The Economy
Ken Paxton (R)
Paxton promises to 'revitalize American manufacturing, create American jobs, and restore the American Dream' alongside Trump's economic agenda. He supports energy dominance, deregulation, and crypto innovation including passage of the CLARITY Act. As AG he sued BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard, accusing them of trying to 'artificially manipulate the coal market' through ESG-aligned divestment. He praised the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and supported ending renewable-energy tax credits. He has not publicly addressed Trump's USMCA withdrawal consideration or 50-year mortgage proposal.
James Talarico (D)
Talarico would raise the federal minimum wage to $15/hour and pass federal paid family leave legislation. He wants universal affordable child care, expanded antitrust enforcement against corporate landlords and grocery consolidation, and a federal task force on modular housing construction. He would ban Wall Street firms from buying up single-family housing stock, expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, and modernize LIHEAP. He would repeal Trump tariffs, calling them the reason 'our cattle ranchers and farmers are filing record bankruptcies while Trump bails out Argentina's beef industry.' On crypto he supports clear consumer-protection rules so 'crypto companies play by the same rules as everyone else.'
Sources
- Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate, official campaign issues page, accessed May 2026. (full list)
- Talarico for Texas, official campaign issues pages (taxes, education, healthcare, immigration, social media/AI, freedom-family-faith, public-safety-justice, corruption-democracy, labor-business), accessed May 2026. (full list)
- Gabby Birenbaum, 'On the issues: A Q&A with Ken Paxton and John Cornyn,' Texas Tribune, April 20, 2026. (full list)
- Truth Social statement endorsing Paxton over Cornyn, May 19, 2026 (covered by CNBC, NBC News, Breitbart). (full list)