Just a little over 40 days out from the general election, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) joined his potential future colleague, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, on the campaign trail in the Houston area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The \u201cTexas on the Frontline\u201d rally<\/a>, hosted at Glorious Way Church in Cypress, featured several local Republican candidates and leaned heavily on criticism of Paxton\u2019s Democratic opponent, state Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin), for his socially liberal record.\u00a0<\/p>\n Before Cruz took to the stage ahead of Paxton, congressional candidate Jon Bonck<\/a>, who is running as the Republican nominee for U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt\u2019s (R-TX-38) seat, made two specific hits against Talarico: his past support for the transgender community and gender ideology more broadly, and his masculinity, or lack thereof \u2014 themes which were repeated throughout the event.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bonck alleged<\/a> that Talarico wants to \u201ctrans Texas,\u201d and described him as a \u201csoft and weak man.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n Cruz, who was introduced to the stage by Republican Party of Texas Chairwoman D\u2019rinda Randall, first shared his father\u2019s and his own Christian testimony before shifting gears to attacking the Democratic Party and Talarico individually.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are witnessing in the Democrat Party, literally, a communist and Islamist takeover,\u201d Cruz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhy do the communists and Islamists come together? \u2026 They come together because they hate the same people \u2026 They hate Christians. They hate Jews. They hate capitalism. They hate the Constitution, and they hate America.\u201d<\/p>\n He then mentioned several of the past controversial comments Talarico has made on social issues, including that \u201cGod is nonbinary,\u201d which the GOP continues to broadcast in campaign materials against him<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cruz continued, \u201cHe was asked, \u2018What are the burdens that weigh on your heart?\u2019 He said what weighs on his heart is providing abortions to people who are transgender \u2026 that\u2019s not even ideological. That\u2019s just weird.\u201d<\/p>\n Cruz didn\u2019t shy away from acknowledging that polling in this race has been anything but favorable for Paxton and the GOP overall, and attributed Talarico\u2019s apparent lead<\/a> in the publicly-facing polls to the amount of money in \u201cattack ads\u201d that the Democratic Party has run against Paxton. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe polling in this race has it in a dead heat, and there’s a reason for that. Look, Paxton has had $200 million of attack ads against him. Turns out, when you face $200 million of attack ads, it\u2019s going to leave a mark,\u201d Cruz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Only recently have the upper echelons of the Republican Party begun spending money to broadcast support for Paxton. Since September 1, GOP groups<\/a> combined have allocated over $100 million for pro-Paxton ad spending, after Talarico largely dominated the airwaves and maintained millions more than the fundraising<\/a> Paxton touted during the summer. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The same day Cruz stood onstage with Paxton in Cypress, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) reportedly<\/a> held a fundraiser alongside former President George W. Bush a few hours north in Dallas for GOP Senate candidates in battleground races \u2014 excluding Paxton.\u00a0<\/p>\n One of the more recent polls with a larger sample size, released by Texas Southern University<\/a> on Tuesday, showed Talarico with one of the narrower leads he\u2019s had in recent polling<\/a>, with a 1-percentage-point lead over Paxton. Other surveys in preceding weeks had him up over Paxton as high as 6 points, although their sample sizes were much smaller.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m here today because the men and women in this room, I believe, hold the power to win this race because you’re not content to sit quietly on your rear end, saying, \u2018Someone needs to do something,\u2019\u201d Cruz continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n He also referenced President Donald Trump\u2019s prior comments<\/a> questioning Paxton\u2019s physical appearance, saying<\/a> that \u201cunlike President Trump, I\u2019m not going to comment on his wardrobe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI have advised him to go out and buy a whole bunch of Trump ties,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Consistent with the GOP\u2019s anti-transgender and affordability-related pitch lines this election cycle, upon taking the stage, Paxton reiterated<\/a> his four-point plan focused on lowering the cost of living, primarily through tax deductions, and touted his work in cracking down on Texas Children\u2019s Hospital \u2014 which agreed to<\/a> open a \u201cdetransition clinic\u201d by October as part of their settlement with the state for providing illegal gender modification procedures to minors.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cProtecting kids is not a culture war; it’s our job description. In Texas, parents raise children, not the government, not a doctor. There is so much at stake in this election,\u201d Paxton said.\u00a0<\/p>\n