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Updated on: September 9, 2026 / 4:45 PM EDT
/ CBS News
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Texas State Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, said Wednesday his opponent, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, is "lying to the people of Texas" with a new AI advertisement that Talarico said puts "words in my mouth.""When you look at this ad, they are using AI in order to mislead the people of this state, and that is completely consistent with a liar like Ken Paxton," Talarico told CBS News' Ed O'Keefe in an interview Wednesday.Paxton released the advertisement this week, which portrays an AI-generated Talarico reading a "King James Talarico" bible aloud, with references to comments he's made about God being nonbinary, gender and more broadly, Christianity. Pressed by O'Keefe on whether the ad represented statements Talarico has previously made, Talarico replied, "Not all of those statements." He argued that Paxton's ad is in line with his "record of lying to the people of Texas," pointing to Paxton's impeachment. The Texas attorney general was impeached by the state House in 2023 on accusations of bribery, obstruction of justice and abuse of the public trust. Talarico also cited a recent endorsement he received from Paxton's former director of law enforcement, who appeared in a new ad this week supporting Talarico. "I am confident that Democrats, independents and Republicans are going to reject Ken Paxton because we don't want a criminal representing us in the halls of power in Washington," Talarico said.The Democrat said he would not use AI in political advertising, adding that "every ad that we put out is made by human beings, and we're very proud of that fact."The comments come as Talarico and Paxton are facing off in November in a closely watched Senate contest that's expected to be among the most expensive in history. In May, Paxton won the Senate primary runoff for the GOP nomination, defeating incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, who's represented Texas in the Senate since 2002. Democrats hope that Talarico will benefit from Paxton's candidacy, given his history of personal controversies and more conservative ideology than Cornyn.
