Television footage shows a supporter at Donald Trump's rally in San Antonio, Texas, pulling a departing protester's hair on Wednesday, 7 October. Trump's first words afterwards were, 'Is there anything like a Trump rally?' The president was on his third Texas trip in less than a month to support Ken Paxton's Senate campaign.
Trump won Texas by almost 14 percentage points in 2024, according to state election figures. Yet Paxton, the state's attorney general, trails Democrat James Talarico in most polls since mid-September. No Democrat has won a US Senate race in Texas since 1988. Defeating Paxton on 3 November would weaken Republicans' slim Senate majority.
