Talarico leads Paxton in Texas by 4 points: Poll

Texas Democratic state Rep. James Talarico leads his Republican opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, by 4 percentage points in a poll in the U.S. Senate race released Thursday.

The AARP poll , which was conducted among likely Texas voters, found 48 percent supported the Democratic candidate while 44 percent backed the Republican candidate in the contest.

While Talarico garnered broader support in the survey, Paxton led the state lawmaker by 13 percentage points among Texas voters aged 50 years or older.

Older state voters also supported Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in his reelection bid against his Democratic opponent, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa. Abbott had a 21-point lead among voters 50 years or older and a 3-point lead overall in the survey.

Older voters are historically the most engaged in elections. In the Texas Senate primary earlier this year, voters 50 years or older cast 55 percent of the ballots in the Democratic race and 78 percent of the ballots in the GOP race, according to the Austin American-Statesman .

Talarico has pulled ahead of Paxton in several recent surveys, posting a 5-point lead in a YouGov survey released last week and a 6-point lead in a poll sponsored by Texas Public Opinion Research from the end of August.

An Emerson College survey conducted among Texas voters early last month found Paxton polling 1 percentage point ahead of Talarico, with the Republican at 47 percent and the Democrat at 46 percent.

The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election forecaster, shifted its rating in this race from “Lean Republican” to a “Toss Up” after Paxton defeated incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in the GOP primary runoff this spring.

Talarico has strived to cast himself as a moderate option in the race, telling CNN’s Alayna Treene on Thursday that he aims to “live up to” Cornyn’s “track record of service” in the Senate if elected this fall.

“Those are big shoes to fill, metaphorically and literally, but I hope to do my best to continue his legacy of service to Texas,” the Democrat said.

Paxton, who is endorsed by President Trump, criticized his Democratic opponent’s past comments about religion and transgender athletes during his speech at the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention Wednesday evening.

“This guy is really obsessed with transitions,” Paxton told the crowd, claiming that Talarico wanted to “transition your kids” and “transition Texas off of oil and gas.”

The state attorney general added, “How about we transition him and his crazy ideas right out of Texas?”

Talarico said in a Wednesday interview with Fox News that he would not support transgender athletes playing in women’s sports.

The AARP poll was conducted among 895 likely Texas voters from Aug. 30 to Sept. 1 with a margin of error of approximately 3.3 percentage points.