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President Donald Trump again insulted Texas Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, calling him “a pain in the a**” before wondering aloud, “Is he here, by the way?” The president has used similar lines countless times before, including at his Republican midterm convention in Dallas, where he declared, “He may not dress right. He may not talk exactly perfectly, and he may not be the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen, but you know what he is? He’s the greatest attorney general in America, and he deserves to be your next senator.” His latest remarks came as he returned to Denton, Texas,...

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate state Rep. James Talarico has launched a $25 million statewide initiative to reach Black voters six weeks before election day. The initiative is multifaceted and launched as Talarico continues to lead Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in the polls. A Real Clear Politics average of multiple recent polls has Talarico beating Paxton by three points. The once strong Republican seat has been labeled toss-up by Real Clear Politics and other organizations. “There is no way to win Texas without sustained, on-the-ground engagement in Black communities,” Talarico said. His campaign’s plan “further solidifies our commitment to organize...

Ken Paxton, one of the party’s top Senate candidates and a Trump loyalist, said that “everybody’s numbers dropped” after the event, according to audio obtained by The Times. Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for Senate in Texas, told a group of conservative donors and lobbyists last week that President Trump’s midterm convention in Dallas had hurt Mr. Paxton politically, according to an audio recording obtained by The New York Times. The recording, which is muffled at times, captures Mr. Paxton being asked, “Do you feel like he’s a little bit of a drag?” It is not clear from the audio...

Pulse Decision Science poll | 9/24-9/27 LV US Senate Texas 2026 🟥Ken Paxton 48% 🟦James Talarico 45% Tracks polls in upcoming elections. US political news aggregator + posts polls and election results. Occasional political commentary. Non-partisan.

This guy makes the most immature and weird comments while preaching to his far-left church. What a complete flake. November 3rd is going to be a rough day for Texas Democrats. Not even all of their fake voters and cheating is going to push this clown over the finish line. He’s just too weird. Here is James Talarico preaching at his far-left church, St. Andrews Presbyterian, in Austin, Texas. The church posted the video in September 2019. He tells the assembled Christians to follow a prophetic voice like Muhammad, the Dalai Lama, Toni Morrison, or Mr. Rogers. James Talarico: “It...

Attorney General Ken Paxton says he has successfully shut down a Houston “birth tourism” center following his lawsuit against the operation. De’Ai Postpartum Care Center was accused of operating an illegal scheme that imported foreign nationals to give birth for U.S. citizenship. The center catered to Chinese nationals, communicating with clients through Chinese social media and websites. It claimed responsibility for 1,000+ American-born babies. The operation went beyond providing its four residential locations. It “coached foreign nationals on how to evade immigration restrictions, including advising women to apply for visas ‘before pregnancy’ to avoid detection,” according to the Office of...

Outgoing Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said Thursday that he would not vote for Bo French for Texas railroad commissioner following the candidate's "racist comments," which have drawn intense pushback from lawmakers. "He's an embarrassment to the Republican Party, and he's going to drag the whole ticket down because of his racist comments," Cornyn told the Washington Examiner of French, who is running to be Texas' rail commissioner, a statewide position that regulates the state's oil and natural gas production. Cornyn said he was unsure whether he would vote for Democratic candidate Jon Rosenthal: "I may just leave it...

The longtime pastor of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico was recently caught on camera promoting an "inclusive" translation of the Bible that strips the text of gendered language for God, including Jesus' titles as Lord and Son of God. The Rev. Jim Rigby, who has pastored St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) near Austin, Texas, for more than 35 years, discussed The Inclusive Bible with an undercover journalist posing as a prospective new church member, according to video recorded in August and first reported by The Daily Caller. Noting the church typically provides new members with a copy of The...

The House Judiciary Committee, along with the House Administration Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, released an interim staff report on ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising platform. In that report, the Committees found that ActBlue failed to prevent illegal foreign political contributions, and it's being called an "explosive" insight into the organization's practices. Two years ago, the Committees began investigating ActBlue's fraud-prevention practices. In 2024, ActBlue changed its fraud policy twice during the presidential campaign, reportedly implementing "more lenient" standards that let foreign donors and other suspicious donor money flow into U.S. campaigns. Earlier this year, The New...

GOP super PACs have committed more than $40 million to the race over the last week, as the attorney general faces a tight race with Democrat James Talarico. DALLAS — Texas Republican Ken Paxton is getting a major infusion of financial help in his Senate battle with Democrat James Talarico.A new super PAC linked to Senate Republican leadership has purchased at least $32 million in airtime to boost the controversial Republican attorney general, according to the tracking service AdImpact. And President Donald Trump’s super PAC threw $10 million into the race last week.The wave of GOP spending comes as a...

Months after losing the Republican U.S. Senate runoff to Attorney General Ken Paxton, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is still trashing his former opponent—and apparently has no plans to help him raise the money Republicans say is needed to win in November. Cornyn, who lost to Paxton by nearly 30 points in May, went to the liberal Texas Tribune late last week to continue his months-long critique of the candidate who will be at the top of the ballot. “Paxton’s a poor campaigner,” Cornyn said, who lost to Paxton by nearly 30 points in May. “He’s lazy and doesn’t raise money....

🚨 JUST IN: $15 MILLION will now be surged into pro-Ken Paxton ad buys starting TOMORROW, September 1st to defeat James Talarico — POLITICO The CAVALARY has arrived, and more is coming! 🔥 These ad purchases are coming from Lone Star Liberty PAC — MAGA Inc.'s dump is still coming This is the FIRST significant airwaves surge for Paxton's general election. More of this!

An unearthed clip of Democrat candidate James Talarico from an appearance on the Higher Learning podcast in 2025 showed that the progressive agreed with the assessment that Christians are the "villains" of American society. In an episode published on August 5, Van Lathan Jr., host of Higher Learning, went on an extensive rant proclaiming that American Christians nationwide are “villains” and “mean people” who he expected to see “saying something wild,” all while Talarico laughed and nodded in agreement. Talarico then told Lathan Jr. that he didn’t believe that Christianity as “defining someone as a good person” was dead, but...

Here's an ad from Lone Star Liberty PAC that does exactly what is needed against James Talarico -- namely, show him saying crazy stuff.Low T talarico is a far-left liberal who is too weak and too weird for Texas #TXsen pic.twitter.com/FJ6Ca7DoFT— Lone Star Liberty PAC (@LoneStar_PAC) August 26, 2026 For those of you who can't/won't visit X, the transcript of the ad is as follows: Trump: "The Democrats have a weird, a weird candidate." Talarico: "God is nonbinary." Talarico: "There are many more than two biological sexes, in fact, there are six." Talarico (wearing a COVID muzzle): "It is now...

President Trump vowed to spend “a lot of time in Texas” to help his candidate Ken Paxton defeat Democrat James Talarico, who the president bestowed with a new nickname: “Tele-a-freak-o.” “We have a very good candidate, Ken Paxton, and he’s running against Tel-a-freak-o, they call him, because he is a little freaky,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office. Trump has blasted the Democratic contender with numerous insults and repeatedly accused Talarico of being a vegan (which he denies) in a state known for its beef and barbeque. Both parties are heavily invested in the Texas Senate race, seeing...

With under nine weeks to go until early voting begins in Texas’ U.S. Senate race, both Ken Paxton and James Talarico have been campaigning around the state, meeting voters everywhere from restaurants to music halls as they’ve pitched their political visions. But on television, Texans have only seen one of them. Talarico, an Austin state representative, has spent over $25 million on advertising since the general election began in late May, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact — with nearly $10.7 million deployed on broadcast and an additional $8.4 million on streaming devices. (The rest has gone to a combination...

🚨SHOCKING SURGE: Ken Paxton's odds of winning the Texas Senate race have increased SIGNIFICANTLY against James Talarico. Texas - 2026 Senate (odds) 🟥Ken Paxton 53% (+6) 🟦James Talarico 47% Odds via @Kalshi.

A longtime aide to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has joined Democrat James Talarico’s Senate campaign as he tries to defeat Republican nominee Ken Paxton in Texas. Jacob Smith, who spent five years working for Cornyn as a deputy legislative director and policy adviser, is now serving as Talarico’s deputy policy director, according to NOTUS. “I’ve worked for Republicans like Senator Cornyn my entire career, but this year I’m proud to be joining James Talarico’s campaign,” Smith said in a statement released by the campaign. Smith said Talarico focuses on issues affecting working Texans rather than partisan politics and argued the...

This video provides an analysis of the 2026 Texas elections, focusing on why Republicans remain the favorites to win both the U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races, despite the state's shifting demographics. U.S. Senate Race (0:57 - 8:24) Candidates: The race features Republican Ken Paxton versus Democrat James Talerico. The Forecast: While some polls show a tight race, the video argues these often underestimate Republican strength (as seen in past election results). Forecast models currently give Ken Paxton a significant advantage (79.6%) with a projected average win of 5.4%. Historical Context: Republicans have maintained dominance in Texas Senate elections since 1990,...

Democrat U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico now says he does not support gender mutilation surgery for minors—but when Texas lawmakers voted to prohibit the procedures, Talarico voted no.Talarico voted against Senate Bill 14, legislation prohibiting physicians from performing gender-mutilation surgeries on minors as well as prescribing sterilizing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for the purpose of changing a child’s biological sex. The measure was ultimately approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott.Talarico’s legislative record also includes another vote involving insurance coverage for gender-mutilation procedures and the consequences of those treatments. In 2025, Talarico voted against...