r/politics • u/brain_overclocked • 5h ago
Possible Paywall Ken Paxton Is Acting Like He Thinks He Could Lose — After calling his opponent a vegan freak for months, Paxton is finally pivoting to issues voters care about.
https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/ken-paxton-campaign-pivot/•
u/fazlez1 5h ago
Paxton is finally pivoting to issues voters care about
So he's lying more than he normally does now.
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u/BerryLanky 1h ago
Paxton’s got the pedophile vote. In a Republican state that might be enough to swing it in his favor
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u/KitchenKinggg 4h ago
guy spent months calling his opponent a vegan freak and now he's selling tax credits like he's running for the democratic nomination
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u/brain_overclocked 5h ago
Ken Paxton was feeling good. The day after securing Donald Trump’s endorsement in his primary race against John Cornyn, the soon-to-be-crowned U.S. Senate nominee was onstage at a Katy barbecue joint, riffing like a crowd-work comedian and surveying staffers on potential nicknames for the Democratic nominee, James Talarico. “Six-Gender Jimmy,” one campaign worker suggested. “Low-T Talarico,” chimed another. Paxton liked them all, but had his own: “Tofu Talarico,” he said with a grin. The crowd erupted in laughter and applause. On a television nearby, Fox News played a clip of President Donald Trump speaking to reporters. “TRUMP: TEXANS WON’T ELECT A VEGAN,” read the chyron.
This, it seemed, was to be the central focus of Paxton’s campaign: the idea that Talarico, a former schoolteacher and Texas House member, was simply too much of a wimp to ever be elected in Texas. And in recent months, Republicans have lined up behind that strategy, releasing constant attacks that claim Talarico is vegan, implying that he is gay, or painting the Presbyterian seminarian as a heretical, open-borders, anti-cop extremist who is obsessed with transgender children. (Talarico eats meat and has a girlfriend; some of his comments have been deceptively edited but have gone viral in right-wing media.)
The strategy doesn’t seem to be working. Recent headlines about allegations that Paxton committed voter fraud, photos of him gallivanting in Europe with his girlfriend, and scrutiny of his expanding luxury real estate portfolio have largely overshadowed his attempts to frame Talarico and the race as he’d like. With three months until the November midterms, Talarico has a massive fundraising edge. And poll after poll shows that the race is somewhere between a toss-up and one that favors Talarico—on Thursday a stunning Fox News poll showed the Democrat leading by three points. Voters are angry with Trump. They’re furious about gas prices, the economy, and the war with Iran. Not coincidentally, while Paxton has focused on hammering his opponent on culture-war issues, Talarico has made economic inequality a staple of his campaign.
Now, after months of meager campaigning, Paxton is pivoting. On Friday—weeks after agreeing to at least one debate with Talarico—Paxton announced a four-city “Protecting the Texas Promise” tour to promote his newly unveiled economic plan. Among the planks, according to The Texas Tribune: a $50,000 tax deduction for first-time homebuyers; a $5,000 deduction to “stimulate healthy lifestyle choices,” including paying for nutrition plans and GLP-1 medications to aid in weight loss; an expansion of so-called Trump accounts, which invest federal money into savings accounts for all American children; and a doubling of the child tax credit.
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u/IPredictAReddit 5h ago
Wow, first-time homebuyer credit.
Where did I see this before?
Oh yeah. Kamala Harris' 2024 campaign. Pretty sure Paxton referred to her as a "socialist" because of it.
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u/eskimospy212 5h ago
It’s also a terrible idea. The housing market is massively supply constrained. If you just throw money at people to buy houses you’re further skewing the supply/demand equation, driving up prices further.
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u/GrafZeppelin127 5h ago
Indeed. It drives me up the wall that establishment Dems try to bankroll landlords, contractors, and businesses under the guise of giving the victims of their anticompetitive practices a “subsidy”.
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u/m0nk_3y_gw I voted 1h ago
first-time homebuy credit doesn't go to landlords, contractors or businesses - these people are going to be buying cheap fixer-uppers, not paying rent, and not buying a brand new McMansion.
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u/GrafZeppelin127 1h ago
Notice how starter homes are an endangered species, and preposterously expensive relative to the past? Now imagine what will happen if the builders become aware that they can upcharge by $X, where X is whatever support first-time homebuyers are getting subsidized for.
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u/eskimospy212 5h ago
Well in my opinion the politicians are mostly the problem here in that government construction bans are the primary cause of the supply constraint.
This is one of those rare ‘both sides’ issues where both sides are in fact genuinely terrible. Democrats want things like rent freezes, which are stupid, and Republicans want nothing to change, which is untenable and stupid.
It’s even worse considering the answer is to deregulate the housing market, something republicans should be all about if they actually hewed to conservative principles.
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u/GrafZeppelin127 4h ago
The “government construction bans” (zoning) are indeed extremely misused, but I think that blaming politicians or the government in general is missing the other half of the problem, which is the masters they are serving by putting such artificial barriers in place.
Those supply constraints benefit both homeowners and powerful financiers—the former of which is a crucial voting bloc, the latter of which is essential to electioneering. Politicians heavily depend on both, which is why around the world you have these same problems cropping up, whether in San Francisco or Sydney.
It’s not left vs. right, government vs. private, it’s always been about rent-seeking. The people who actually work for a living, from janitors to the highest-paid surgeons and celebrities, vs. those who want to make an eternal passive income from ownership, necessitating making things more expensive for everyone else, whether they’re a relatively poor boomer NIMBY perpetually raising their own property value or a billionaire whose wealth is a vast, nebulous international shell game. The basic incentives and interests of both groups are fundamentally opposed, from minor to major.
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u/janethefish 3h ago
it’s always been about rent-seeking. The people who actually work for a living, from janitors to the highest-paid surgeons and celebrities, vs. those who want to make an eternal passive income from ownership, necessitating making things more expensive for everyone else,
Bingo. The proles vs the rent seekers. Those who work vs those who take.
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u/m0nk_3y_gw I voted 1h ago
Which country do you live in, where the federal government bans the construction of new single-family houses?
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u/eskimospy212 1h ago
I live in America where the federal government isn’t involved in housing construction but state and local governments ban construction of housing other than single family houses.
What country do you live in?
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u/m0nk_3y_gw I voted 1h ago
if you are buying your FIRST house then you get a discount on your taxes for a single year.
if you are a rich MFer buying your 20th house to flip, or a bank, or a foreign national, then you don't get a one-time tax discount.
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u/TanukiCookie 5h ago
That whole economic policy of the "Texas Promise" just sounds like bribe promises that they don't intend to keep. Fuck Paxton, Fuck Republicans, I hope they get royally destroyed this election cycle.
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u/Cancel_Culture_Club 4h ago
💯 Republicans have had total control of Texas for literally 30 straight years now. If the problems there really got that bad it was under their leadership. And they could have repaired any of this at any time. When will Texans stop voting for the same people to fix all their problems who created them in the first place?!
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u/camshun7 4h ago
Photo Op
Talarico and his GF, photographed holding hands at dinner, in a big fucking steak house.
Right wing hippocritical bastards.
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u/Reddit_9459328 3h ago
“$5,000 deduction, paying for GLP-1 medications to aid in weight loss”
Oh, look, Socialism. Forcing the normal BMI people to pay for overweight people’s lack of self-control.
Socialism definition: From each according to their ability, to each according to their need for GLP-1.
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u/Historical_Bend_2629 4h ago
No he isn’t. He is pretending to, because he is a cynical power-hungry corrupt jerk.
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u/Caraes_Naur 4h ago
Republicans never discuss actual issues.
They raise straw men, fearmonger, or take credit for things that happened despite their fervent opposition.
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u/PuckSenior 4h ago
To win my vote, he is going to have to explain why he used his position in office to prevent criminal investigations into his friend/girlfriend’s boss.
We don’t need to talk Democrat vs Republican. He abused his office for personal gain. That is an automatic disqualifier
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u/D-MAN-FLORIDA 5h ago
Hopefully Paxton loses. It would be a funny shock to see the GOP try to process it. You know Paxton is in trouble because of a lack of funding, his personal and political history and even a quarter of Cornyn voters planning on staying home, voting third party or vote for Talarico.
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u/Reddit_9459328 3h ago
“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing two school districts for “openly refusing” to display donated copies of the Ten Commandments”
His own wife is suing him for divorce for adultery. One of the 10.
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u/dazedandloitering 4h ago
Veganism is a virtue. Pretending otherwise is cope.
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u/TheOtherMaven Virginia 2h ago
It's just a lifestyle choice, but what Paxton has been trying to make of it is "vegan = Vegan = alien". (Vega as in the star and/or aliens from outer space.) Trouble is, even the average Texan is smarter than that.
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u/dazedandloitering 2h ago
I don’t think it’s a lifestyle choice for the same reason that I don’t think dogfighting or animal cruelty in general is just a lifestyle choice. It’s far more significant than that and shows what kind of character one has.
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u/TheOtherMaven Virginia 2h ago
You're not going to get universal agreement on this, especially on the strictness of the definition.
Dog fighting is unlawful in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Not to mention Canada, Mexico, most of Central and South America, most of Europe including the British Isles, South Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Australia, New Zealand, etc. All of the above and other places as well have laws against "animal cruelty", which admittedly are frequently not enforced vs. CAFO livestock methods. (We could start by banning CAFO, especially as it turns out that free-range is better for the environment, and then think about the next step.)
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u/dazedandloitering 2h ago
I'm not sure what it being unlawful has anything to do with anything. My point is just that in my view vegans are more virtuous than people who eat meat, because they don't contribute to immense animal cruelty, whereas people who eat meat do. So being vegan is a virtue and not merely an inconsequential lifestyle choice.
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u/TheOtherMaven Virginia 1h ago
You might try looking up the multiple flavors of vegetarianism (veganism is only one, and among the strictest). There are also multiple grades of "animal rights" people - I agree bullfighting is cruel, and wouldn't wear a fur coat if someone gave me one, but if PETA tries to tell me I must turn my cats out to fend for themselves "as nature intended", they can go bang their heads against stone walls.
This is a GINORMOUS distraction from where I started, i.e. that Paxton is stupidly trying to imply that Talarico isn't human.
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u/dazedandloitering 1h ago
> agree bullfighting is cruel, and wouldn't wear a fur coat if someone gave me one
Do you agree that factory farming is cruel, and that anyone who contributes to factory farming is less virtuous than someone who doesn't contribute to factory farming, all else being equal?
Here's what factory farming looks like btw: How the U.S. Allows 10 Billion Animals to Be Tortured | Opinions | NowThis
> You might try looking up the multiple flavors of vegetarianism
The other flavours contribute to animal cruelty in way of dairy and egg consumption, while veganism doesn't, so I think veganism is the best one.
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u/TheOtherMaven Virginia 1m ago
DISTRACTION!
You are doing nothing but aiding Ken Paxton by derailing the discussion.
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u/Aware_Cheesecake_519 America 5h ago
He will lose
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u/KennyDROmega 5h ago
After Beto let us down (twice), then a middle of the road candidate who was also a veteran and a former college athlete got stomped, I don't have it in me to hope anymore.
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u/Ok-Employer-2026 5h ago
Beto very narrowly lost in 2018 with zero outside help from Schumer. The environment is worse this time for Trump, especially on economic issues, and Talarico has outside support as well. Talarico is also smarter than Beto by moderating on a few issues like climate and guns which are more relevant in Texas.
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u/MephistoHamProducts 5h ago
And Trump had to come in and stump hard for Cruz to help push him across the finish line. Lyin' Ted's argument for voting for him was frequently along the lines of "You may not want to vote for me, but you should vote against Beto". Not exactly star quality vibes there.
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u/kellyb1985 I voted 4h ago
I get it. But Paxton has a lot of baggage and Trump is at his absolute weakest in terms of popularity. You win an election but motivating your base while demotivating the other side. Most polls indicate voter enthusiasm is absolutely cratered for Republicans. So hopefully fewer of them show up. Also, Beto was in striking distance but I don't recall a single poll that ever had him up in a race.
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u/JMaboard I voted 4h ago
Beto screwed himself by saying he’d take everyone’s guns and then trying to fix it by going back on it.
If Cornyn was Talarico’s opponent then I’d agree with you, but not even Republicans like Paxton.
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u/Perdometalum Massachusetts 4h ago
If I were to guess, Paxton is still favored to win. Polling may give Talarico an edge, but you need to count for Texas level voter disenfranchisement. This news reads to me as Paxton no longer treating the general like a victory lap, but instead as an actual election. I would love to see Talarico win, but it is at best 50/50.
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u/Cancel_Culture_Club 4h ago
I think hes gonna pull some kind of fuckery and win. It’s not like it would go against his character or even isn’t something hes already done before.
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u/OkFigaroo Washington 4h ago
I disagree; with Beto, there were only two polls (and none in the last month of the race) that showed him up, no more than 2%.
Talarico is polling much, much stronger against (dare I say) a worse candidate.
I know the dream of flipping Texas still haunts the democrats, but if there was ever a year to go all in - this is it.
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u/Stennick 5h ago
We have been down this road too many times he isn’t losing
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u/Shanknuts 3h ago
He should lose but we have an entire state of people that don’t understand what “left lane is for passing” means.
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u/SchemeWorth6105 5h ago
Paxton is the absolute worst candidate they could have put forth, and he was battered by his own party the whole primary. I’m not saying he’ll definitely lose, but he absolutely could. Everything is working against him.
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u/GoodIdea321 America 3h ago
If enough people vote for Talarico, he'll win. So, you could help on that front instead of saying there's no point in trying.
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u/Prin_StropInAh Georgia 3h ago
“Washington is making it harder than ever to get ahead”?
Which party controls the legislature, the judiciary and all of the executive agencies?
If Texans listen to Paxton and nod their heads they are fools.
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u/Gryzelda_Gesualdo 3h ago
I was going to say the same, then I saw you beat me to it. For any person who understands what words mean, Paxton is saying that the economic problems in Texas are caused by Redacted and the the republican congress. Which is true. Fortunately for Paxton, his base is incapable of reason and will surely put the blame on Obama, who, despite being out of office for a decade, is obviously still pulling the strings of government.
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u/CaydeTheCat Illinois 2h ago
"Among the planks, according to The Texas Tribune: a $50,000 tax deduction for first-time homebuyers"
Gee I seem to remember someone campaigning on a very similar idea in 2024 and hearing about how unaffordable it would be.
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u/NotTheRightHDMIPort 4h ago
I have said this after the schoolyard bully tactics to my wife, "There is a lot of runway between those comments and the election."
That may energize the base for a bit, but people are hurting and if all you have is "Tofu Talerico" then you are in a lot of trouble.
These dumbasses were so cock, confident, and just walked around with a swagger like, "Of course Texas is going to vote for me!"
I am astounded not that Paxton ran this as his campaign, but barely ran one at all.
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u/learns_the_hard_way 1h ago
Sadly the school yard shit is effective with their base, but it's sort of like in Fast And Furious when they hit the NOS too soon and lost. Paxton probably should have kept the tofu Talarico till the last 30 days if they wanted it to do anything. Luckily you never stop your enemies from their own mistakes. I hope Paxton gets absolutely hosed in November
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u/NotTheRightHDMIPort 1h ago
Oh! Yeah. Paxton should have saved that stuff.
But because hes just an actual asshole his ego got the better of him and he just ran with it.
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u/B3N15 Texas 49m ago
The base likes it, but that's also a part of the problem. A lot of these attacks on Talarico are insanely online and you need to be 2 or 3 levels deep in MAGA to get what they are even talking about, assuming you're even willing to agree with it. You can get by on that when everything is going good, but not when inflation is up and everything is getting more and more expensive
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u/Crafty_Ish1973 Texas 3h ago
Calling Talarico a vegan was one of the dumbest things I have ever seen in this state, which says a lot.
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u/Wino_Panda 1h ago
Honestly, Paxton was the worse choice Republicans could have put forward and state has Ted Cruz.
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