Welcome to meet the press now.

I'm Kristen Welker in Washington.

We begin with new escalations in the fight for control of Congress.

As the parties begin their pivot to the general election in what is shaping up to be a long,

bitter, and divisive campaign season. Both sides are painting the outcome of these midterms in

existential terms with Democrats seeking to flip both chambers of Congress and Republicans battling

major headwinds due to the president's poor political standing and the war with Iran.

And if you want an indication of what the next five months could look like, take a look at the battle for Texas Senate,

where Attorney General Ken Paxton brings the slate of recent controversies to his race against state representative James Talariko.

Talariko is already trying to capitalize on those controversies,

attacking Paxton as corrupt and launching a campaign ad highlighting the Attorney General's

2023 impeachment.

Paxton, meanwhile, appears to be going all in on hot-button culture war issues,

launching personal attacks on Tala riko's masculinity.

It's a strategy that was escalated yesterday by White House Deputy Chief of Staff,

Stephen Miller, who slammed Tala RICO with crude and false attacks on Fox News last night.

Take a look.

I think it is very bold.

One could even say brave, courageous, that the Democratic Party would

choose Texas, of all places, to nominate their first transgender Senate candidate, who's clearly

transitioning into a female.

You know, when Tala Rico goes in for a blood test, when it gets a physical, blood doesn't

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