While former President Donald Trump has helped produce record Republican turnout in Texas...
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a Save America rally Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022, at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Conroe.No one is more powerful than former President Donald Trump when it comes to turning out Republican voters in Texas, as evidenced by his two record-shattering campaigns for the White House.
“If you want to stop the destruction of our country and save the American dream, you have to vote Republican up and down the line,” Trump said at that rally. There is no doubt Trump drives GOP turnout, but Republican political strategist Brandon Scholz said it’s best to keep him in solidly red areas where he’s less of a threat to produce a Democratic backlash in blue areas or even toss-up regions.
But in Texas, Republicans were disregarding that type of advice, planting Trump in Robstown in Nueces County, which has been a swing county over the last few election cycles. While Trump carried the county in 2020 with almost 51 percent of the vote, it is also a county that Democratic candidate for governor Beto O’Rourke won in 2018 with 50 percent of the vote over U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.
Patrick was Trump’s campaign chairman in Texas during both his campaigns and Paxton was at Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021 rally in Washington, D.C. in the morning before the U.S. Capitol was attacked. Paxton also tried to get the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn election results in other states on Trump’s behalf.
Trump is also not well-received by either Hispanic voters or women. In both cases, just 38 percent of voters had a favorable view of Trump, the Quinnipiac survey found.