Trump Said He Would Hold a Rally for Ted Cruz in Texas’ ‘Biggest Stadium’. The Venue He Booked Is Not Even Close.
With Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) facing an ongoing threat from El Paso Rep. Beto O’Rourke, President Donald Trump said in August that he would come to the Lone Star State to hold a rally for the embattled far-right senator.
“I’m picking the biggest stadium in Texas we can find,” he tweeted.
And yet the venue he actually picked is decidedly underwhelming.
The largest stadium in Texas is Kyle Field, which serves as the home field for the Texas A&M Aggies and has a seating capacity of roughly 103,000. Trump’s rally for Cruz, meanwhile, is scheduled to take place on Monday at NRG Arena in Houston — which seats just 8,000.
The seating capacity of the Cruz venue is dwarfed not only by numerous larger stadiums in Texas, but also by the attendance of O’Rourke’s September rally with country music star Willie Nelson in Austin, which had an estimated turnout of 55,000.
Trump and Cruz were bitter rivals in the 2016 primary season, with Trump even going so far as to insult his wife. However, the two have since grown closer, with Cruz voting for nearly all of Trump’s agenda and Trump embracing his candidacy in an attempt to save his Senate majority.
O’Rourke recently posted a third-quarter campaign fundraising haul of $38.1 million — the largest single-quarter posting by any Senate candidate in history, and more than triple Cruz’s numbers. Recent polls show Cruz leading the race by single digits.
Image by Michael Vadon via Flickr and a CC license