Talarico, Paxton face tough public relations moments amid dead-heat Senate race

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, July 23, 2026

Both Democratic Texas state Rep. James Talarico and Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who are competing against each other in the heated U.S. Senate race in Texas, faced tough public relations moments this week.

Talarico began the week with a poor reception at a town hall event Sunday at the Kingdom Builders Center in Houston, where one woman named Kandice Webber heckled him toward the end of the 90-minute question period, which focused heavily on voting rights and issues affecting the black community.

"So you stay here, you answer our questions or you suffer the consequences," Webber said, according to footage from a reporter with the Austin American-Statesman, who called the crowd "tense." Another attendee yelled, "Say it with your chest!"

Talarico thanked Webber, who was upset about public education funding, for attending the town hall, to which she replied: "I did it for my people, not for you."

The Houston Chronicle, which described the exchange as "spirited," noted that Talarico's reception at the Houston event was not entirely negative, and that he received a standing ovation when he took the stage.

Another attendee reportedly asked Talarico: "On day one, will you be ready to flip tables like Jesus did in the synagogue?"

Attendee speaks out toward end of questioning saying @jamestalarico needs to stay that group waited 45 minutes through his speech — crowd getting tense pic.twitter.com/SVMHglvoCd

— Faith Bugenhagen (@FBugenhagen_) July 19, 2026

At another event at Disciple Central Community Church in DeSoto, Texas, on Monday, a voter pressed Talarico to opine on whether he supports "cross-dressing teachers in schools."

"I know that you believe that there are six genders and Jesus is non-binary, and so, in March, I had an ordeal at my kid's elementary school, where it's very distracting. So I wanted to know, will you be supporting those things? Because I don't think that, in elementary school, that is appropriate," the voter asked.

Talarico acknowledged, "I think if you enjoy cross-dressing, you should probably do that at home and not bring it to work," but went on to claim some are using LGBT issues to politically divide.

"But I also want to say that there are so many cynical politicians who are using our LGBTQ community to grandstand, to score political points, to demonize and weaponize."

A black voter in Dallas tonight asks Talarico if he supports cross dressing teachers

He answers that they should leave that at home pic.twitter.com/T3kI2DlX01

— ATX data (@data_atx) July 21, 2026

While Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian, has never claimed Jesus Christ is non-binary, he has raised eyebrows for claiming God is non-binary, that there are potentially six biological sexes and other theological assertions that many Christians have denounced as heretical.

Paxton also fielded negative headlines Tuesday when he walked out of a press briefing after journalists attempted to ask him questions about the various scandals plaguing his campaign.

Flanked by 22 supporting local sheriffs, Paxton and his staffer interrupted and dismissed a question from The New York Times about the Texas attorney general expanding his real estate portfolio amid his Senate run and divorce. The outlet reported last week that Paxton's trusts now hold at least 15 properties worth about $9 million.

BREAKING: In a stunning moment, Ken Paxton just melted down and stormed out of a press conference after being asked about his 15 houses and alleged voter fraud. What a disaster for Texas Republicans. pic.twitter.com/m0PAgTHRpu

— Democratic Wins Media (@DemocraticWins) July 21, 2026

When another reporter attempted to ask why Paxton allegedly voted in one county while living in another, the staffer said, "We're just going to do questions on law enforcement today." Both Paxton and the staffer ultimately abandoned the press briefing, leaving the sheriffs standing behind the podium.

The Talarico campaign seized on Paxton's refusal to answer the questions, with a spokesperson telling MSNOW: "Ken Paxton just refused to answer basic questions about reports he committed voter fraud and expanded his real estate portfolio to 15 properties on a government salary — because he has no answers for his corruption. If Ken Paxton can't answer these simple questions, what is he planning to do in a debate?"

Most polling shows Talarico and Paxton in a statistical dead heat, with Paxton leading Talarico 43% to 42%, with a 3.5-point margin of error, according to a survey released last month by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.