Rachel Maddow is among the MS NOW personalities appearing at the network’s Sept. 26 fan event in Arlington.
WASHINGTON – First comes MAGA. Then Maddow.
A little more than two weeks after President Donald Trump’s Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, Jen Psaki and other MS NOW hosts will headline a major fan showcase in neighboring Arlington.
Together, the September productions highlight Texas’ role as a political crossroads ahead of the November elections.
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MS NOW Live: Together in Texas is scheduled Sept. 26 at the University of Texas at Arlington’s College Park Center. It’s the network’s third annual fan gathering, with previous iterations held closer to home in the New York area.
“Politically, Texas is so kinetic and interesting and kind of uniquely unpredictable in this moment, it just felt like it’d be a place to have a really good set of conversations,” Maddow told The Dallas Morning News.
The state has been central to many of the nation’s biggest political debates over immigration, abortion access, voting rights, education, gun violence and trade policy.
The network is popular with Democrats, and Maddow is its best-known prime-time personality.
The gathering comes against the backdrop of the increasingly caustic Senate race between Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton and state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin.
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Maddow said that matchup has drawn national attention because, in her view, Paxton has become a symbol of what critics see as the Republican Party’s ethical lapses and confrontational style of politics.
Paxton beat longtime Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican runoff that became a bitter contest over Paxton’s personal controversies and Cornyn’s loyalty to Trump.
Trump delivered a late endorsement of Paxton that contributed to his big margin of victory.
“He’s the caricature of what people think is wrong with the Republican Party right now,” Maddow said of Paxton.
Paxton has dismissed such criticism as politically motivated.
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Maddow said she has great affection for Texas and that the network’s previous fan events were well received, prompting it to take this year’s gathering outside New York for the first time.
Texas was a natural choice, she said, in part because the MS NOW draws a large audience in the state. It’s a good “environment for talking about not just Texas but also the country and the direction of both parties and the state of the democracy,” she said.
Among other hosts scheduled in Arlington: Chris Hayes, Stephanie Ruhle, Ali Velshi, Ari Melber, Symone Sanders Townsend, Luke Russert and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
The choice of North Texas was made before Trump announced the GOP midterm gathering.
“We didn’t know that the Republicans were going to do this weird convention thing before they did it,” Maddow said. “Maybe they copied us.”
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MS NOW plans to bring some of its live programming to Texas during the Trump-led midterm convention, with details still being finalized.
Republicans are looking to use the Sept. 9-10 event at the American Airlines Center to energize the party’s base, rally donors and volunteers and build momentum heading into the November elections.
The MS NOW gathering will feature a full day of programming and discussions. Tickets for Together in Texas are on sale at ms.now/together.
Attendees also can buy tickets to a limited-seating dinner that will feature Maddow and Psaki answering questions, a live taping of the Clock It with Symone & Eugene podcast and an interactive audience segment with Jacob Soboroff.