The race to replace U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, after a brutal primary runoff loss to sitting Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, lacks the slugging and swinging, but traditional mud-slinging figures in as Paxton and his democrat opponent, State Rep. James Talarico, HD-50, battle for undecided votes.
The unusually close race in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat for statewide office since Republicans began snatching them up handily in 1994. While Paxton brushes off alleged scandal after alleged scandal with seeming ease, the weight of more than a decade of issues, is now coming down to General Election voters considering the records of both candidates.
The narrow polling says less about the candidates than it does the nature of Republican voters in Texas. Those who follow the Texas House closely have seen firsthand why Talarico is getting a second look from Republican voters. For years, his performance in committee hearings and the back microphone of the Texas House of Representatives features a messenger whose rallying cry appeals more for its whisper than for a brawny volume. Instead, Talarico features a collection of YouTube hits where he calmly untangles testimony in hearings considering legislation over things like displaying the Ten Commandments in public schools. His approach has generated attention from podcasting comedian Joe Rogan, himself branded right or not as a conservative leaning foe of the progressive left. “[You] need to run for president. We need someone who’s actually a good person,” Rogan told Talarico in his 2025 interview.
Still, it’s only enough to generate a threat. And Talarico has yet to land a final blow. Nor has Paxton revealed enough to do himself in for a final count — despite an attempt to impeach him by fellow Republicans in his own Legislature over a list of offending issues.
For everyday voters, considering the array of information and blistering digital ads, there still appears to be room for Paxton to take the lead heading into Election Day. Although he has a slight edge, according to most polling, a large segment of undecided voters have yet to commit to either.
Despite his moderate everyman pitch, Talarico’s true progressive beliefs keep surfacing, slowly shifting voter sentiment and leaving Texans wondering what he actually believes.” USA Today | Nicole Russell
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