponent, James Talarico.
“I will fight to preserve the American dream. James Talarico is running to destroy it. He is a democratic socialist who never met a tax increase he didn’t love,” he said, also describing Talarico as “the most radical Democrat in Texas history.”
In his keynote address, President Trump took multiple jabs at Talarico, placing a spotlight on some of the Democrat’s most extreme comments and positions to a national audience. Some of Trump’s most biting comments about Talarico included:
- “This guy, Talafreako, this guy is terrible”
- “He is a weird-looking dude. I mean, I don’t like talking about looks, but there’s something missing there. Remember Mad Magazine? He looks to me just like Alfred E. Newman, right?”
- “Talafreako authored a plan to annihilate Texas oil and gas. That’s good. I’m working my ass off to get you oil and gas, and I got a guy that wants to end it.”
- “He stated that he wants to totally dismantle capitalism. Dismantle, quote, capitalism.”
- “He described himself as a person who hates Christianity, says that God is transgender.”
- “He called the American flag a complicated symbol of hate, claimed that the 10 Commandments are a form of fascism, and when he was asked what he loved most in the world, he said, ‘I love transgender children.’”
- “He was recently seen having a barbecue and eating a lot of meat. But that’s what happened. He ate it, and then he was seen running backstage to a room and throwing up all over the place. He doesn’t like meat.”
- “He also loved wearing masks, and he was seen wearing a mask just a short number of months ago. Any guy in Texas that’s wearing a mask a few months ago, this is not gonna be your senator. It’s not gonna work out. Not gonna work out.”
The President pledged to return to Texas to help campaign for Paxton and complimented Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn for their work on the border wall.
Other Texans who took the convention stage included Congressman Brandon Gill, Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz, and Congressional Candidate Carlos De La Cruz.
Gill used his remarks to paint the November election as a choice between “the mainstream versus the extreme.”
“This election is very clear. It’s the mainstream versus the extreme. Because there’s another political movement in our country right now that doesn’t believe that America is or ever was great. They sometimes call themselves socialists. Some even call themselves communists. But most of them simply go by Democrats. They’re the ones who will tell you that your love for America is nothing but bigotry, that our heritage is rooted in white supremacy, and that your Christian faith is patriarchal and needs to be dismantled. That’s extreme,” Gill told the crowd.
Carlos De La Cruz, who is running in the newly redrawn Congressional District 35 in the San Antonio area, described himself as a political outsider, small businessman, and 20-year Air Force veteran who is running for Congress to help working families in his district. De La Cruz also referenced his military experience in discussing the importance of border security.
“In the Air Force, I was deployed to our southern border, where I worked alongside our customs agents conducting drug interdictions side by side – our agents against some of the most dangerous cartels in the world. I’ve seen what these criminal enterprises do to our communities, and I have seen what happens when politicians look the other way. Now, President Trump has secured our border in record time, and in Congress I will fight to keep it that way. Now we cannot go back to the lawlessness that we experienced under Democrats. We need to continue to go after the cartels aggressively with hell, fire, and fury, so that no Texas family has to live in fear,” he said.
Carlos De La Cruz is the brother of South Texas Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz, who followed her brother in addressing the convention. In her speech, she discussed how Republicans put more money in the pockets of Americans.
“We promised to cut taxes for working families, so we passed legislation that created the largest tax cut in American history. No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security. Up to $4,000 a year back in the pockets of hardworking Americans. That’s real money for real people. It means the waitress in Weslaco keeps her tips. The roofer in Alamo keeps his overtime. And the retiree in Beeville, well, she keeps her entire Social Security check. And we promised to protect that check. When Washington elites wanted to cut Social Security and Medicare, we stopped them,” remarked Congresswoman De La Cruz.
Texans scheduled to speak on the second day of the convention include Governor Greg Abbott, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, and Congressional candidates Eric Flores and Tano Tijerina.
