Paxton’s Campaign Says He Will Debate Talarico in Texas U.S. Senate Race

The Texas Tribune

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign said he would debate state Rep. James Talarico in Texas’ U.S. Senate race after Talarico challenged him to do so Thursday morning.

Talarico, the Democratic nominee, said he had accepted invitations from three Texas media groups for televised debates and urged Paxton, who has not participated in debates in recent elections, to do the same.

“I’ll be on that debate stage because I answer to the people of Texas,” Talarico said in a statement. “Ken Paxton answers to his billionaire mega-donors. We’ll see if they let him show up.”

Despite the quip, Talarico has far outpaced Paxton in fundraising, raising over $70 million — more than four times Paxton’s roughly $17 million over the same period.

The Paxton campaign confirmed it had received the same debate invitations as Talarico. While the Republican did not commit to a specific host, his campaign said the attorney general plans to debate.

“Of course we are going to debate James Talarico and we look forward to engaging with potential debate hosts,” Paxton senior adviser Nick Maddux said in a statement. “Talarico is a serial liar who has spent his entire campaign shamelessly deceiving Texas voters about his radical record with[out] answering the hard questions.”

The two are running in a highly competitive U.S. Senate race that has drawn immense interest and brought record fundraising to the Lone Star State, where a Democrat has not won a statewide race in over three decades. Polls show a tight contest between the two, with most surveyssince the runoff finding the candidates locked in a statistical tie. 

Paxton has historically campaigned — and won — without participating in debates.

The attorney general beat Sen. John Cornyn and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt for the Republican nomination earlier this year in a contest that featured no debates between the candidates. In 2022, Paxton declined to participate in a primary debate with his Republican challengers for attorney general. He went on to win the primary and the general election. Paxton did not accept his Democratic opponent’s invitation to debate en route to a narrow victory in 2018, and similarly rejected a general election debate in 2014 during his first run for attorney general.

Talarico criticized Paxton for his history of not debating, saying that he “won’t answer the public’s questions because he’s not a public servant — he’s a puppet.”

“James Talarico isn’t just out of touch,” Maddux said. “He’s a dangerous radical whose record and agenda is so toxic and extreme that he has to hide it behind carefully scripted lies. We look forward to voters getting to learn about the real James Talarico.”