How a Talarico vs. Paxton Fox News Debate Could Look - Newsweek

Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico has challenged his Republican rival, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, to a televised debate on Fox News hosted by Bret Baier, the network's chief political anchor.

Talarico, a member of the Texas House of Representatives, made the suggestion on Thursday during a panel at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin. Democrats are hoping to flip the Senate in November, and winning a seat in Texas, a traditional Republican stronghold, would be a major coup for the party.

At the festival, Talarico accused Paxton of "dodging debates all year," adding that Paxton's team had "declined three different invitations from local Texas TV stations."

The Democrat continued: "So let's go to Ken Paxton's safe space. Let's do Bret Baier on Fox News. I'll go into the lion's den."

In July, Paxton's senior campaign adviser, Nick Maddux, said, "Of course we are going to debate James Talarico," but no such event has been scheduled.

Newsweek has considered what a debate between Paxton and Talarico could look like, including the likely central issues and which candidate could have the advantage.

The Paxton and Talarico senate campaigns were contacted for comment on Friday via email outside regular office hours.

A Texas Politics Project survey of 1,200 registered Texas voters, conducted August 5-13, found inflation was the biggest concern among respondents at 19 percent, followed by political corruption/leadership at 15 percent. The economy and immigration were joint third with 10 percent each.

According to a YouGov poll of 1,596 U.S. adults, conducted September 11-14, 41 percent of voters think the Democrats would do a better job of handling the economy versus 37 percent for the Republicans.

Trump in particular has been hit by persistently high inflation, which critics attribute to his war with Iran and tariff policy. There's no reason to think the Democratic advantage on the economy doesn't extend to Texas, so this one goes to Talarico.

Political corruption and leadership were the second biggest concern of Texan voters, according to the Texas Politics Project survey.

Paxton has been dogged by a series of scandals that have made him controversial even within the Texas Republican Party.

In May 2023, the GOP-dominated Texas House voted to impeach Paxton on allegations of abuse of public trust and unfitness for office. Paxton was found not guilty by the state Senate and denied any wrongdoing. Still, the controversy has been damaging.

Outgoing Republican Senator John Cornyn, the four-term incumbent Paxton defeated in a May primary runoff, has said he will not campaign for the attorney general, whom he previously described as a "known con man and fraud."

Earlier this week, Republican state Senator Angela Paxton, who filed for divorce from the attorney general in July 2025 "on biblical grounds," urged Republican women to vote for the party "even if we're mad at them."

In February, Paxton's campaign released a video in which his daughter Mattie Hayworth said: "My dad is a really good guy. Loves God. He loves his family and he loves this country."

A Univision/YouGov survey of 1,000 registered Texan voters, conducted from August 27 to September 4, found 49 percent of respondents approved of Trump's handing of immigration, while 46 percent disapproved.

Trump's second presidential term has seen illegal crossings of the U.S.-Mexico border fall to a 55-year low.

According to a Texas Public Opinion Research poll of 1,048 likely Texas voters, conducted July 15-17, 77 percent of Democrats and even 63 percent of Republicans support Medicaid expansion in the Lone Star State.

Talarico has campaigned heavily on health care access. On his campaign website, he vows to "fight tooth and nail against attacks on Medicare and Social Security," including by ensuring "the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share into Social Security by eliminating the tax cap on those earning over $400,000 a year."

If a debate takes place, Paxton could challenge Talarico on past comments he has made about Christianity, in a state where the Pew Research Center found 67 percent of residents identify as Christian and 27 percent as evangelicals.

Speaking to the Texas House in 2021, Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian, said, "God is nonbinary." He added, "God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between."

Appearing on the Activist Theology podcast that same year, Talarico said: "I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity," adding, "I always get drawn back into it because nowhere else, in no other political philosophy, in no other economic theory, do I find anything as truly radical or revolutionary as the teachings of that barefoot rabbi."

Earlier this month, Paxton shared an AI-generated clip of Talarico referring to himself as "a Christian who hates Christianity" without the state lawmaker's additional remarks.

Talarico is now leading Paxton in polls conducted by eight different pollsters—though several are within the margin of error, making them too close to call.

An Emerson College survey, conducted September 12-14, gave Talarico a 1-point lead with 47 percent of the vote to Paxton's 46 percent. The poll surveyed 1,000 voters with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Between August 30 and September 1, AARP surveyed 895 likely voters, giving Talarico a 4-point lead with a 3.3-point margin of error. Similarly a YouGov/Univision poll of 1,000 registered voters that took place between August 27 and September 4 put Talarico ahead by 5 points, with a 3.6-point margin of error.

On Thursday, Paxton wrote on X: "Talarico's fave drag queen grooms children, called a 10-year-old his 'mini-me,' and pushes child drag shows. Talarico headlined a 2021 Pride event with an 11-year-old drag kid."

Alyssa Edwards, who Talarico said was "probably" his favorite drag queen, fired back accusing Paxton of "attempting to disparage my name, my character, or my reputation."

Speaking at a rally in Cypress, Texas, on Monday, Paxton appeared to criticize the federal government, saying, "Everything costs more, and nobody in Washington seems to have cared or noticed."

Talarico, meanwhile, spoke out against ICE's shooting of Wilber Perez while appearing on MS NOW's Morning Joe and later wrote on X: "ICE shot Wilber Perez in the back. Now, Wilber can't move the left side of his body. How does paralyzing a DoorDash driver make anyone more safe?"

Talarico has dramatically outraised Paxton by $31.6 million to $9.3 million, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission quarterly filings.

The filing showed Paxton received $5 million from MAGA Inc., the main pro-Trump political action committee, in addition to $10 million that was already committed and spent with the Virginia-based political communications firm Del Ray Media for campaign ads.

Democrats are hoping to flip both the House and Senate in November, with their control of either chamber likely to significantly constrain Trump's ability to pass legislation during the final two years of his second term. There are 53 Republican senators against 45 Democrats and two independents who caucus with the party. Texas hasn't elected a Democratic senator since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988, meaning a Talarico win would be a major boost for his party.

As of September 24, election analytics website Race to the White House gave Democrats a 70.5 percent chance of winning a Senate majority in November, against 29.5 percent for the Republicans.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Cannon and Shakeema Edwards.