TEXAS – The last major poll before the end of early voting is now out.
That poll was dropped by the TSU Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center. It shows the senate race remains close and as the only statewide race with a democrat in the lead.
Texas Senate race: Talarico vs Paxton
The backstory:
“Republicans are really going to be banking on having higher turnout than we’ve seen thus far during early voting among Republican voters today and tomorrow and especially on election day,” said Mark Jones, a lead researcher for the poll.
That face-off between James Talarico and Ken Paxton brought Vice President J.D. Vance back to Texas on Thursday. Speaking at a rally in Weatherford, just outside of Fort Worth, Vance pulled no punches when describing Talarico.
“What am I to do but to talk about a man who was handpicked by Democrat donors in Washington D.C. Because they thought that he looked electable. And I wonder if any of those donors got their money back when all the videos came out of him talking about his favorite drag queens or how there are six genders or about how whiteness is a disease,” said Vance.
The Talarico campaign has pushed back, including a new ad showing former Texas republican politicians saying they will not vote for Ken Paxton.
“What stuck out to me was the 7-point favorability gap between Talarico and Paxton, with the AG on the hard downside,” said Greg Groogan with FOX 26.
The TSU poll shows that Talarico is also underwater on the favorability rating. 51% of those in the survey have an unfavorable opinion about him, and that’s keeping the senate race close.
Texas governor’s race: Abbott vs Hinojosa
What they’re saying:
Some of the other campaign ads that recently pop got cartoonish. Gina Hinojosa re-purposed the old Duck Hunt video game to literally blast Governor Greg Abbott’s early support of flock cameras.
The other eye-catching animation ad came from Railroad Commission candidate Bo French. The republican nominee transformed himself into a Lego character to lampoon democrats and to rally support from young men.
“Democrats, they had a surge in the first week of early voting. Now we’re in the last few days. It is a matter of how big that gap or how close that gap will have tightened since the Democratic surge. So that’s what I’m going to be looking for, and we won’t know that until Monday,” said Steven Dial with FOX 4.
Big picture view:
In the comptroller’s race, former Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt is 6-points behind Republican Don Huffines in that survey. A large bulk of those who took part in the survey, 67%, said they know Huffines.
He is in the office right now and issuing a lot of orders and making news. But only 38% said they knew anything about Democratic nominee Eckhardt. She has a good resume, but not a lot of money. She was not able to get her message out early, beyond social media.
The Source: Information from a TSU Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center poll, VP JD Vance, Mark Jones, a lead researcher for the poll, Battleground Texas and reporting by FOX 7 Austin’s Rudy Koski