AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Winning Texas has been the Democratic Party’s white whale for years, the much-hyped attempts repeatedly ending in disappointment.

Now, the U.S. Senate contest between Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton is another tantalizing opening, and as the long race enters its final few days, the contest could well turn on its unusual points of friction.

Can a campaign rooted in hope douse one of fear? Will Paxton’s embrace of President Donald Trump propel or cost him? Can the world’s richest man tip the scales? And is Talarico his party’s salvation or just another expensive mirage?

The answers will have echoes beyond Texas and not just by helping decide which party controls Congress in Trump’s final two years in office. A Talarico victory in a Republican state could signal a redrawing of the national political map.…