TYLER, Texas — Vice President JD Vance was expected to headline a Republican National Committee midterm rally in Tyler on Tuesday, Oct. 13, as competitive statewide races put Texas under increased national scrutiny. The event was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., with Vance slated to speak at about 11:35 a.m. U.S. Rep. Nathaniel Moran, a Republican who represents Texas’ 1st Congressional District, was also expected to speak. The visit would mark the first time a sitting vice president had visited Tyler in more than 30 years, and the first vice-presidential visit to the broader East Texas region since 2004. It was Vance’s second trip to Texas in less than two weeks. A YouGov poll conducted in September found Democrat Gina Hinojosa leading Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, 48% to 47%. That one-point difference is within the poll’s 3-percentage-point margin of error. The same poll showed Democrat James Talarico ahead of Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the Senate race, 50% to 44%. David Stein, chair of the Smith County Republican Party, said the visit could energize Republican voters in the region. “We know that locally we’re going to win our elections; Smith [County] was one of the first counties to go republican in East Texas,” Stein said. The rally placed a high-profile national Republican in East Texas as campaigns compete for voter attention ahead of the midterms. The polling figures offer a snapshot of the statewide contests, but the governor’s race remains statistically close, while the Senate poll showed Talarico with a wider lead.