The results are in from the highly anticipated Texas Senate Republican primary runoff between state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). And the winner is … James Talarico!Talarico, the Democratic nominee, wasted no time after Trump-endorsed Paxton handily defeated incumbent Cornyn. He posted Paxton’s mugshot with a caption slamming the Texas attorney general for having been indicted on three felony counts for investment fraud, reported to the FBI by his own staff for bribery, and impeached by his own party for corruption. Democratic donors appear excited at the prospect of a Talarico-Paxton matchup, with the left-wing candidate raking in a record $600,000 haul after it became clear he would be running against Paxton.Don’t get it twisted: Talarico remains a long shot to win the Texas Senate election in November, but in a state where Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) only beat then-Rep. Beto O’Rourke by 2.5 percentage points in 2018, nominating a vulnerable candidate such as Paxton may present more risk than the potential payoff is worth.
JAMES TALARICO IS THE RADICAL LEFT’S TROJAN HORSE
If Cornyn had won on Tuesday, I’d anticipate the general election being a snooze-fest. Cornyn is a boring but safe candidate with a history of electoral success as a senator dating back to 2002. There is certainly an argument to be made that Paxton would make for a better senator than Cornyn because he aligns more with President Donald Trump’s agenda, but none of that matters if he loses to Talarico.
