Trump rallies in Texas, says he'll accept midterm election outcome

With one week until Election Day of the US midterms, US President Donald Trump returned to Texas for the third time this month to energise Republican base in the red state. Speaking to reporters, Trump says he would accept midterm results "if they are are honest elections."

Trump held back-to-back rallies for Ken Paxton, the scandal-tarred attorney general of Texas, who is locked in a fiercely competitive Senate race against Democratic state legislator James Talarico.

Polls show a tight race that has drawn national attention to a GOP stronghold that has not elected a Democratic senator in over 30 years.

Trump has said Paxton "deserves to win," calling him "the best attorney general in the history of the state of Texas." He told reporters as he departed Washington for Texas on Tuesday that he would accept the midterm results "if they are honest elections."

(Reporter: And Mr. President, if you do not prevail in this election, despite having worked as hard as you have, how do you intend to work with Democrats if they have control of the House or the Senate?)

Trump said: "We'll figure a way. Look, I have strong veto. I hope that that won't be the case, but if it is, that's happened before with many presidents. And you have strong, veto, and you end up working out deals."

During his campaign blitz in Corpus Christi, Trump has painted Talarico as "too liberal" for Texans and lauded a newly arrived oil tanker filled with Venezuelan crude to be processed in Texas refineries as he sought to insulate down-ballot Republicans from voters' economic concerns over gas prices.

The event marked the president's third swing through Texas since the midterm convention in Dallas in September.

Trump told the crowd, "To the victor belongs the spoils," recounting the US seizure of former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

Trump went on to suggest Venezuela could become the 51st state of the United States of America. Earlier in August, a deal signed by Trump grants the US access to a fifth of Venezuela's crude reserves.

Trump said, "I want to thank Venezuela, where our relationship has become very, very good, a great one. And billions and billions of dollars are being invested now by the biggest oil companies, many of which come from Texas, all over the world...And we're bringing out a lot of oil for ourselves, a lot. It will become a prosperous country and who knows, maybe someday soon it will become a prosperous 51st state. That's possible. Let's make it. Let's make it the 51st state, and instead of a president, we'll have an election for a governor."

Trump also announced plans to roll back regulations from the Biden era aimed at curbing methane emissions from oil and gas operations.

He claimed during a later stop in the West Texas city of Lubbock that the move can save consumers and energy producers 45 billion US dollars, noting it would "unlock vast quantities of Texas natural gas" and allow the production of an additional 210 million barrels of oil.