Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign said Friday that he will debate Democratic nominee James Talarico in Texas’ U.S. Senate race after Talarico publicly challenged him to participate in televised debates.
Talarico said he accepted debate invitations from three Texas media organizations and urged Paxton, who has skipped debates in recent statewide campaigns, to join him on stage.
“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.”
Paxton’s senior adviser, Nick Maddux, confirmed the campaign received the same invitations but did not commit to a specific debate host.
“Of course we are going to debate James Talarico and we look forward to engaging with potential debate hosts,” Maddux said. He accused Talarico of misleading voters and said the Democrat would face questions about his record.
Talarico has accepted invitations from Nexstar Media Group and KXAN News, NBC News/NBC Universal/Hearst Texas, and WFAA/Tegna.
The race is expected to be one of the state’s most competitive in decades, with recent polls showing Paxton and Talarico statistically tied. Paxton did not participate in debates during his successful campaigns for attorney general in 2014, 2018 and 2022, or in this year’s Republican Senate primary.
Both campaigns signaled they would use a debate to highlight opposing records, with Talarico focusing on Paxton’s legal controversies and Paxton’s campaign targeting Talarico’s positions on transgender athletes, taxation, Christianity and the oil and gas industry.
