DALLAS \u2014 Onstage at the GOP midterm convention, Texas Republicans\u2019 message on the economy was split between two tracks.<\/p>\n
Popular elements of the party\u2019s economic agenda \u2014 like new tax breaks for tip earners and workers making overtime \u2014 are evidence that President Donald Trump and the GOP took action to help working families, they argued. But persistent frustrations over the high cost of groceries and gas lay at the feet of Democrats and the policies of Joe Biden\u2019s White House.<\/p>\n
The GOP\u2019s fortunes in this midterm election, including in battleground Texas, will hinge largely on whether Republicans can get voters to split their feelings about the economy the same way. Voters have routinely ranked affordability and cost-of-living concerns as their top issues this cycle.<\/p>\n
Speakers had abundant praise for no tax on tips, investment accounts for children and the extension of Trump\u2019s 2017 tax cuts. Left unmentioned \u2014 except by the president himself \u2014 were the tariffs he has imposed on global trade partners and the rise in gas prices that followed his decision to pursue war with Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt happens to me all the time,\u201d Trump said from the stage Wednesday night. \u201cGuys come up, \u2018You know, I wish you didn\u2019t do the war in Iran. Gasoline\u2019s up.\u2019 And I say, \u2018Well, let me ask you this, smart people \u2026 Can Iran have a nuclear weapon? Absolutely not. Well, then I\u2019m right.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Republicans in tough races may be especially set on avoiding talk of Iran or the trade war, with polls after poll showing voters<\/a> disapprove<\/a> of both battles and blame them for driving up costs. But at an event marketed as Trump-a-palooza, those candidates may have to live with being tied to all of Trump\u2019s economic policies \u2014 the popular and the unpopular alike.<\/p>\n Attorney General Ken Paxton<\/a> took the stage Wednesday evening, the first of two days of convention fare in Dallas, to detail his economic plan that calls for tax breaks for healthcare- and housing-related spending. The Republican U.S. Senate nominee acknowledged that he often meets Texans \u201cthat are working harder than ever, but still worry that they will never get ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n Paxton attacked his opponent, James Talarico<\/a>, on a number of familiar culture war issues. But he also went after the Democrat\u2019s record on taxes, including his professed opposition<\/a> to the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act, Republicans\u2019 tax and spending megabill passed in 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wants to tax your tips. He wants to tax your overtime. And he even wants to tax your Social Security,\u201d Paxton said, alluding to Trump\u2019s campaign promise to eliminate taxes on the retiree benefit, which instead yielded a temporary tax deduction for some who are 65 and older.<\/p>\n As Paxton and others try to hammer him on taxes, the economy is a topic Talarico is all too happy to discuss. The Democrat has highlighted high costs in his ads and on the stump<\/a>, arguing that Republicans have rigged the economy in favor of the wealthy and \u201csold the false Gospel of trickle-down economics.\u201d He has proposed raising taxes on corporations and billionaires, eliminating tax loopholes for the wealthy and raising the minimum wage in his own economic plan.<\/p>\n Speakers throughout the convention accused Democrats of wanting to run amok taxing the middle class and bringing socialism to America. That rhetoric collided with Trump\u2019s call to send $5,000 dividends to all American adults, which Paxton later said he would support in interviews<\/a> Thursday.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, GOP candidates in Texas\u2019 battleground U.S. House races also tried to thread the economic needle during their convention speaking slots.<\/p>\n Siblings Carlos and Monica De La Cruz<\/a>, running for Congress in South Texas, discussed their humble beginnings onstage and praised the GOP for the creation of new tax breaks and extending tax rates. Both pointed the finger at Democrats for high prices.<\/p>\n \u201cI know what a stack of bills looks like on a kitchen table,\u201d Monica De La Cruz, an Edinburg Republican seeking reelection to her third term, said. \u201cAnd for four years, Joe Biden and his party made that stack taller.\u201d<\/p>\n Republicans, by contrast, \u201cpassed legislation that created the largest tax cut in American history,\u201d De La Cruz said.<\/p>\n House Democratic candidates are emphasizing different elements of the GOP economic agenda \u2014 and tying candidates like Monica De La Cruz to issues they see as political vulnerabilities for Republicans.<\/p>\n \u201cTexas voters know how much damage De La Cruz\u2019s tariffs, Medicaid cuts, and war-of-choice in Iran is doing to their wallets \u2013 no matter how much she lies to them,\u201d said Madison Andrus, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the national party\u2019s House campaign arm.<\/p>\n Some Texas candidates bypassed the economy entirely in their time onstage, or at least devoted the lion\u2019s share to other topics. <\/p>\n Republicans Eric Flores and Tano Tijerina, both running to flip Democratic U.S. House seats in South Texas, delivered speeches on the border as part of a segment focused on immigration policy. And Sen. Ted Cruz<\/a> homed in on sharia law in a speech packed with red meat for the Texas GOP base, hitting on the economy by painting Democrats as a party increasingly under the spell of communism. <\/p>\n Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a> and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick<\/a>, both of whom are running for reelection, touted Texas as a bastion of conservatism while arguing that Democrats \u2014\u00a0who have not held power in the state in decades \u2014 are a threat to freedom, capitalism and Christian values.<\/p>\n In an address that primarily framed the election in biblical terms \u2014\u00a0light vs. dark, capitalism vs. \u201cgodless\u201d communism \u2014\u00a0Patrick said \u201cconservative values have made Texas the strongest economy on the planet,\u201d without addressing the rising costs that have hit red and blue states alike.<\/p>\n \u201cOur pro-business, pro-tax policies in Texas are attracting billions of dollars in investment. Low taxes and no income tax will always do that,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cMeanwhile, the Democrats want us to look like California or Russia or China.\u201d<\/p>\n Abbott called the election \u201ca choice between common sense and crazy,\u201d spending most of his speech Thursday focusing on \u201cDemocrats running statewide\u201d and the \u201ccraziness\u201d he claimed they would promote. Examples he cited included their votes against legislation that would raise the threshold for enacting a state income tax and affirming that only U.S. citizens can vote. Texas has never imposed an income tax, and state and federal law<\/a> has long held that only citizens may vote. <\/p>\n Both Abbott\u2019s and Patrick\u2019s Democratic challengers \u2014\u00a0state Reps. Gina Hinojosa<\/a> and Vikki Goodwin<\/a>, respectively \u2014\u00a0have argued that the Republican incumbents each had years in power to improve Texans\u2019 lives but instead prioritized culture war issues and their big-money donors.<\/p>\n \u201cDan Patrick has had more than a decade to deliver for Texas families. Instead, he decided to focus on culture wars and kickbacks for his billionaire donors,\u201d Goodwin wrote in a fundraising pitch sent just after Patrick\u2019s speech concluded.<\/p>\n In counterprogramming throughout the convention, Democrats repeatedly argued that Republicans were to blame for driving up everyday costs, faulting what they said were deals cut by GOP politicians to help big corporations and the ultrawealthy.<\/p>\n