WASHINGTON — Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign said he would debate state Rep. James Talarico in Texas’ U.S. Senate race after Talarico challenged him to do so Thursday morning.
Talarico, the Democratic nominee, said he had accepted invitations from Texas media groups for three televised debates and urged Paxton, who has not participated in debates in recent elections, to do the same.
“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.”
The Paxton campaign confirmed it had received the same debate invitations as Talarico. While the Republican did not commit to a specific host, his campaign said the attorney general plans to debate.
“Of course we are going to debate James Talarico and we look forward to engaging with potential debate hosts,” Paxton senior adviser Nick Maddux said in a statement. “Talarico is a serial liar who has spent his entire campaign shamelessly deceiving Texas voters about his radical record with[out] answering the hard questions.”
So far, Talarico has accepted invitations from NBC/Telemundo/Hearst Texas, WFAA/TEGNA, and KXAN News and Nexstar Media Group. On July 29, Talarico’s campaign announced the media groups had settled on dates and locations for the debates and that he remained on board with doing all three. The details are as follows:
- NBC/Telemundo/Hearst Texas: Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. CT in the Rio Grande Valley
- WFAA/TEGNA: Oct. 6 at 8 p.m. CT in Dallas
- KXAN/Nexstar: Oct. 13 at 9 p.m. CT in Austin
In a new statement, Maddux said the Paxton campaign was “close to terms with one outlet now and expect an announcement to be forthcoming shortly.”
“What we won’t do is negotiate through Talarico’s press shop or let him hand-pick a moderator whose politics match his own nor would we expect him to enter a debate with us where a moderator matches our own politics,” Maddux said. He appeared to suggest Paxton only planned to participate in one debate, continuing, “There will be a debate in this race, and it will be must-watch television because Texans are finally going to hear James Talarico answer for” the litany of progressive stances on which Paxton has attacked him during the campaign.
The two are running in a highly competitive U.S. Senate race that has drawn immense interest and brought record fundraising to the Lone Star State, where a Democrat has not won a statewide race in over three decades. Polls show a tight contest between the two, with most surveys since the runoff finding the candidates locked in a statistical tie.
Paxton has historically campaigned — and won — without participating in debates.
The attorney general beat Sen. John Cornyn and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt for the Republican nomination earlier this year in a contest that featured no debates between the candidates. In 2022, Paxton declined to participate in a primary debate with his Republican challengers for attorney general. He went on to win the primary and the general election. Paxton did not accept his Democratic opponent’s invitation to debate en route to a narrow victory in 2018, and similarly rejected a general election debate in 2014 during his first run for attorney general.
Talarico criticized Paxton for his history of not debating, saying that he “won’t answer the public’s questions because he’s not a public servant — he’s a puppet.”
Both campaigns previewed the lines of attack they would bring to a debate stage, mirroring the ones they’ve pursued while on the campaign trail this summer.
Talarico’s campaign said he plans to press Paxton on his accumulation of wealth while in office, his impeachment trial and the plea deal the attorney general’s office offered in a recent child sex abuse case.
The Paxton campaign, meanwhile, wants to go after Talarico’s record on transgender athletes and state income tax, and comments he’s made on Christianity and the oil and gas industry.
“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.”
by Gabby Birenbaum, The Texas Tribune
July 16, 2026