Donald Trump is back in Texas on Tuesday with a new cast of campaign allies: Johnny Manziel, Colt McCoy and Danny Amendola. He is making two stops, first in Corpus Christi and then in Lubbock, as he tries to lift turnout for Ken Paxton and other Republicans with one week to go until Election Day.
The former football players are not there by accident. A White House official said Trump is pairing with two former college stars widely known in the state and a two-time Super Bowl champion to energize supporters, especially young men, in a state where small changes in turnout can decide more than one race. Axios first reported the trio would join him on the trail.
This is Trump’s third visit in the past month to Texas, underscoring how much of the party’s closing argument now runs through the state. More than $1 billion in overall ad spending by both parties has already poured into Texas, and the stakes go beyond one name on the ballot. The same campaign that is pushing Paxton is also trying to hold the House and Senate, with Corpus Christi sitting in Texas’ 34th Congressional District, which backed Trump in the presidential election but sent a Democrat to the House.
That is the part that complicates the easy story of a red-state rally. The latest polling average cited by MS NOW and FiftyPlusOne shows James Talarico ahead of Paxton, 49.2% to 46.5%, even as Trump heads in to try to juice Republican turnout. In Lubbock, Talarico is set to hold a community rally at about the same time, a direct reminder that the fight in Texas is not just about enthusiasm but about which side can actually turn it into votes.
For Trump, the strategy is simple math. The more Republicans he can pull into the race, the harder it becomes for Democrats to close the gap in a state where turnout can decide whether his allies hold their ground. For Manziel, McCoy and Amendola, the visit turns a football-heavy closing stretch into a political one, and Tuesday will show whether celebrity help can move more than headlines in Texas.
