Trump speaks at Paxton rally in Texas as Republican midterms woes deepen

Donald Trump said he has “no regrets at all” about endorsing Ken Paxton in the Senate race in Texas, after the Republican nominee reportedly complained about the impact of the Iran war and high gas prices on his precarious performance. According to an audio recording obtained by Axios, Paxton can be heard responding to questions about the main issues affecting his race at a fundraiser in Washington DC. “It’s not tariffs,” he said. “It’s the war, it’s gas prices, it’s diesel.” A number of polls have Paxton, also the Texas attorney general, trailing his Democratic rival, James Talarico, as Republican groups spend tens of millions of dollars to support his election bid.

Meanwhile, the president is on his way to San Antonio, Texas, where he’s set to hold another campaign rally to drum up support for Paxton. This is Trump’s second visit to Texas in the past week. He’s set to speak at 7pm ET.

Trump also said today that he would “immediately” fire ⁠his political advisers Chris LaCivita ⁠and ​James Blair “if there’s a conflict,” following a New York Times ⁠report that the two political operatives visited the Russian-aligned Bosnian territory of Republika ⁠Srpska. In a Truth Social post, Trump ‌noted that the two operatives “do not work for me, other than as outside ​consultants”, adding they are allowed to do “work for others, just like all consultant”. LaCivita was formerly a senior adviser on the president’s 2024 campaign, and Blair was formerly a White House adviser who took a temporary leave of absence to head up Maga Inc – the Trump-aliged Super Pac.

Mike Rogers – the Republican nominee for the open US Senate seat in Michigan – is trying to show a bit of daylight between his platform and the Trump administration’s trade war with the state’s neighbor, Canada. “Here in Michigan, we know that Canada is not our enemy,” Rogers, a former congressman, says while perched at a sports bar drinking a Canadian beer. “We need to end this tariff war – now.” In the Oval Office, Trump, said he viewed the ad “as though [Rogers] wanted Canada to make a deal”, before launching into a familiar rant about how the country has been “ripping off” the US for “many, many years”.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigated hundreds of non-profit groups that helped people register to vote, according to internal government documents obtained by legal non-profit Democracy Forward. Dozens of groups, from across the country, were investigated. Some of these non-profits partner with larger groups, like Voto Latino – which focuses on voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts for Hispanic and Latino citizens.