CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS – OCTOBER 27: U.S. President Donald Trump gestures after delivering remarks during a campaign rally at the Port of Corpus Christi on October 27, 2026 in Corpus Christi, Texas. With one week until the midterm elections, President
DALLAS – Does President Donald Trump campaigning in Texas and other traditionally red states mean Republicans are worried about their strongholds?
FOX 4’s Steven Dial spoke to the national chair of the Republican Party and the head of the Texas Democrats for competing perspectives.
RNC Chairman Joe Gruters
What they’re saying:
RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said he’s not worried at all. Texas is red, he said.
“It is Ruby Red, Texas. And that’s why these candidates like Talafreako shouldn’t have any chance at winning. But they’re sticking around. This is a competitive race. And not only do we have a U.S. Senate race, the governor’s race is close, the lot of congressional races here are close. But the president’s a turnout machine. That’s what he’s done. He’s turned out low propensity voters three different times. We think he could do it a fourth time,” he said.
He doesn’t believe Ken Paxton will put off voters.
“I don’t. I really genuinely don’t pay a whole lot of attention to polls. I know that that’s not what I’m supposed to say. I know everybody in the political space is supposed to just live on pins and needles and ask what these egghead pollsters think. The only poll that matters is election day and polls don’t vote. Previous elections don’t vote, the people of Texas do,” Gruters said.
When asked about the race being close, Gruters admitted he certainly never thought he’d see Texas having a close race because it’s ruby red. But he said that’s what happens in midterm cycles.
“You know, what happens, there’s a lot of anger on the left and the more success that the president has, the angrier that the left base is,” he said. “Look, Beto was a much better candidate than Talarico, much better. He was more mainstream. And Talarico is like the worst candidate you could possibly put up.”
Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder
The other side:
On the other side, Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder said the president’s repeated visits to Texas do say something about the state of the Republican party.
“Not only have President Trump and JD Vance been in and out of Texas nonstop, Republicans have now spent more than $350 million to hold on to what I thought was their safe bet. That’s what people have been telling me since I was chair became chairman a year and a half ago. Why even try? Texas is never going to go blue. Well, if that’s the case, I don’t know why the president and the vice president are spending so much time here and burning $350,000,000 here. In fact, the Republican Governors Association is spending more money in Texas than the Democratic Governors’ Association is,” he said.
The Source: The information in this story comes from reporter Steven Dial’s interviews with RNC Chairman Joe Gruters and Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder.
