AS TALARICO GOES FROM BAD TO WORSE, GOP DEBATES SUPPORT FOR PAXTON. There’s been a lot of commentary lately about the faults of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican candidate for Senate. There are many such faults, and the impeached and scandal-ridden Paxton is widely recognized among GOP strategists as a poor candidate.
But take a moment to remember the utter terribleness of Paxton’s opponent, Democratic nominee James Talarico. You’ve heard his greatest hits. His belief that there are six genders. That God is nonbinary. His “non-meat” campaign. His claim to be “a Christian who hates Christianity.” And more.
Now, there’s something else to consider. It comes from September 2020, when Talarico was running for the Texas legislature and took part in a Zoom forum run by the Sierra Club. He was asked what he would do to “fight for climate justice” for “communities of color” that “receive the most harm from the impacts of climate change.”
“I’m so thankful that you asked this question, and also thankful that young activists have really drawn the link between climate change and white supremacy and capitalism in our country,” Talarico answered. “And I think only understanding the ways that all three of those oppressive systems work together are we going to be able to begin the process of dismantling them.”
As if setting a goal of dismantling capitalism were not enough, Talarico also offered his views on the desirability of hastening the end of the industry most associated with Texas. “We all know that Texas has been a leader in oil and gas,” Talarico said, “but in many ways that’s like being the leader in cassette tapes in the 1980s. That industry is not gonna last.”
You will no doubt be shocked to learn that Talarico, now seeking votes statewide in Texas, does not say the same sort of things that he did just a few years ago. “Talarico’s remarks [from 2020] offer a window into the more explicitly progressive language he used before launching a statewide campaign built around affordability, faith, and taking on wealthy interests,” noted CNN, which first reported the 2020 Zoom meeting.
CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski added that, “The Talarico campaign tells CNN his ‘cringey’ past comments ‘missed the mark,’ and he’s a capitalist who supports oil and gas.”
Imagine that! Perhaps a more accurate description of the situation came from the X account Western Lensman, which wrote, “Talarico’s core campaign message is basically ‘don’t believe anything I’ve ever said up until about five minutes ago.’”
The question is whether Talarico’s progressivism, combined with his 2026 makeover, will work in a statewide race in Texas. Well, the last time the state elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate was Lloyd Bentsen in 1988. Many do not expect that to change; there are lots of knowledgeable Texans who will say that no matter how close the race might seem, a Democrat of Talarico’s stripe simply cannot win statewide in Texas. “If you’re running in Berkeley, California, that’s probably a good platform, but thank God Texas is not Berkeley, California,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said on Fox News Tuesday night.
Right now, though, it appears the race is extremely close, with Talarico perhaps a bit in the lead. In the RealClearPolitics average of polls, there are only three since Aug. 1. In one, Talarico led Paxton by 6 points. In another, Paxton led by 1 point. In the third, Talarico led by 3 points. The overall average has Talarico ahead by 1.9 points, well within all the polls’ margins of error.
Meanwhile, some Republican and conservative commentators have spent a good bit of time dumping on Paxton. National Review published a piece headlined, “Everyone is Edging Away from Ken Paxton,” which said a “horrid smell” was “filling the room” in Texas — the “stench of potential electoral doom” brought about by the Paxton campaign.
Conservative radio host Erick Erickson is on an anti-Paxton crusade, writing, “The only thing for which Paxton has ever shown prodigious energy is philandery and possibly corruption. He is a lazy candidate in a heated race, and laziness is not a flaw you can fundraise your way around.”
And so on. But on the other side there was Steve Deace, the longtime Iowa social conservative and talk show host. He began a recent soliloquy on Paxton with this:
Ken Paxton is one of the finest public servants in this country. His work as Texas AG would rank among the most impactful of any statewide elected official in the nation. … He would be a tremendous upgrade as senator, not just for Texas but the country. But he’s also made a mess of his personal life, and the residual impact of that is costing him some support (including financially). So again, anyone that tells you sexual ethics are strictly a private matter is dead wrong. An entire state/country may suffer consequences. Paxton’s personal failing is giving people an objection they otherwise wouldn’t have to an exemplary AG. The Biblical model always requires us to first accept responsibility for our actions, and the role we played in our own situation.
Deace argued that “uniparty” Republicans are the ones bashing Paxton right now, and they would be perfectly happy for him to lose and Talarico to win. (Deace called Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), defeated by Paxton in the GOP primary, a “uniparty stooge.”) If true conservatives don’t vote for Paxton, Deace said, they would give the “uniparty” Republicans “exactly what they want” while at the same time would “permit Democrats to inflict absolutely all their demoniac madness upon you without reservation.” The bottom line, Deace argued, is that true conservatives should vote for Paxton to stop Democratic awfulness.
That was the message Cruz sent in his Tuesday appearance with Fox News’s Laura Ingraham. “Some of the Republicans that are throwing rocks at Ken Paxton, my message to them is: Enough! Stop your b****ing,” Cruz said. Citing previous years in which centrist Republicans urged conservative voters to support centrist nominees, Cruz continued, “My answer to everyone whining: Shut up and support the nominee, and don’t hand Texas over to a communist lunatic.”
Some of that talk might seem over the top to those not steeped in decades of debates inside the Republican Party. But hyperbole aside, the new revelations about James Talarico’s hope to “dismantle” capitalism in the guise of fighting climate change and white supremacy — and that’s on top of all the other extreme views he has expressed — lend weight to the argument of those urging Republicans to hold their nose and vote for Paxton.