Dan Patrick and Ken Paxton tout their Christian beliefs, political wins at Turning Point USA event in Houston – Houston Public Media

Although neither of the two outright mentioned their current election campaigns, both discussed their actions as elected representatives while also remembering Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk and his impact on young conservatives.
Just over 100 people gathered in a small auditorium on the University of Houston campus Tuesday night to hear Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The two Republican leaders spoke as part of an event hosted by the university’s Turning Point USA chapter — a national conservative student organization founded by right-wing activist and podcaster Charlie Kirk, who was killed earlier this year in Utah.
Both Patrick and Paxton are running in separate primary races for the 2026 midterm elections. Patrick is running for a fourth term presiding over the Texas Senate, while Paxton is hoping to unseat U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican primary in March. Although neither of the two outright mentioned their current campaigns Tuesday night, both touted their actions as elected representatives while also remembering Kirk and his impact on young conservatives.
Patrick spoke about the importance of Christianity in his and Kirk’s work as conservative voices. The lieutenant governor compared Kirk to the apostle Paul — one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ and one of the attributed authors of the Bible’s New Testament.
“I’m not comparing Charlie Kirk to Jesus in any way, but Charlie would have been one heck of an apostle,” Patrick said. “I think the greatest legacy of Charlie is that he’s handing off to you, as the next generation, that politics are important, free markets are important, capitalism is important.”
RELATED: University of Houston’s Turning Point USA chapter holds Charlie Kirk vigil
Paxton took the stage after Patrick and went a step further than the lieutenant governor by making a direct comparison between Kirk and Jesus.
“If you think about it, Jesus died at 32, 33. He lived a relatively short life, and yet, what was accomplished with his life affected the world forever,” Paxton said. “It’s amazing that Charlie Kirk died at a very similar age, and I think his work is actually going to be greater after his death.”
According to The Texas Tribune, Kirk started Turning Point at age 18 and regularly drew backlash for his discussion of race, gender and the LGBTQ community.
Outside of the auditorium, a small group of students had set up a table for the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) — a liberal nationwide student organization.
Samuele Brenner, the co-chair of UH’s YDSA chapter, was among those at the table and said he and the local chapter opposed Paxton and Patrick.
“We want [them] to know that while they may be allowed here, they are not welcome here in that we fundamentally disagree with what they’re doing,” Brenner said. ” We think they are causing harm to the people of Texas and the students of UH. … It’s ICE and immigration as well as their crackdown on abortion rights and cutting back welfare.”
Brenner said the YDSA chapter was trying to collect signatures for a petition to ban U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from the university campus. He said the petition would eventually be delivered to the UH board of regents.
RELATED: New data shows 1 in 4 ICE arrests happened in Texas under Trump’s immigration crackdown
“We’re close to 2,000 signatures now,” he said. “We’re trying to reach 2,000 before we present it, so we’re getting very close to our goal.”
Having your voice heard is the first step in making change happen, Brenner said.
“Times always seem rough, especially in comparison to such a large and overwhelming opposition,” he said. “But anything that you can do … getting out there, just showing up, being there matters more than people think and can lead to much greater change down to the line, but the first step is you have to get out there.”
Patrick and Paxton made the appearance in Houston to rally support for themselves and their conservative causes.
Patrick spoke briefly about his recent $1 million donation to Turning Point, which he announced last week in a move to try and establish a chapter at every Texas high school and university.
“I didn’t plan to give any money,” he said. “I’m not looking for a pat on the back for giving it.”
As he began discussing what made him decide to donate the money, Patrick stopped suddenly as a woman in the audience appeared to be having a medical emergency. After several minutes and assistance from officers and a nurse who was present, the woman appeared to regain consciousness and was escorted out by emergency medical personnel.
Patrick then discussed his work in office at the Texas Capitol, including his support of anti-abortion measures and some of the recent statewide propositions passed during last week’s election.
Patrick listed some of what he believed to be Texas’ most pressing issues for the future, including water conservation and the expansion of the state’s power grid.
“We continue to reduce property taxes, and this year the average senior will no longer pay any school taxes under the plan,” he said. “So we’ve done a lot of good things, a lot of conservative things, but I’ve learned in politics and in office, it’s like being a football coach or a basketball coach, they don’t want to know what you did last year.”
Paxton tapped into religion, crediting God with having helped him avoid removal from office by the Texas Senate in 2023. The Texas House had previously voted to impeach him over allegations he abused his office to help a political donor.
“The odds seemed largely against me, and yet, I ended up winning that,” he said. “It was completely the deliverance of God. … I had accepted the fact that I could lose, and if I did lose, it was God’s will and that I was going to be OK with it. And that allowed me to freely fight it.”
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