Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton lashed out at state Rep. James Talarico in a new campaign ad as both candidates seek to become the state’s next senator.
The ad slams Talarico by revealing him to be a radical leftist who is out of touch with Texas values. It intercuts footage of the Democratic candidate with scenes of a family at dinner, drag queen story hours, oil fields and pipelines, and a gas pump showing prices over $4 per gallon. The spot points out how Talarico pushes transgender ideology in schools, destroying jobs in the energy sector, and raising taxes and prices in a way that harms families.
NEW: @KenPaxtonTX is airing a new ad in Corpus Christi during the Texas Democrat Convention targeting @jamestalarico as a “hypocrite."
— Brandon Waltens (@bwaltens) June 25, 2026
The ad highlights his past votes on women’s sports, taxes, and his comments on climate and Christianity. pic.twitter.com/pByUtv1JMr
Talarico’s numbers surged after he won the Democratic Senate nomination. But since then, Paxton and Republicans have attacked him with a flurry of his previously stated views on gender ideology, taxes, and other matters.
The candidate has made transgender issues one of his primary issues over his years as a politician and has often pushed for the embrace of gender ideology in schools. During a 2021 speech on the Texas House floor he opposed a bill prohibiting biological males in girls sports. “Trans children are God’s children, made in God’s own image,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with them. Nothing at all. They are perfect. They are beautiful and they are sacred.”
He has also stated that “God is nonbinary.”
HOST: "Something that you love that's not family or friends?"
— Brandon Gill (@realBrandonGill) March 9, 2026
TALARICO: "Trans children."
Now that's just creepy.pic.twitter.com/3VBAVPv4o1
Talarico has also backed strict energy industry-killing climate policies. He’s praised activist groups seeking to phase out fossil fuels. In a June 2024 video with a climate group pushing for the government to force 100 percent renewable energy, the candidate called their work “the most important work in the most important time in the most important place.”
He has also authored bills to make deep cuts to greenhouse gas by 2050 that would have forced major changes in the fossil fuel industry. This could have endangered hundreds of thousands of Texas jobs.
TALARICO: “God is nonbinary.” In The New Yorker, he called Christianity “the most violent” religion in history. On a podcast, he described Jesus Christ as a “socialist anarchist from ancient Palestine” and called himself a “fan boy” of the transqueer theologian interviewing him.
— Leftists: CHAOS & VIOLENCE (@DeplorableRUBE) June 26, 2026
The candidate has also voted against tax relief and pushed for raising taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations. He even voted against a constitutional ban on a state income tax and against a measure that would require voter approval before local property tax increases.
On the campaign trail, he said, "I absolutely think that billionaires need to pay their fair share in taxes.”
However, his record shows he also wants taxes to be higher on ordinary Texans.