Potential Democratic rivals to join forces for San Antonio rally

Three of the biggest Democratic names floated for next year's U.S. Senate race in Texas are joining forces for at least one night in San Antonio.

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, state Rep. James Talarico and former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke have all been looking at running for the Senate in 2026. But on Friday all three are planning to be on stage together at a rally aimed at unifying Democrats as they hone a message for the midterm elections.

READ MORE: Beto O'Rourke is using his platform and town halls to recruit midterm candidates

O’Rourke was initially going to hold a rally by himself, but decided to invite some of the others who have been talking about running to unseat Republican John Cornyn, who's held the seat since 2002. O'Rourke's team also invited former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, who has shown interest in running, to be part of the rally but he was not scheduled to attend as of Thursday.

Also not expected to attend is former astronaut Terry Virts of Houston, who just launched his Democratic Senate campaign earlier this week.

The event is at 6:30 p.m. at Stable Hall, 307 Pearl Parkway, San Antonio.

O’Rourke has been traveling the state for months, trying to fire up his past supporters, build up volunteers to help register voters and encourage people to run for local offices. O’Rourke hasn’t said for sure if he is running for the Senate, but has told crowds he’s willing to consider it if that’s what people want.

“The bottom line for me is I’m gonna do whatever I can that is most helpful and most useful — if that’s running, if it’s not running. I have no pride in this,” the 52-year-old said at one of the rallies in Humble last month.

Castro, a 50-year-old San Antonio attorney, is in his 7th term in Congress. He’s been traveling the state recently, attending events in Houston and the Rio Grande Valley. Austin state Rep. James Talarico is a 36-year-old former teacher and pastor. Earlier this month he said he was weighing a Senate run.

Democrats are especially interested in the race because Cornyn is facing a difficult primary against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Early polling shows Paxton in the lead, giving Democrats hopes they will be challenging Paxton in November 2026 and not Cornyn.

Cornyn, 73, on Thursday, said one of the key parts of his campaign is to warn Republican voters that Paxton becoming the nominee will give Democrats a better chance to win the seat. Despite trailing in the polls, Cornyn said he’s confident he’ll eventually defeat Paxton.

“If I didn’t think I could win, I wouldn’t run,” Cornyn said.

Paxton pushed back.

"The political establishment pushed the same desperate attack throughout 2022 when I was outspent by millions, and I still won that general election by nearly ten points," he said in a statement. "The simple truth is that John Cornyn has a failing record of betraying the America First movement and has no reason to run, so instead he's trying to push this completely false narrative."