Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico met with volunteers for a statewide food-drive in Dallas as Republicans prepare to gather for a midterm convention nearby.
"While we're here serving our neighbors, billionaire mega donors and their puppet politicians are clinking their champagne glasses," Talarico said.
Volunteers distributed donations from the campaign's "Love Thy Neighbor" food drive at the Frederick Douglass Human Services and Justice Center in Dallas on Wednesday.
The food drive is intended to draw a contrast with the GOP convention in Dallas this week and highlight rising grocery prices, a key focus of Talarico's campaign against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. The campaign collected more than twenty thousand pounds of groceries at sites in Dallas, Plano, Glenn Heights, Fort Worth and Denton earlier this week.
Steve Griffin from Dallas volunteered at the food drive. The rising cost of food and fuel has hurt people's pocketbooks, Griffin said.
"The reason we're here today is because there are so many people in food insecure positions, and that hasn't been addressed by the current administration at all," he said.
The unprecedented midterm convention suggests Republicans are concerned about the polls, said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. An Aug. 24 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll shows Talarico leading Paxton 42% to 39%.
"They can read public opinion in regard to President Trump, in regard the war in Iran, in regard to various of their candidates, like Ken Paxton here in Texas, and even Governor Abbott is running only four or five points ahead of his Democrat opponent who has far less money and name recognition than he does," he said.
President Donald Trump isn't on the ballot, but the economic impact of his policies, including the ongoing conflict in Iran, are on many voters' minds. The resulting increase in gas prices has affected people's views of the economy, said Joanne Hsu, the director of the Surveys of Consumers at the University of Michigan.
"Consumers are loud and clear that the number one factor on their minds when it comes to the economy is the cost of living," Hsu said. "It's about purchasing power. It's about high prices."
Having a midterm convention while people are struggling financially is in poor taste, said Frederick Haynes, who's running for Jasmine Crockett's old Congressional seat. Haynes introduced Talarico at the food drive on Wednesday.
"Why do you wanna have a pap rally when people are hurting?" Haynes said. "And so to have this event basically says to the people, we hear you, we see you, and we want to do something about what you're dealing with."
Paxton, one of Trump's strongest allies, has a difficult needle to thread when discussing the economy, said Thomas Gray, a political science professor at the University of Texas at Dallas. The Texas Politics Project poll found about 54% of voters disapprove of the president's handling of the economy, including 1 out of every 5 Republicans surveyed.
"He's simultaneously telling you that his ultimate purpose is to advance President Trump's agenda, but also that the current economic situation is bad," Gray said.
Paxton has pointed at former President Joe Biden's policies as the reason for rising costs.
Paxton recently announced he's distributing more than 7 million free eggs to Texas food banks. The eggs were acquired from a settlement in an antitrust lawsuit Paxton filed alongside several other state attorneys general and the Justice Department against three companies over an alleged conspiracy to inflate egg prices from 2022 to 2025.
"I will continue to help our families put food on the table and do everything within my power to lower prices and help Texans who are struggling to make ends meet," Paxton said in a press release.
He was scheduled to speak Wednesday evening at the midterm convention.
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