Donald Trump’s Texas Troubles – podcast

Democrats believe they have a real chance of winning a Senate seat in Texas next week, a result that would have been unthinkable in the state for decades. According to Washington bureau chief David Smith, who reported from Texas, such an upset could also be a sign of a much wider defeat for President Donald Trump in the midterm elections, according to The Guardian.

Republican Ken Paxton has Trump's heavy backing as he tries to stop Democrat James Talarico, who is 37 and a Presbyterian. Yet Smith explains that the president's standing with the public is unusually weak, which means his endorsement may be doing Paxton more harm than good.

The discussion comes from the Today in Focus podcast, presented by Nosheen Iqbal with Smith and published on October 29, 2026. It examines whether a state long out of reach for Democrats could now deliver them a victory, and what Trump's unpopularity means for his party's prospects when voters go to the polls next week.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Guardian’s reporting. Read the full story at The Guardian →