Katy, Texas (CNN) — In one of his first rallies since winning President Donald Trump’s endorsement in his Senate race, Ken Paxton told the crowd he wanted to try something new.
The Democratic nominee, James Talarico, Paxton said, would be the “most radical US senator from Texas, maybe in the whole country, ever, so I wanted to test a few nicknames tonight and see if you can help me.”
The suggestions from the audience started flowing as Paxton passed the mic around. “Low-T Talarico.” “Tofu Talarico.” “Tala-freak-o.”
“Soy boy!” a man yelled out unprompted.
The food references came from an already burgeoning Republican talking point — that Talarico is a vegan, which he isn’t. Yet Paxton brought it up repeatedly, delighting a packed crowd of supporters inside a suburban Houston barbecue spot as waiters shuttled back and forth from the kitchen with heaping plates of brisket, sausage and ribs.
“We know that James Talarico would never come here because he doesn’t eat any of that stuff,” Paxton said. “We never had a US senator who didn’t eat meat, especially Texas barbecue.”
Talarico was, in a word, “unqualified” to represent Texas, according to Paxton.
The scene showed how Paxton is already pivoting to the general election ahead of Tuesday’s primary runoff with incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. Paxton — and Trump — are previewing a furious wave of attacks and mockery for Talarico, as Republicans prepare to rally around the scandal-scarred state attorney general and work to keep the spotlight on the Democrat instead.
As Paxton spoke at Midway BBQ in Katy, TVs in the room showed Fox News replaying Trump’s comments earlier in the day declaring that Talarico “can’t get elected as a vegan in Texas.” Trump also called Talarico “a weird — a weird — candidate,” a comment that quickly made it into an ad from a pro-Paxton group.
Republicans have also repeatedly brought up Talarico’s 2021 comment during a state legislative debate that “modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes. In fact, there are six.” One of the patrons at Midway BBQ took the mic to call Talarico “six-gender Jimmy.”
The Republican strategy is reminiscent of 2018 — another midterm year with Trump in power — when Sen. Ted Cruz found himself in a tougher-than-expected race with Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke and sought to rouse the GOP base with sustained personal ridicule of O’Rourke. Cruz also denigrated O’Rourke in terms that carnivorous Texans could relate to, calling him a “Triple Meat Whataburger liberal.”
Talarico has established himself as a formidable threat much sooner than O’Rourke did. And if he wins Tuesday, Paxton enters the general election campaign after Cornyn and national Republicans spent tens of millions of dollars airing allegations of corruption and adultery against him.
Trump’s endorsement of Paxton instantly made him the front-runner in the runoff. Paxton told CNN in an interview outside of the barbecue joint that he was “ready to unite” with Washington Republicans.
Cornyn has kept up his warnings that Paxton would be an albatross for the GOP in November. He told supporters Friday in Corpus Christi that he proudly supports Trump but that “Texans get to choose our senator and no one else.”
If Paxton becomes the GOP nominee, Democrats are cautiously optimistic about the party’s chances of winning their first Senate election in Texas since 1988. Yet as Paxton held his final rallies of the runoff across the state late last week, it was hard to find any supporter who could fathom that Texans would elect Talarico.
Blaine Minazzi, a 67-year-old retired IT engineer who supports Paxton, said he started researching Talarico and his positions after seeing a few yard signs earlier this year. His reaction, he said, was, “Oh, hell no.”
“He’s not the kind of guy that would by vying” for my support, Minazzi said, seeming to sum up their vastly different worldviews in the parlance of diet. “I want steak; this guy wants sushi.”
Republicans found new fodder for the narrative more recently after Talarico visited a taco shop in Austin with former President Barack Obama and ordered two potato, egg and cheese tacos, a common breakfast taco combo that is nonetheless meat-free — though not vegan.
To some of Talarico’s supporters, the GOP fixation with Talarico’s diet is already exhausting. One Talarico backer, Julie Lewis, rolled her eyes and sighed Thursday before a reporter could finish asking a question about the topic.
“That is the dumbest damn thing I’ve ever heard,” said Lewis, a 62-year-old retiree from San Antonio, where she was voting early. “What difference does it make what he eats? I don’t care what he eats. I care about his principles. And these other men have no moral compass.”
“It’s just an example of how stupid Trump is and how stupid Trump thinks people are,” she added.
How Talarico is approaching the beef
Talarico has responded lightheartedly to the vegan allegations, which stem from a resurfaced 2022 clip in which he talked about reducing meat consumption and running a “non-meat” campaign for the state House. His campaign did issue an “Official Statement from James Talarico on Vegan Accusations” that consisted entirely of a picture of him taking a bite out of a turkey leg at the State Fair of Texas.
As for his strategy in the general election, Talarico has signaled that he may aim more broadly than Paxton as he looks to build a far-reaching coalition. He sought to take on Paxton during the primary by unveiling an anti-corruption agenda outside the attorney general’s office, but more recently appeared outside a private jet terminal in Houston to call for closing “billionaire tax loopholes.” He did not mention Paxton during four minutes of remarks.
While Democratic groups in Washington responded to Trump’s endorsement of Paxton by rehashing Paxton’s scandals, Talarico released a statement that was far more restrained.
“James is building a people-powered movement to take on this broken, corrupt political system — not any one politician, not any one political party, but the billionaire mega-donors and puppet politicians who have made life more expensive for Texans while enriching themselves,” Talarico campaign spokesman JT Ennis said in a statement for this story.
A pro-Talarico super PAC, Lone Star Rising PAC, plans to “aggressively expose the failures and corruption of whoever wins the Republican nomination,” the group’s director, Garry Jones, said in a statement.
Since triumphing over Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the March 3 primary, Talarico has spent considerable time trying to unite Texas Democrats, especially the Black voters who overwhelmingly supported her. He has met with prominent Black leaders including Fort Worth civil rights activist Opal Lee, who led the movement to make Juneteenth a national holiday.
He delivered the commencement address at Paul Quinn College in Dallas, the oldest historically Black college in Texas, and released a plan to tackle maternal mortality, an issue that disproportionately affects Black women.
In one hint at a general-election strategy, Talarico sought last month to drive a wedge between state GOP leaders and Trump by embracing Trump’s call for suspending the federal gas tax. The call was echoed by the Democratic nominee for governor, Gina Hinojosa, who held a news conference in Austin on Thursday to demand Gov. Greg Abbott fulfill his long-running promise to get reimbursement from the federal government for the billions of dollars Texas has spent on border security.
“Ken Paxton could be suing for our money too,” she said, signaling how Democratic candidates beyond Talarico could loop him into attacks if he is the GOP nominee.
While some Democrats have scoffed at Paxton’s early broadsides against Talarico, others say the party must be clear-eyed about the stakes of the race.
Lauren Miller, an abortion rights activist who sued Paxton after she was denied care under the state’s abortion ban, said Texas Democrats should take Paxton “extremely seriously,” adding that he is “willing to bend the law” to advance his conservative agenda and political career.
“It’s almost a terrifying prospect to have him anywhere close to another office where he has any level of responsibility,” Miller said. “Just quite frankly, supervising paint dry is too much power for some as corrupt and extreme as Ken Paxton.”
After voting early Thursday in San Antonio, one Talarico supporter, Steven Holt, urged the candidate to stay the course and “hammer” Paxton on corruption. Holt, a 30-year-old local college student, added that people who are worked up about Talarico ordering a potato, egg and cheese taco probably were not planning on voting him to begin with.
“I think that’s a very normal thing to order,” Holt said. “People who think that isn’t a normal thing aren’t ordering tacos on the regular.”
Paxton supporters are confident
Now, Paxton’s supporters see the runoff as his to lose.
Paxton told CNN in an interview he would welcome Trump to campaign with him in Texas during a general election — notable given the president’s sagging approval rating with Texas voters — and that he would “absolutely” debate Talarico.
Despite that, Paxton’s supporters see little reason for a competitive general election. Some proactively acknowledged his scandals — or “shaky ethics,” as one put it — but expressed confidence Paxton would persevere.
Ryan Fontenot, a 62-year-old retiree from Converse, said that “maybe in normal times Paxton’s baggage might’ve hurt him.”
“I think the momentum is behind people like Paxton right now who are really, really supporting President Trump,” Fontenot said, speaking after voting early. “I think that’s going to carry him over, especially because of who he’s likely to be running against. I don’t think he’s very strong at all.”
Yet there were some signs of GOP anxiety as Paxton closed out his campaigning for the runoff. At the Katy rally, a local Trump-endorsed congressional candidate, Trever Nehls, warned the crowd that there is “a long road ahead” to November.
“We all know there have been some very contentious primaries,” Nehls said. “Some folks probably a little emotional if their candidates did not win, but the way to lose an election is not unite behind the conservative Republican.”
At a rally for Paxton on Thursday in San Antonio, another Trump-endorsed House contender, Brandon Herrera, said he was encouraged to see such a large turnout because “one of the biggest things we’re going to be fighting this cycle is voter apathy.”
Paxton filled rooms with over 150 people at each stop in Katy and San Antonio. In Katy, the crowd applauded and cheered for nearly half a minute when he first mentioned his Trump endorsement. “I love Donald Trump,” Paxton said.
To such audiences, Paxton’s controversies — and the electoral risks that go with them — are an acceptable price to pay.
“I know they’re saying scandals, but you know what? There’s been Bill Clinton, there’s been a lot of presidents that had scandals,” said Nancy Tatum, a 57-year-old Paxton supporter, after voting early Thursday in San Antonio. “We’re all imperfect. As long as his values line up with mine, I’m OK with that.”
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