Republican U.S. Senate nominee Ken Paxton was supposed to make the last stand of his campaign at the Texas landmark around which his “Come and Take It” bus tour centered: the Alamo.
But on Saturday, two days before his final rally would’ve taken place on the eve of Election Day, Paxton appeared to scrap those plans.
Instead, his campaign added Monday events in Conroe and Allen. The event in Conroe is set for 11 a.m., while the one in Allen is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., at a restaurant 300 miles from the Alamo.
The only events on Monday listed by Paxton’s campaign on Eventbrite, where it has posted his tour stops, were for Conroe and Allen. His website did not list any events for Monday.
His campaign did not immediately respond to questions about what prompted the change in plans. His campaign also previously did not respond to requests for logistical information about the Alamo event.
When Paxton’s campaign initially announced his get-out-the-vote push, it said he would end the bus tour at the Alamo. He drew on the landmark of resistance — despite the Battle of the Alamo’s outcome, an 1836 loss in the Texas Revolution — to drive home his closing message: “When they come after Texans, Ken Paxton goes after them.”
The Alamo Trust, which oversees the landmark, told Texas Public Radio Friday that it was unaware of any plans for Paxton to host an event on the grounds. The Alamo’s rules generally prohibit political events on the grounds.
Paxton is locked in a neck-and-neck race against Democrat James Talarico. Paxton has pitched himself to Texans as a conservative fighter who would preserve the state’s conservative tradition in defiance of the “radical left.” He has appeared at several rallies in Texas headlined by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, in a bid to gin up enthusiasm among Republican voters.
Talarico has been crisscrossing the state on his own get-out-the-vote sprint, dubbed the “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts” tour in a nod to the television series “Friday Night Lights,” which was inspired by a book about West Texas high school football.
Paxton’s final push was dotted by other cancellations and reschedulings, too, including events in El Paso, Tyler, Texarkana and Mission, prompting Democrats to declare a “Paxton bus tour crashout.”
“No one’s going to Ken Paxton’s rallies, so he’s canceling them and hoping Elon Musk will buy this seat for him,” Talarico said in a statement Friday, alluding to the over $200 million Musk has poured into the race on Paxton’s behalf. “Texas deserves a Senator that shows up — not one that hides behind a pile of money.”
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
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