With control of the Senate hanging in the balance, President Trump is heading to Houston on Thursday to raise money to help a Republican ally who has been struggling.
The Republican National Committee is holding a fund-raiser that Mr. Trump said will benefit Ken Paxton, the scandal-plagued Texas attorney general who is running for Senate. He was trailing his Democratic rival, James Talarico, in several recent polls.
“So I’m going to help Ken Paxton, and I’m going to spend a lot of time in Texas,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, before departing for Houston.
Mr. Trump called Mr. Paxton a “very good candidate.”
Invitations for the Republican National Committee fund-raiser put the price of tickets anywhere from $10,000 per couple up to $443,000 for a host couple.
Mr. Talarico countered with what he called an “ambitious” fund-raising appeal of his own.
“Donald Trump is coming to Houston, Texas, tonight for a massive fund-raiser to support Ken Paxton,” his campaign wrote in an email. “Some donors are paying as much as $443,000 for a ticket to attend. We are going to try to match that amount in one day.”
Mr. Paxton prevailed in the Republican primary over Senator John Cornyn, who many analysts believe would have easily won the general election, after Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Paxton. Mr. Trump viewed Mr. Cornyn as less than loyal after he said in 2023 that Mr. Trump’s time had “passed him by.”
But the result is that Republicans are locked in a closer-than-expected general election race that is likely to be one of the most expensive in U.S. history.
Republicans already hold 53 seats in the Senate, and this year’s election map generally favors the party. But midterm elections often represent a backlash to the party in power. The president’s approval rating is well underwater, dragged down by rising prices and an unpopular war. And Republicans have done themselves few favors with some of the candidates they advanced in their primaries.
In Texas, Mr. Paxton has been indicted on securities fraud charges (he reached a deal with prosecutors to avoid a criminal trial), has escaped an impeachment trial, has been accused of adultery by his estranged wife and was even caught on video years ago pilfering an expensive pen.
Democrats have nominated Mr. Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian who has made his Christian faith a centerpiece of his campaign. The popular podcaster Joe Rogan once told him to run for president.
The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election forecaster, recently moved the race in Texas from the “Lean Republican” category to “Toss Up,” citing polling and the economic environment.
Many Republicans are hoping for financial support from Mr. Trump, whose fund-raising power in the party remains unmatched despite his low poll numbers. The president’s well-funded but tightfisted super PAC, MAGA Inc., came to the rescue of Senator Darline Graham of South Carolina in her hotly contested Republican runoff this week. The group flooded the contest with more than $800,000 worth of voter calls and text messages.
Republicans are now hoping for an even greater level of support for Mr. Paxton. The fund-raiser is closed to the press.
There is another motivation for Mr. Trump to get involved in the race for Congress. If Democrats take control of either chamber, they are likely to subject the president to a torrent of investigations and possible impeachment.
While in Texas, Mr. Trump also has other business. On Friday, the president will present the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the four members of the Artemis II crew, who completed a historic 10-day flight around the moon, before returning to Washington.
Theodore Schleifer and Erica L. Green contributed reporting.
