In Texas AG race, Rochelle Garza campaigns on Ken Paxton's home turf
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - On Nov. 2, Democratic candidate for Texas Attorney General Rochelle Garza campaigned in McKinney, which is home turf for two-term incumbent Republican Ken Paxton.
"We need to be here in Collin County. We need to talk to voters here," said Garza.
She spoke with supporters and candidates from Collin County outside the John and Judy Gay Public Library. It's her third straight day in North Texas after making stops at the Texas Organizing Project in Dallas Tuesday.
Garza told members of the organization, "I'm from deep South Texas on the border. For me, politics started at home." She also knocked on doors to get out the vote. On Monday, she met supporters at UT Arlington, including Iris Garcia, Executive Director of the Tarrant County Democratic Party.
Garcia told her, "It's not often we see Latinas running, so it's inspiring. I'm a little geeked-out right now."
Paxton has emphasized his lawsuits against the Biden administration and what he called the federal government's overreaching. He hasn't done interviews with Texas reporters about his campaign and has declined CBS 11's previous requests for an interview.
The attorney general faces state felony fraud charges first filed in 2015, and he's reportedly under FBI investigation after his office's former top lieutenants accused him of bribery. Paxton has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in both cases. In a statement, his campaign accused Garza of being radical.
"Her open borders agenda at a time when our border and our state have been completely overrun with rampant illegal immigration isn't just wrong, it's dangerous."
Garza responded Wednesday.
"Ken Paxton doesn't know how to tell the truth. I started off my legal career as an immigration lawyer. I know that we have to be tough on human trafficking, gun trafficking, drug trafficking and we can do those things and we should do those things. But we should also treat people humanely."
The four most recent polls show Garza trailing Paxton by an average of nine percentage points. Dr. Joshua Blank, Research Director of the Texas Politics Project at UT Austin said Garza faces similar challenges as other Democrats who are running statewide.
"I think polling shows she's made some pretty good progress but ultimately like all Democrats in Texas, it's a very big state, very expensive to campaign in, and it's really hard to break through."
Garza said she believes reproductive rights will motivate people to vote.
"Once you take that right away, all of our rights are under threat."
Democrats have said they don't believe the polls reflect the voters' concern over this issue, but Republicans disagree.
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