德克萨斯州总检察长肯·帕克斯顿（Ken Paxton）是共和党提名的参议院候选人，他并未出席周三在德克萨斯州南部举行的副总统万斯（Vance）的集会，但预计会参加特朗普总统周四在德克萨斯州一家制造工厂举行的活动。
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for Senate, did not attend Vice President Vance’s rally in South Texas Wednesday, but is expected to attend President Trump’s stop at a manufacturing plant in Texas on Thursday.
万斯当时正在德克萨斯州为共和党众议院候选人埃里克·弗洛雷斯（Eric Flores）进行竞选宣传活动。尽管帕克斯顿缺席，万斯仍对他给予了高度评价，称他为“一位出色的总检察长，也是共和党的下一位参议员”。此前，《纽约时报》曾曝光了一段帕克斯顿的讲话录音，其中他表示特朗普领导的共和党全国委员会（RNC）举办的中期选举集会损害了他及其他共和党候选人的支持率。
Vance, who was in Texas to stump for GOP House candidate Eric Flores, gave Paxton a shoutout despite his absence, calling him an “amazing attorney general and your next senator.”It comes after the New York Times released audio of Paxton saying Trump’s RNC Midterm convention earlier this month hurt his and other GOP candidates’ polling numbers. A Paxton spokesperson told The Hill that he didn’t attend Vance’s event because he had a previously scheduled event with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Austin and another rally in El Paso.
帕克斯顿的发言人向《The Hill》杂志解释称，他未能出席万斯的集会是因为自己此前已安排了与卫生与公共服务部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪（Robert F. Kennedy Jr.）在奥斯汀的会面，以及另一场在埃尔帕索（El Paso）举行的集会。不过，他仍会与特朗普一起出现在德克萨斯州的丹顿（Denton）。
He is still set to appear with Trump in Denton, Texas. Paxton isn’t the only GOP candidate to miss Vance rallies of late. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who is up for reelection, didn’t join Vance’s rally in Maine in August. Collins said she was already scheduled for something else that day.
帕克斯顿并非唯一一位最近缺席万斯集会的共和党候选人：正在竞选连任的缅因州参议员苏珊·柯林斯（Susan Collins）也在8月份没有参加万斯在缅因州举办的集会，她表示当天自己已有其他安排。万斯在缅因州的集会上仍提到了柯林斯，称她“非常独立”，并且“对所有细节都了如指掌”。同样，爱荷华州众议院议员、参议院候选人阿什利·欣森（Ashley Hinson）也拒绝了万斯在该州举办的集会，她的竞选团队表示她因日程冲突而无法出席。
Vance still gave her a shoutout at that event, saying he gives Collins “a little bit of crap because, as you know, Susan is the most independent member of the United States Senate,” whenever he’s in Maine, but also called her “attuned to the details of every single thing.”Similarly, Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson, a nominee for Senate, declined to join Vance’s event in the Hawkeye state earlier this month. Her campaign also said she had a scheduling conflict.
在周三的演讲中，万斯重点批评了民主党参议院候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科（James Talarico）；民调显示，塔拉里科在参议院选举中的支持率略高于帕克斯顿。
During Vance’s remarks on Wednesday, he dug into Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, who polls show maintains a slight lead over Paxton in the race for the upper chamber seat.
Vance 形容他是一个“极不严肃的人”和“轻蔑的人”。“他是一个如此专注于儿童和变装的人，以至于永远不会关心我们的工作。他更同情罪犯而不是受害者，当你更同情罪犯而不是受害者时，这个人永远不会保护你的街道，”Vance 说。他敦促选民在十一月投票时考虑他们投票给谁。
Vance called him a “profoundly unserious person” and “disdainful.”“He’s a man so focused on children and drag, he’s never going to care about our jobs. He’s a man who empathizes more with criminals than with the victims, and when you empathize with the criminals more than with the victims, that man is never going to protect your streets,” Vance said. He pushed for voters to consider who they’re voting for in November.
“我并不是要求你在所有事情上都同意我、总统或甚至埃里克·弗洛雷斯，但我要求你关注詹姆斯·塔拉里科，审视他的记录，审视他为极左派而非你而奋斗的记录，并把他送走，”Vance 说。
“I’m not asking you to agree with me or the president or even Eric Flores on everything, but I’m asking you to look at James Talarico, to look at his record, to look at his record of fighting for the far left instead of you, and to send him packing,” Vance said.
库克政治报告将德克萨斯州第34选区的选举（弗洛雷斯与民主党现任议员文森特·冈萨雷斯之间的竞争）标记为势均力敌，正如它对参议院竞选所做的那样。
The Cook Political Report labels the race for Texas’s 34th Congressional district between Flores and Democratic incumbent Rep. Vincent Gonzalez a toss-up, as it does for the Senate race.