Abbott Says Dem Backs State Income Tax
as Talarico Soars in Polls Despite Attacks
Capitol Inside
May 3, 2026
Governor Greg Abbott vowed that Texas Republicans would run the table again in statewide races in a television interview on Sunday when he claimed without evidence that Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico backed the imposition of a state income tax.
Abbott promised Fox News that the GOP's winning streak at the statewide level would remain intact in 2026 in his first such refute to recent polling that show Talarico beating the winner of a Republican primary runoff in the Texas Senate race regardless of who the fall foe proves to be. The Republican governor said Talarico wouldn't stand a chance in the general election after Texas voters learn how he and other Democrats on the ballot here are wild-eyed liberals New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
"What Talarico, as well as the other Democrats on the ballot this cycle, are standing for are the crazy leftist policies that you see coming out of places like Mamdani in New York and the crazy leftist progressive policies in California," Abbott told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. "Some easy examples of votes that have already been made about Talarico that you will hear a whole lot about as we get close to the election.
"Talarico is for boys in girls sports." Abbott added. "Talarico is for defunding the police. He's for the Joe Biden open border policies. And get this, this is really going to rile up Texas voters. Talarico is in favor of a state income tax. That's outrageous!"
Abbott didn't offer any information to support the claim on the Democrats' Senate nominee and an income tax at the state level. Talarico has called for higher federal taxes on billionaires and the corporations they run through the elimination of loopholes, exemptions and other breaks that only benefit the wealthy.
But Talarico has never proposed the implementation of a state levy on personal income - the revenue source that most voters perceive when politicians refer to a state income tax. Texas is one of nine states that do not have personal income taxes in place at the state level. Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming are the others.
The last Texas leader to propose an income tax on personal earnings - Democrat Bob Bullock - encountered a massive backlash when he made a pitch for such a levy during his first year as the lieutenant governor in 1991. Bullock hatched a constitutional amendment two years later to prohibit the enactment of a personal income tax as cover for allies who'd caught grief from voters back home as a consequence of the move.
Proponents of a state income tax would need two-thirds support in both the Texas House and Senate to get around the prohibition that the last Democratic lieutenant governor here engineered. Such a move would have no chance in a Legislature that Republicans have controlled on both sides of the rotunda for more than two dozen years.
President Donald Trump gave Americans a sneak preview of the dirt that Abbott claims the Republicans have on Talarico in a Truth Social attack in March. “He’s got six Genders, insults to Jesus, only vegan food, was wearing a mask in 2023 and 2024, and is a weak, ineffective guy who we ‘allowed’ to win prior to releasing the avalanche of information we had on him because, as bad as (Jasmine) Crockett was as a Candidate, this guy is worse!”
The smear tactics didn't appear to be paying off, however, when Talarico ended March with the largest fundraising haul in a single quarter for any Senate contender in history with contributions of $27 million to his fledgling campaign for the federal office that U.S. Senator John Cornyn wants to keep. Talarico has soared in the polls since the president took aim at him on social media.
Cornyn is dueling Attorney General Ken Paxton for the GOP nomination in the contest that's crowning the Texas ballot this fall. Significant numbers of supporters for both Republican runoff contenders have said they will not vote for the other in the general election if their candidate fails to advance in overtime later this month.
A University of Texas poll last week found Talarico leading Cornyn by 8 percentage points while the Democrat was up on Paxton by 7 in a potential fall pairing. A Texas Public Opinion Research poll that was released the day before had Talarico in front of Cornyn by 3 points with a 5-point edge on the attorney general.
But Abbott isn't buying into the polling - asserting in the Fox News appearance that the Republicans would emerge victorious from every statewide contest on the ballot in Texas this year.
"Texas has the longest winning streak of any state in America," Abbott said. "Republicans statewide in Texas have gone undefeated for more than 30 years."
more to come ...
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