In November, Texans will go to the polls to choose their new junior senator. This choice comes down to one of the most corrupt and morally repugnant politicians in recent memory and a full-blown heretic. A scandal-plagued liability masquerading as an anti-establishment freedom fighter versus a far-left progressive culture warrior cosplaying as a theologian.
It is a shame that one of these deeply unserious individuals will now represent the U.S.’s second-largest state.
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To be fair, this race was a no-win proposition before Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the GOP primary earlier this week. Cornyn, while lacking Paxton’s personal flaws, is perhaps the Republican Party’s biggest traitor on gun rights. Cornyn helped push through the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the worst gun control bill in decades. The law made it more difficult for citizens under 21 to buy a gun and provided federal funding and incentives for states to implement dangerous and easily exploitable “red flag laws.”
Obviously, citizens of a state that flies its flag even with Old Glory and represents rugged individualism perhaps more than any other, did not take kindly to this betrayal. No one who takes Second Amendment rights seriously will shed a tear over John Cornyn’s career in the Senate coming to an end.
Paxton successfully exploited voters’ justified frustration over Cornyn’s weakness and willingness to work with Democrats, but Paxton is far from a principled truth-teller. In 2020, his staffers blew the whistle to the FBI regarding blatant corruption stemming from his relationship with an Austin real estate developer and GOP donor. Paxton allegedly misused his office to provide favors to Nate Paul, and Paul allegedly paid for expensive renovations on Paxton’s home and provided a job for a woman with whom Paxton was having an extramarital affair. Paxton was impeached by the Texas House in 2023.
The embattled attorney general was able to hoodwink many Republican voters into believing that his endless scandals were proof that he was being persecuted by the press and the Left simply for being a “fighter,” but that will be a tougher sell in the general election.
Democratic nominee James Talarico has attempted to build a national profile by presenting himself as a progressive Christian who is capable of translating hard-left politics into religious language. He is media-savvy and more polished than most Democrats, but his heretical twisting of scripture plays better with secular progressives who hate Christianity than with faithful Christians on the Right or Left. Talarico has made the feeble argument that the Virgin Mary’s “consent” to carry Christ supports abortion rights, described God as “nonbinary,” and suggested that atheists can be more Christ-like than Christians. Talarico’s theology seems more improvisational than contemplative, and the Paxton campaign will have no shortage of material for their attack ads, which, of course, would play better if he weren’t plagued with a history of corruption and degeneracy.
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In a state of nearly 32 million citizens, we are down to a crook and a theological carpetbagger. Both parties had better options in the primaries. Rep. Wesley Hunt ran on the GOP side, providing all of the “America first” conservatism without the scandals, while Democrats had Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who brought all of the wild progressivism of Talarico, without the aggressive heresy.
H.L. Mencken wrote, “democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.” Regardless of the outcome of this clownish Senate race, Texans will be getting it good and hard.
Brady Leonard (@bradyleonard) is a writer, musician, and host of The No Gimmicks Podcast.