Paxton Accuses Talarico of Voter Fraud
in House Seat Switch after Redistricting
Capitol Inside
July 28, 2026
U.S. Senate contender Ken Paxton sought to knock James Talarico off the high road on Tuesday when he claimed that the Democrat had violated state election law by purporting to live at his mother's home in Austin for the sake of establishing residency so he could run for re-election four years ago in a different Texas House district.
After being hammered for a couple of weeks amid accusations of illegal voting after a separation from his wife, the Texas attorney general attempted to turn the tide when he seized on a report in the conservative publication The Federalist as evidence to support the allegations involving Talarico.
Paxton contended that Talarico was still a resident of House District 52 in Williamson County when he claimed to be relocating to Travis County so could be a candidate in House District 50 instead. The state AG said the Democrat used the address where his mother was a resident to seek the HD 52 seat in 2022 when he reportedly was still living in Round Rock.
The district switch was prompted by the Republicans' redistricting effort in 2021 when HD 52 received an infusion of GOP voters in a move designed to put it out of reach for Democrats. Talarico won the HD 52 seat in 2018 when a blue wave carried Democrats to victories in 12 Texas House districts that Republicans were attempting to defend. Democrats flipped two state Senate seats and two congressional districts in the first midterm election on President Donald Trump's watch that year.
"James Talarico has proven he has zero regard for Texans and the rule of law. He's been lying to voters and shamelessly committing election fraud to hold onto power," Paxton argued in a post on X.
The Republican's Senate campaign expressed revulsion about the far-right magazine's report, which it characterized as a "bombshell" in a statement on the social media site.
"It is absolutely disgusting that James Talarico used his mother's address to not only commit voter fraud, but also to defraud his entire constituency, all so he could run in a safe Democrat seat," Paxton spokeswoman Madison Cercy said. "He is a lying politician who has been deceiving voters throughout his time in office, so it should come as no shock that he continues his flip-flop tour across the state of Texas."
The Paxton's camp repugnance may have seemed ironic in light of the long list of laws that the state's top lawyer has been accused of breaking during the past dozen years. Paxton's political history includes criminal securities fraud charges and his impeachment by Texas House Republicans in 2023 on corruption charges linked to a donor and a mistress.
Paxton was accused in recent reports of voting in six separate elections while registered at a home where he no longer lived in the wake of the breakup of his marriage to GOP State Senator Angela Paxton of McKinney.
Texas law requires a candidate for the Legislature to live for at least a year before an election in districts they're running to represent before they can take office. But lawmakers and legislative candidates have been getting around the residency mandate on a regular basis in every election season. While challenges are common, they almost never prevail due to the ambiguity of the requirement and the lack of enforcement authority.
Former State Senator Brian Birdwell of Granbury is one of countless examples. Democrats took Birdwell to court after he won a seat in 2010 - claiming in a federal lawsuit that the Republican had established himself as a resident of Virginia when he voted there in the previous election. A Texas court of appeals ruled in Birdwell's favor despite the grey area.
more to come ...
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