Members of a Corpus Christi Police Department sniper team scan the horizon before the start of a rally featuring former President Donald Trump on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022, in Robstown, Texas. (AP Photo/Nick Wagner)

ROBSTOWN — With early voting opening on Monday, Texas Republican candidates from the Coastal Bend, Rio Grade Valley and those seeking statewide office rallied support around former President Donald Trump’s “Save America” rally Saturday.

Those who spoke at the rally, including US. Rep Michael Cloud of Victoria, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton, focused on the importance of the upcoming election, focusing on issues such as the economy, border security and the belief that there is a need to reign in the Biden administration.

Donald Trump holds ‘Save America’ rally Saturday; U.S. Rep. Michael Cloud to speak

However, beyond stressing border security and contrasting his record with that of Biden, most of the former president’s comments focused on how he is aggrieved over previous scandals like the Steele Dossier, the fallout stemming from the rioting inside and out of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and his claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential contest.

“They are coming after me because I’m fighting for you,” Trump told a few thousand supporters at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds.

The former president detailed issues such as high gas prices, crime and the war between Russia and Ukraine, all of which he said wouldn’t have happened if he were still president and had remained in office, reiterating his discredited claims that he won in 2020.

“This nation does not belong to them. This nation belongs to you,” he said.

One of the more controversial statements of the night from the former president regarded his desire to find who leaked the early draft of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.

Trump detailed how he would handle the leak, saying he would use the federal government to approach the reporter and publisher of the leak to pressure them to reveal who leaked the decision on the grounds of national security. If they did not comply, he would have them put in prison until they did. This statement came on the final day of the national Free Speech Week.

At the rally, the former president did insinuate he would run again in 2024, but did not flat out say he would despite speakers throughout the afternoon urging him to make a bid to return to the oval office.

Trump also voiced his support and appreciation to the Texas Republicans in attendances and urged his supporters to turn out to vote so they could keep Texas in GOP controll and continue what he called the state’s “great work.”

Cloud, who The Advocate spoke to prior to Trump taking the stage, said rallies by the former president leave people more optimistic than they were when they arrived.

Thousands turnout to see Trump, and with the upcoming election his presence will help candidates along the border turn back the policies the Biden administration enacted, Cloud said. He said he blames Biden for high prices at the gas pump and in grocery stores.

“We need to win in November for the sake of the Americans that are suffering because of this administration’s policies,” Cloud said.