Supporters of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton were not happy Tuesday night after the Republican Senate candidate suffered a devastating election defeat, with one pinning the blame on President Donald Trump and another calling for civil war.
“For the first time in almost 40 years, Democrats just won a U.S. Senate seat in Texas, and I just got to witness Republicans’ reaction,” said Emma Withrow, a journalist with Al Jazeera, reporting from Paxton’s election-night watch party in Dallas. “Republicans here are disappointed, obviously: livid, skeptical, all of the above.”
Endorsed by Trump, Paxton lost his Senate race to Democratic state Rep. James Talarico by roughly 1.2 million votes. His loss is part of a string of election defeats for Trump’s handpicked candidates, including Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC), who handed Democrats a Senate seat held by Republicans since 1964.
“They just called it,” Withrow told Gregor Heise, a Texas Republican and supporter of Paxton.
Heise stood silently for a moment before grimly declaring “we’re done.”
“Did you ever expect that a Democrat would win a U.S. Senate seat in Texas?” Withrow asked Heise.
Heise said “hell no,” and that he didn’t expect a Democratic victory “one bit.” He also appeared to call for violence to erupt across the United States, voicing fears that Democrats would be quick to use their newfound subpoena power.
“Civil war! Because that’s where we are,” Heise continued. “The Democrats are going to run the House and the Senate, they’re gonna do everything it possibly can to impeach everybody, put in prison that we couldn’t do ourselves as Republicans.”
Withrow spoke with another Paxton supporter, Mike Little, asking him who was at fault for Republicans’ historic losses in Texas.
“I think it all goes back to President Trump,” Little said. “He also supported Graham in South Carolina, and she lost. So I think the president really needs to take a strong look — at this point, it’s too late.”
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