Reagan, Ronald
1981–1989
Reagan's actual record: tax cuts, free trade, strong defense, anti-Soviet (now anti-PRC/Russia authoritarianism), federalism, signed the 1986 IRCA amnesty, civility, the 11th Commandment ('Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican'). Paxton matches Reagan on taxes, deregulation, guns, energy, and outsider framing. But he flunks the 11th Commandment by spending his entire campaign attacking a sitting Republican senator, abandons free trade for Trump tariffs, and opposes Ukraine aid (Reagan was the original anti-Russian-imperialism president). Talarico is far to Reagan's left economically but matches Reagan on a 'front-porch' immigration framework (closer to IRCA than to current GOP), free-trade restoration, alliance-keeping, and civility/optimism. Talarico's chip-export-controls position is the modern equivalent of 'tear down this wall' on technology transfer.
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)
- El Paso Matters, 'At El Paso ICE facility, James Talarico argues for pro-immigrant, pro-security approach,' Feb. 21, 2026. (full list)