Texas Republicans are stepping up their allegations that Democrats in the state's biggest cities are trying to steal the election as Republican leads in the Senate and presidential races grow ever smaller.
State Republican leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, have targeted metropolitan counties, including Harris County, the state's most populous, as the focus of an alleged vast Democratic conspiracy to steal votes in the 2024 election.
on tuesday, Abbott announced The governor's office claims that it removed more than 1 million “ineligible” voters from the state's voter rolls, including “more than 6,500 foreign nationals,” of whom “approximately 2,000 voted.”
Abbott added that the cases would be prosecuted by Paxton's office, which has recently launched its own campaign against allegations of voter fraud.
Last Thursday, Paxton falsely claimed to right-wing talk show host Glenn Beck that President Biden and Vice President Harris, the current front-runners, were trying to transport large numbers of undocumented voters to key states to vote illegally, a claim with no basis in fact.
“That was the plan: to tell the drug cartels, 'Get as many of you here as you can, as fast as you can. We're not going to let you hide any more. We're going to put you in the right states,'” Paxton said. “They want to rig the election and turn this into a one-party state that we can't fix.”
“Nobody expected the federal government to go against the law and try to get illegal immigrants to vote, but that's what happened.” Paxton added:This is an excerpt from an interview posted on social platform X.
“That's why we need to get the message out from the state: 'Hey illegal immigrants, this is not a free ride. If you get caught, you will be prosecuted.'
Meanwhile, Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said on Monday that “Republican leaders are using scare tactics and misinformation to suppress voter turnout and cling to power, knowing that the Texas Democratic movement is growing stronger every day.”
The interview with Paxton and Beck was a sign of some unique campaign tactics that are coming together as the November election approaches.
Paxton announced the investigation last Tuesday. The denied allegationsThe allegation that the nonprofit is “illegally registering foreigners to vote” From a friend of a friendFrom Fox host Maria Bartiromo.
And on Wednesday, Paxton Allowed searchesThe homes and offices of Democratic Party officials and campaign workers in three Texas counties, including Bexar County, home to San Antonio, the third-largest city in the state.
And Friday, Paxton SuedBiden administration over new Department of Homeland Security rules Recognize illegal immigrant spousesSome U.S. citizens can apply for lawful status without leaving the country.
Texas also sends election observersOversees Harris County electionsThe county, Texas' most populous county and home to Houston, has faced repeated unsuccessful state audits that have sought to uncover evidence of widespread fraud, The Texas Tribune reported last week.
Harris has been a longtime interest of Paxton, who in 2021 asked Trump strategist Steve Bannon if there was no legal campaign to block mail-in voting in the county. Trump would have lost Texas.
These comments come after the state's senatorial election was within the margin of error and Vice President Harris Trump's lead was cut in halfAccording to the Texas Tribune.
Early August investigationA survey of 1,365 state residents by the University of Houston School of Public Policy found Harris trailing Trump by five points and 4 percentage points more likely to vote for her than Biden.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Ill.) also leads by just over two points over his opponent, Representative Collin Allred (D-Ill.), but more than 6 percent are undecided.
In a sign of the state's shifting political climate, Trump holds a slight lead over Harris among Latino voters, while Cruz lags behind Allred among them. Both Democrats lead Trump by more than 6 points among Texas women.
At the national level, Republicans and big donors have repeatedly made immigration a central election issue.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley (Senior Advisor) on wednesdayIt touted election lawsuits in four battleground states. TweetedLast week, he spoke out in support of Governor Paxton's investigation into allegations of foreign voting.
Paxton retweeted the post by Trump donor and Texas expat Elon Musk. Written“As I've said before, Democrats are importing voters,” X said. And Trump immigration adviser Stephen Miller said on Monday: said“I'm honored to work with you to defend America,” Paxton told X.
Statewide, Abbott said last Thursday Explicitly calledThe Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in 2021 that Paxton cannot investigate election fraud in his county without the cooperation of the local district attorney, a ruling that Paxton argues will deny him access to the state's large, urban, Democratic-leaning counties.
“It has long been true that Texas executive officers can hold office in more than one of three distinct branches of government,” Governor Abbott said in response to the appeals ruling.
In Texas, this dynamic is most vividly illustrated in the context of the state House race for the 80th Congressional District, which includes the city of Uvalde, the site of a 2022 elementary school shooting and what Democrats say was a campaign of intimidation.
In the race to replace retiring Democrat Tracy King, Republican former Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin is facing off against Democrat Cecilia Castellanos, one of the party members whose home was raided by Texas investigators as part of the Paxton investigation.
In a statement to The Hill on Monday, McLaughlin's campaign accused her of “evading responsibility and playing politics while her opponent, Cecilia Castellano, faces an investigation into voter fraud.”
“Castellanos is focused only on his own political agenda and protecting himself, not the issues that matter to Texans,” McLoughlin told The Hill.
In a statement Monday, state Democratic Party Chairman Hinojosa criticized state Republicans for using “undercover police-like tactics, raiding the homes of senior citizens and Democratic strategists, ignoring the Secretary of State's claims of a 'clean voter roll.'”
He encouraged “Texans to check their own registrations, make sure eligible friends and family are registered, and double-check their vote-by-mail applications before submitting them to their local elections office.”
