Officially the SBC is pro-life (including IVF-skeptical after the 2024 resolution), traditional on marriage and gender, pro-religious-liberty, and pro-school-choice. Post-2018 Guidepost report on the SBC sex-abuse crisis, the convention has formally elevated personal moral conduct of leaders to a sharply disqualifying concern; Russell Moore (former ERLC head) was driven out partly over warnings about the Trump-evangelical alliance. Paxton hits the policy planks but the adultery, securities fraud, impeachment, and one-day plea deal in the Waco child sex abuse case from his office are exactly the pattern the SBC has spent six years repenting of. He drops two to three points from the Pentecostal grader's score on conduct grounds. Talarico would be respected by the SBC for his stated faith and anti-corruption frame but disagrees on nearly every policy plank.
Sources
- 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)
- Patrick Svitek, 'Ken Paxton emerges victorious from yet another career scandal,' Texas Tribune, Sept. 17, 2023. (full list)
- Neena Satija et al., 'Inside the child sex abuse case that resulted in Ken Paxton's office offering a plea deal of just one day in jail,' Texas Tribune, May 19, 2026. (full list)