Who are James Talarico and Ken Paxton?

A former public school teacher and the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas. Talarico, 37, was raised in Round Rock by a single mom, taught sixth grade at Rhodes Middle School on San Antonio’s West Side and was elected to the Texas House in 2018 as its youngest member (Texas Tribune). There he wrote Javier Ambler’s Law, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, and voted for what Abbott called “the largest property tax cut in Texas history.” He’s a Presbyterian seminarian whose politics start with “love thy neighbor.”

The Texas attorney general since 2015 and the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, with a decade of scandal behind him. He was indicted on felony securities fraud charges months after taking office. In 2020 his own top deputies reported him to the FBI for bribery. In 2023 the Texas House, run by his own party, impeached him 121–23; the Senate acquitted him (Texas Tribune). The securities charges were dismissed in 2025 after a pretrial deal; he was never convicted.

Democrat James Talarico against Republican Ken Paxton; Libertarian Ted Brown is also on the ballot. Talarico beat Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the March primary. Paxton ousted Sen. John Cornyn in a May runoff (Texas Tribune). The race is a toss-up, and early voting runs Oct. 19 to Oct. 30.

Talarico is 37, born May 17, 1989. Paxton is 63, born Dec. 23, 1962 (Wikipedia, NAAG). Paxton was first elected to the Texas House in 2002, when Talarico was 13.

Not an ordained one. He’s a Presbyterian seminarian who earned a master’s in theological studies from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 2024 (Texas Tribune), and he talks openly about how faith shapes his politics. He opposed the Ten Commandments classroom mandate because, he says, it “violates the most important commandment: love thy neighbor.”

No, he was never convicted. But he was indicted on three felony securities fraud counts in 2015, months into his job as the state’s top law enforcement officer. The case dragged on for nearly nine years without a trial until he struck a pretrial deal in 2024: pay restitution, do community service, take legal ethics classes (Texas Tribune). The charges were dismissed in 2025 (Fox 26).