Setting the Record Straight: Paxton vs. Talarico

In the Senate race between Paxton and Talarico, I’ve heard so many people say:

“Paxton cheated on his wife” or

“He let a child sex abuser off” or

“Paxton was impeached by his own party.”

ALL of these are FALSE.

While Talarico is pushed by Legacy Media, Paxton has a strong record with Texans

1️⃣ The truth is Paxton didn’t prosecute the Hoffman case, it was attorneys in his office that prosecuted the case and due to the victim refusing to testify in the second trial, Hoffman got off too easy. But this wasn’t Paxton letting Hoffman off.

2️⃣ Paxton wasn’t impeached by his own party. A Democrat led effort, with the support of a few RINOs in the House, tried to impeach him. The Senate acquitted Paxton. The DOJ investigated Paxton and came back saying there is NO EVIDENCE we could convict him on. So Paxton WASN’T impeached.

3️⃣ And since you aren’t marrying Paxton or Talarico, (you are electing a Senator), let’s examine BOTH of their records.

KEN PAXTON’s RECORD:

(1) Border Security & Illegal Immigration

Fought the Biden Administration repeatedly over border policy, becoming one of the most aggressive state attorneys general challenging federal immigration actions.

Successfully challenged Biden’s 100-day deportation pause shortly after Biden took office, obtaining a court order blocking the policy.

Defended Texas’s Rio Grande border buoy barrier. Paxton won a major Fifth Circuit victory allowing Texas’s floating border barriers to remain while litigation continued. (Texas Attorney General)

Defended Texas SB 4, the state immigration- enforcement law intended to allow Texas authorities to arrest certain people suspected of illegally entering Texas. Paxton fought the Biden Administration and civil-liberties organizations over the law all the way to the Supreme Court. (Texas Attorney General)

Repeatedly defended Texas’s authority to secure its own southern border against federal attempts to restrict state border-security measures.

Challenged federal immigration and asylum policies that conservatives argued encouraged illegal immigration.

Took legal action against suspected H-1B visa fraud, including an investigation involving nearly 30 North Texas businesses in 2026. (Texas Attorney General)

Took action against an alleged Chinese “birth tourism” operation in Texas in 2026. (Texas Attorney General)

His 2026 Senate platform is substantially to the far left of conservative economic policy.
He supports raising the federal minimum wage
Expanding overtime protections
Expanding paid family leave and childcare assistance
Extending the expanded child tax credit and
Repealing portions of Trump-era tax cuts.

(2) Second Amendment Rights

Led lawsuits challenging Biden Administration gun regulations.

Successfully blocked a Biden-era ATF rule expanding who could be considered a firearms dealer, protecting many private firearm sales from the expanded federal requirements. The injunction remained intact after the Trump Administration abandoned the government’s appeal in 2026. (Texas Attorney General)

Opposed federal attempts to expand gun-control regulations through executive agencies rather than Congress.

Regularly filed briefs defending the individual right to keep and bear arms in major 2nd Amendment cases around the country.

(3) Abortion & Pro-Life Laws

Defended Texas’s abortion restrictions following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Successfully fought the Biden Administration’s attempt to use federal emergency-room regulations to override portions of Texas abortion law. The Supreme Court left an injunction protecting Texas’s position in place. (Texas Attorney General)

Sued physicians accused of illegally providing abortion drugs to Texans, including an out-of-state physician. (Texas Attorney General)

Successfully challenged a Biden-era HHS rule that restricted state investigations involving abortion and reproductive-health records. The rule was ultimately vacated. (Texas Attorney General)

Consistently defended Texas’s pro-life statutes in federal and state courts.

(4) Protecting Children / Gender-Transition Policies

Defended Texas’s prohibition on gender-transition medical procedures for minors.

Investigated hospitals and medical providers suspected of violating Texas laws regarding gender-transition treatments for children. (Texas Attorney General)

Obtained a Texas Supreme Court ruling protecting the Attorney General’s investigative authority in an investigation concerning possible deceptive billing connected to prohibited gender-transition procedures for minors. (Texas Attorney General)

Won a nationwide stay against a Biden Administration rule requiring certain federally funded health-care providers to perform gender-transition procedures. (Texas Attorney General)

Sued physicians accused of prescribing prohibited gender-transition drugs to minors. One physician later surrendered her Texas medical license. (Texas Attorney General)

Secured a landmark 2026 settlement with Texas Children’s Hospital. The agreement requires approximately $10 million in payments, ends certain physicians’ privileges, requires compliance with Texas law, and establishes a detransition clinic for patients who previously underwent gender-transition procedures. (Texas Attorney General)

(5) Election Integrity

Defended Texas’s election-integrity laws against federal challenges.

Successfully defended Texas’s restrictions on mail-in voting, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to Texas’s age-based absentee-voting rules. (Texas Attorney General)

Fought alleged illegal vote harvesting and election-law violations.

Prevented Biden Administration DOJ personnel from entering Texas polling and central-count locations as federal “monitors” during the 2024 election, after Paxton filed suit. DOJ agreed not to enter those locations. (Texas Attorney General)

Defended Texas congressional redistricting. In 2026, Paxton successfully defended Texas’s congressional map at the U.S. Supreme Court, allowing it to remain in effect for the 2026 elections. (Texas Attorney General)

(6) Free Speech & Fighting Big Tech Censorship

Defended Texas HB 20, legislation designed to prevent major social-media platforms from discriminating against users based on viewpoint. Paxton secured an important Fifth Circuit victory in that litigation. (Texas Attorney General)

Investigated and litigated against technology companies over censorship and viewpoint discrimination.

Challenged alleged federal-government coordination with technology and media companies to suppress speech. (Texas Attorney General)

In 2026, secured agreements restricting major advertising agencies from coordinating advertising boycotts based on political or ideological viewpoints, while pursuing additional antitrust litigation concerning censorship of conservative media. (Texas Attorney General)

(7.) Religious Liberty & Traditional Values

Regularly defended religious-liberty claims involving churches, schools, businesses and individuals.

Supported prayer and religious expression in public life when permitted by the Constitution.

In 2026, opened investigations of Texas school districts regarding compliance with state laws involving the Ten Commandments and school prayer. (Texas Attorney General)

Filed briefs in major religious-liberty cases before federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.

(8) Fighting ESG & Protecting Texas Energy

Challenged corporate ESG policies that conservatives argued discriminate against oil, natural gas and other traditional-energy industries.

Investigated major banks over possible deceptive or coordinated practices associated with ESG policies and fossil-fuel financing. (Texas Attorney General)

Sued BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard, alleging that their coordinated activities manipulated coal production and energy markets.

Won an important 2025 ruling allowing the BlackRock/State Street/Vanguard antitrust case to proceed after the companies attempted to have it dismissed. (Texas Attorney General)

Repeatedly challenged Biden Administration environmental regulations that Texas argued exceeded federal agency authority or harmed the Texas energy industry.

(9) Fighting Federal Overreach

One of the defining features of Paxton’s tenure has been his willingness to sue Democratic presidential administrations frequently.

Challenged Biden Administration immigration regulations

Challenged environmental and climate regulations

Challenged gun regulations

Challenged abortion regulations

Challenged transgender-policy mandates

Challenged federal election intervention

Challenged COVID-era federal policies

Challenged federal labor and employment regulations

Challenged regulations affecting Texas oil and gas

Challenged administrative agencies when Texas argued they exceeded authority granted by Congress.

By late 2024, Paxton’s office said it had filed 100 lawsuits against the Biden Administration. Independent reporting likewise documented that milestone. (Axios)

(10) COVID-19 & Federal Mandates

Challenged multiple Biden Administration COVID-19 mandates, particularly federal vaccine requirements affecting workers and employers.

Fought federal attempts to condition employment or federal funding on COVID vaccination requirements.

Sued Pfizer under Texas consumer-protection law, alleging misleading representations surrounding the effectiveness and marketing of its COVID-19 vaccine.

(11) Conservative Challenges to Corporate Power

Paxton increasingly used Texas consumer-protection and antitrust authority against corporations accused of adopting political agendas.

Investigated financial institutions over ESG.

Challenged alleged censorship by technology companies.

Challenged alleged advertising boycotts of conservative media.

Investigated health-care providers concerning gender-transition procedures.

Pursued antitrust claims involving major financial institutions.

Used Texas’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act to investigate corporations that his office believed misled Texas consumers.

(12) Texas Sovereignty

Perhaps the larger theme connecting Paxton’s record is his argument that Texas should aggressively defend its constitutional authority against Washington. His office has repeatedly gone to court over:

Not only Texas’s border, but also–

Texas’s election laws
Texas’s abortion laws
Texas’s gun rights
Texas’s energy industry
Texas’s medical regulations
Texas’s authority over education
Texas’s congressional districts
Texas’s ability to investigate violations of state law

TALARICO’s RECORD

(1) Abortion

Talarico opposed Texas’ restrictive abortion policies and supports abortions.

(2) Gender Transition Treatment For Minors
*Talarico opposed Republican legislation restricting puberty blockers and hormone treatments for minors.

In 2023, Texas Republicans passed SB 14 prohibiting those treatments for most minors; House Democrats, including Talarico, fought the legislation.

(3) Broader Transgender/LGBTQ policies

Talarico has been outspoken in favor of LGBTQ protections and has criticized conservative approaches to transgender issues.

(4) School Choice/Vouchers

This is one of the clearest differences. Talarico became a leading opponent of private-school vouchers/education savings accounts.
He helped organize Democratic opposition in 2023 and tried unsuccessfully in 2025 to send the voucher proposal to a statewide vote before the Legislature passed it.

(5) 2025 School-Voucher Vote

When SB 2 finally passed the Texas House in April 2025, every present Democrat voted against it, including Talarico.

(6) Constitutional Carry

Talarico was on the Democratic side opposing Texas’ 2021 constitutional- carry legislation, which eliminated the requirement for most lawful gun owners to obtain a license to carry a handgun. The measure was one of the biggest gun-rights victories for Texas conservatives in that legislative session.

(7) Gun-Control Philosophy In General

His record aligns considerably more closely with Democrats favoring additional firearms regulation than with Texas gun-rights organizations.

(8) Bail Reform

Talarico voted against earlier Republican bail-reform measures designed to make it harder for certain defendants accused of violent or sexual offenses to receive low-cost or cashless release.
He also opposed a proposed constitutional amendment concerning denial of bail for certain sex crimes involving children and human trafficking.

(9) Christian Nationalism

Talarico has become one of the country’s more prominent Democratic critics of Christianity.
He describes his Christianity as supporting progressive politics and argues that Christianity should not be used to establish political dominance.

(10) Ten Commandments/Religion In Public Schools

Talarico opposed Republican education policies that included requiring displays of the Ten Commandments in public-school classrooms and has criticized Republican efforts to inject more explicitly Christian material into public education.

(11) Public Education

He has consistently opposed the conservative effort to redirect public education funding toward private-school choice, portraying vouchers as harmful to traditional public schools.
He has made defending government-run public schools one of the central themes of his political career.

(12) Economic Policy

(13) Taxes/Wealth

He frequently argues that billionaires and large corporations exercise too much political and economic power and advocates closing tax loopholes and increasing the effective tax burden on wealthy individuals. Conservatives favor lower taxes and less redistribution.

(14) Immigration