Lubbock hasn’t hosted a presidential visit since George H. W. Bush campaigned here in 1992, and then on Tuesday, Oct. 27, the city suddenly got dueling mega-rallies from President Donald Trump and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico. According to TTU Public Media, thousands of people lined up across town for both events ahead of the November 3 midterm election.
Trump made his first-ever public visit to Lubbock to stump for Republican Senate candidate Attorney General Ken Paxton at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center. Around 3,500 people packed inside while thousands more waited in a line stretching almost a mile, all to watch Paxton speak for about three minutes.
Usually, Republicans treat Lubbock County—where Trump won almost 70% of the vote in 2024—like an automatic ATM for votes. South Plains College government professor Drew Landry told KTTZ the late scramble means Paxton is in real trouble of becoming one of the first Republicans to lose statewide since 1994, blaming closer-than-usual local margins on “the weak Republican candidacy of Ken Paxton.”
The evening’s best civic theater happened when Trump pitched data centers to a crowd that included many Lubbock city council members. Those same officials recently voted to start moratorium procedures on large-scale data centers after citizens petitioned to protect local water and energy.
“Do whatever the hell you want, but don’t turn them down because somebody else is going to take them, and you’ll be very unhappy in the long run,” Trump told the room. Nothing says West Texas hospitality like telling local officials to ignore their own voters’ water supply.
Across town at the Fiesta Center in East Lubbock, Talarico drew 4,000 registrations and lines stretching for blocks alongside local Democrats running for seats that have historically gone unchallenged. Talarico praised the Republican lawmakers who once voted to impeach Paxton and promised, “We’re done with the politics of division, and we are ready for something new.”
Democratic candidate for Texas Senate District 28 Riley Rodriquez took a sharper swing at data centers and Flock cameras, arguing the current system “protects the greedy and punishes the needy.”
It is heartwarming to see both parties finally find West Texas on a map, even if it took a panicked Senate race and a looming water fight to get them here.
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