Paxton Team Says He'll Debate Talarico
after Dem Predicts AG Will Be No-Show
Capitol Inside
July 16, 2026
Texas Republican Ken Paxton's camp swatted away taunts from the opposition on Thursday when it indicated that the U.S. Senate contender for the GOP would agree to square off with Democratic foe James Talarico in at least one of three debates that have been proposed for the showdown.
"Of course we are going to debate James Talarico and we look forward to engaging with potential debate hosts," Paxton advisor Nick Maddux told WFAA - the ABC affiliate in Dallas where it would host one of the events to which both Senate nominee have been invited to participate.
"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."
Talarico had predicted earlier this morning that Paxton would refuse to face off with him in a debate based on the state attorney general's history as a candidate. A debate that's televised live across the state would put Paxton in position to face questions on subjects that he has refuse to publicly acknowledge like a deal that sprung a convicted child sex offender from prison early after he'd received a life sentence.
"Ken Paxton’s billionaire handlers won’t let him answer questions in public," Talarico said in a post on X. "It’s why he hasn’t debated in over a decade. But I want him to prove me wrong. I’m challenging Ken Paxton to three televised debates."
The debates that have been proposed for the U.S. Senate nominees in Texas would be host by Nexstar Media Group and NBCUniversal with Hearst Texas. NBCUniversal and Hearst have offered to conduct a series of debates for the state's second most important race this year with Governor Greg Abbott and Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa.
Hinojosa accepted an invite to the gubernatorial debates the moment it was offered and prodded the third-term incumbent to follow her lead on that. Abbott has been mum, however, on the prospects for showing up for a debate in which he may have little or nothing to gain if he remains a five or six point favorite in the polling.
But the Texas Senate contest is a different story - with Talarico and Paxton running even in the polls that have been taken since the AG ousted longtime incumbent John Cornyn in a primary runoff election in May. Paxton would be giving Talarico twice as long to make his case before a statewide audience if the AG was a no-show at a debate.
Paxton - on the other hand - would be exposing himself publicly to questions that he's dodged up to now on highly delicate issues like a plea bargain his office arranged for Waco attorney Adam Hoffman, who'd received life behind bars before getting off with a brief stay in the county jail thanks to the AG office's intervention on his behalf.
Paxton also would leave himself open to questions on his close association with President Donald Trump and plan to have the nation's leader at center stage in his campaign for the Senate. That could be a dangerous double-edge sword for the Republican AG if the president's popularity is still at an all-time low with the possibility of falling even more in the midst of an economic affordability crisis that could deepen as a consequence of a war with Iran that Trump has been content to drag out after promising a quick end initially.
Paxton could expect questions at a debate on the Epstein files, which Talarico has been comparing to the AG's involvement in the Hoffman case. The AG would be open to questions on a deadly ICE shooting in Houston that prompted the federal agency to halt random traffic stops on Tuesday before Trump reversed the move the following day.
But Paxton could also be quizzed in a debate about a broken marriage that his wife - State Senator Angela Paxton of McKinney - is seeking to end with a divorce lawsuit that she filed last year amid allegations of adultery. Paxton would get a chance during a debate to explain why he spent the Fourth of July in London with a girlfriend while most Americans were celebrating the nation's 250th anniversary.
Talarico would use a debate as a stage to press Paxton on accusations that he's become a wealthy man on a government salary. The Democrat would hammer Paxton on his impeachment in the Texas House in 2023 in a move that the GOP leadership engineered before his subsequent acquittal by Senate Republicans in a trial over which Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick presided after accepting $3 million from Christian nationalist mega-donor Tim Dunn in the form of a contribution and loan.
Talarico - in contrast - would expect questions on his alleged support for boys in girls sports, an ostensible affinity for transgender individuals, a reputed disdain for meat and weird comments he'd made early in his career as a state representative like claiming that God is non-binary. The Democratic Senate nominee would likely face questions during a debate on Patrick's assertion that Talarico hates Christianity and is going to hell as a result of quotes on religion.
A debate would give Talarico an opportunity to clarify his feelings on Christianity as someone who's in the process of becoming a Presbyterian minister.
The guess here is that Paxton will find a way to avoid a confrontation with Talarico on a stage before a television audience. That would be a high-stakes gamble that the AG may see as a necessity for survival.
more to come ...
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