NYT: Trump admin struggles to hold the line in Texas as the GOP collapses

U.S. President Donald Trump attends an event at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 23, 2026 REUTERS

An anxiety-ridden White House has dispatched Vice President JD Vance to cobble together President Donald Trump’s disintegrating coalition in South Texas on Wednesday, but analysts and New York Times reporters say the Republican tent has largely collapsed.

In a district that Trump and the Republican Texas legislature gerrymandered to be more favorable to them, Vance finds himself struggling to stump for candidates in a border region “where eroding support for President Trump has raised Democratic hopes of flipped seats in both the House and the Senate,” according to the Post.

Vance rallied for the Republican challenger to Representative Vicente Gonzalez in a race that remains tightly contested despite Trump and Republicans packing the district with what they thought was a loyal Hispanic contingent that once supported Trump.

“Hispanic voters in South Texas have soured on Mr. Trump, growing increasingly angry over the handling of the economy and immigration enforcement,” reported Times writer Patricia Mazzei. “At a White House event for Hispanic Heritage Month, Mr. Trump sought to defend his border policies, but his remarks focused only episodically on Hispanic voters.”

Times reporter and noted author Maggie Haberman pointed out that Trump’s support among Hispanic voters “has suffered in the last two years, in part over his administration’s immigration crackdown and efforts at mass deportations.”

But Trump only sporadically defended his immigration policies during a Hispanic Heritage Month event, where he “made fleeting mention of the criticism he has faced from members of his own party, including those running for office,” reported Erica Green.

“No matter what you do, it’s always tough,” said Trump. “But we have, we’ve been very strong.”

Meanwhile, the Times reports Senate Republican nominee Ken Paxton’s campaign announced that it would be spending $20 million on a new round of advertising in Texas, starting on Friday in the state’s biggest markets — Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio — and then expanding to all corners of the state.

Times reporter J. David Goodman reports that the new spending follows tens of millions already spent by groups supporting Paxton in recent weeks, as Paxton falls behind in his race against his more popular Democratic opponent.

Vance attempted to tie Paxton’s opponent to the national Democratic Party by framing the election as a choice between Paxton and opponent, James Talarico, “as an avatar for the broader Democratic Party,” reports the Times.

However, Paxton’s onerous unpopularity appears to be outshining state voters’ generations-long suspicion of Democrats. And recent gaffes from Paxton — who is already a flawed candidate with marriage infidelity issues and corruption complaints — have done nothing to help him.

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