State of Texas: Paxton and Talarico in their own words

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AUSTIN (Nexstar) – At the Republican party’s first-ever midterm convention, President Donald Trump called upon attendees in Dallas to support Ken Paxton in the upcoming Texas senatorial race.

“I’ll be coming back to Texas because we have to elect Ken Paxton. We have to,” Trump said Wednesday at the convention.

Before the President spoke, RNC convention attendees heard from Paxton himself in a speech where he discussed tax deductions and “standing up for Texans” on affordability.

In late July, Paxton unveiled his Protecting the Texas Promise plan , which includes economic relief for first-time homebuyers, tax deductions on healthy living, healthcare expense tax relief, and doubling the child tax credit. He elaborated on this plan at Wednesday’s convention.

“I want every Texan to be able to buy a home, raise their family, and live a healthy life. That’s why I unveiled the Protecting the Texas Promise plan to put thousands of dollars back in your pocket,” Paxton said.

“So what does that mean for your family? It means you can own a home with a landmark $50,000 down payment tax deduction. It means a $25,000 tax deduction for medical expenses because no family should go bankrupt just for getting sick. And it means a healthy living tax deduction for gym memberships, nutrition plans, and yes, even doctor-prescribed GLP-1’s,” Paxton explained.

Paxton also took stabs at his opponent, James Talarico, warning Republicans about what he called Talarico’s radical policies.

“He is a democratic socialist who never met a tax increase he didn’t love. As a matter of fact, he voted to tax your income in Texas. We all love that. He wants to tax your tips. He wants to tax your overtime. And he even wants to tax your Social Security. California already has two senators. It doesn’t need a third,” Paxton said.

Talarico touts affordability plans, willingness to work with Trump to help Texans

While Republicans rallied at the convention near downtown Dallas, Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico led events in the area to spotlight his campaign. On Wednesday, his campaign held a “Love Thy Neighbor” food drive that Talarico said collected over 20,000 pounds of groceries to donate to Texas families.

“I believe in servant leadership. That’s what my faith teaches me, putting others before self,” Talarico told Nexstar Washington Correspondent Vinay Simlot, as he stood in front of a pile of donated food.

Talarico challenged Paxton’s claims that he would push to raise taxes for Texans across the board.

“I only want to raise taxes on the wealthiest people in this country, on the top 1%. I want to cut taxes for middle class and working class Texans,” Talarico said.

Talarico also discussed plans to tackle affordability if elected to the Senate in November.

“Day one, we could repeal these corrupt tariffs so we can drive down grocery prices. We could repeal the federal gas tax and the federal diesel tax, which would drop the price of gas by 18 cents a gallon immediately. We could reverse these corrupt political deals that are driving up health care costs across our state,” Talarico said.

Talarico also said he plans to work alongside Republicans if elected, including President Trump, to create policies that benefit Texans.

“I look forward to working with President Trump to deliver for the people of Texas. He and I agree on certain issues when it comes to affordability, lowering housing costs. importing cheaper drugs from Canada so that we can cut prescription drug costs. Those are areas that we agree on and I will work with the President to deliver for the people of this state,” Talarico said.

Abbott’s campaign attack on Hinojosa signifies new stage of midterm races

State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, won the Democratic nomination for Texas Governor on March 3. It took 189 days for the campaign of three-term Republican Governor Greg Abbott to mention his opponent by name.

“Radical Gina would rather trans your kids than protect them, educate them, or prepare them for a successful future,” Texans for Abbott Press Secretary Eduardo Leal said in a statement. “Hinojosa is a rubber stamp for the Socialist Democrats and their gender insanity,” the statement added.

Tuesday morning’s news release attacked Hinojosa’s voting record on transgender issues, including against a 2023 bill to bar doctors from performing certain gender transitioning medical procedures on minors.

With 41 days until the start of early voting, Abbott is polling worse than he has in previous elections. Some Democrats believe his change of focus shows panic.

“Some may see this as bad… but this is good,” U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, said on social media. “If he’s attacking that means he’s nervous. People attack or mention an opponent when there’s a problem.”

Republican political strategist and data analyst Ross Hunt, who runs Hunt Research , feels Abbott isn’t in danger of losing — and that Hinojosa’s team shouldn’t be quick to celebrate.

“(Mentioning her) is not a sign of weakness,” he said, “but something that should make the Hinojosa camp worried.”

Jim Henson, a politics professor at the University of Texas and the Director of the Texas Politics Project, says there’s also one other factor — the calendar.

“It’s after Labor Day,” he said, “the campaign is going.”

Supreme Court ruling could help Paxton close fundraising gap to Talarico

While the race for U.S. Senate in Texas is expected to be close, the race for campaign donations, so far, has been one-sided. Federal Election Commission filings from the end of June show the campaign of Democrat James Talarico raised about $66 million. Ken Paxton’s campaign raised about $9 million.

But Paxton could benefit from a recent Supreme Court ruling. In June, the Court’s conservative justices struck down a 50-year-old federal election law that limited how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates running for the presidency or seats in Congress. The justices ruled those limits violate the First Amendment.

That ruling likely gives Republicans like Paxton an edge. The GOP currently holds a sizable national fundraising advantage and tends to have more big money donors. Campaigns like Talarico’s tend to rely on higher numbers of smaller donations.