Midterm elections 2026: Texas Senate race expected to be photo finish

Talk about midterm elections here just over a week away and things are heating up on the campaign trail. Early voting numbers from across the country approaching 27 million here in Minnesota. Nearly 420,000 people have cast ballots in the first five weeks of early voting and big names are hitting the campaign trail to stump for candidates in states that could decide the power of Congress. So today, former Vice President Kamala Harris was in Wisconsin. She is hosting a women for Crowley event in Milwaukee to support David Crowley's run for governor. And over the weekend, former President Barack Obama was in Michigan and Ohio. And before today's stop in Wisconsin, Harris had been at rallies in five states. And President Trump is continuing his daily campaign rallies with a visit to Mississippi tonight, holding a rally for incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. She is facing a stiff challenge from her Democratic opponent. So this afternoon, Vice President J.D. Vance, he was in Montana, holding a rally for GOP candidates there as well. And tonight, he's holding a rally in Kansas for Senator Roger Marshall, who is also in a tight race. President Trump rallied for him last week. And with just eight days to go until the midterms and the Texas Senate race shaping up to be a photo finish right now, the candidates making their final pitch to a shrinking number of undecided voters. Fox's Asher Redhage is on the campaign trail in Wichita Falls, Texas, where Republican Ken Paxton just wrapped up a rally there. Asher, how'd it go? Well, Kelsey and Simone, the Senate candidate Ken Paxton was joined by Governor Greg Abbott in this tiny steakhouse. They were able to fit about 250 to 300 people in there. It was standing room only and the long line wrapping around the block. Now, I also noticed that Paxton was really leaning into his time as Texas Attorney General. And even went as far as to compare his opponent, Democrat James Talarico, to Democratic socialists like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani. Take a listen. You see, I'm not asking you to imagine what I would do as your U.S. senator. I'm asking you to look at the record and compare that to a guy named James Tallarico. You are a good crowd. The most radical Democrat who has ever run statewide in Texas history. And this Senate race is at a deadlock. The latest Fox News poll shows Paxton and Democrat James Tallarico tied with 49%. Now, since last month, Paxton has gained support from conservatives, rural voters, and suburban women. But he's still struggling to keep up with President Trump's margins from two years ago when the president won Texas by nearly 14 points. And then there's Tallarico, who's courting independents and even some moderate Republicans. and even though the Democrat has been attacking Paxton for taking campaign cash from billionaires like Elon Musk, Tallarico is also raking in millions from wealthy donors and Tallarico is campaigning near the border in El Paso tonight. Here's Tallarico. In the final days of this election, they are coming at us with everything they've got. The billionaire mega donors and their super PACs are spending $200 million to try to defeat us. They are scared. They are terrified they see what we see that we're about to win this election on November 3rd and both candidates and the outside groups supporting them have spent over half a billion dollars on ads and reservations for this race alone and of course as we get closer to the actual midterm day that amount could increase President Trump will be in Corpus Christi tomorrow to rally Republican voters on behalf of Ken Paxton back to you yeah so this has been a big money campaign and from what you're hearing there with voters, what is the specific issue or issues that will keep undecided voters on the fence here in the final days? Well, I've traveled this state up, down, left and right, talking with as many voters as possible. And I can tell you that Republicans and Democrats and even the undecided voters have very similar things they're looking for. They're looking for a cheaper cost of living. They're looking for character, integrity, and most importantly, honesty. But then it's the things that separate the Republicans and Democrats, things like border security, immigration, and these are the types of things that we're seeing that's separating these people, but in the end, they're all pretty much looking for the same thing. It's just a matter of which candidate they think is best fit for office. All right, well, a lot of national eyes on this race over the next week. Yeah, still people who are undecided, so we'll see which way they go. Thank you, Asher.