Talarico Wants Proof of Ability to Debate
Amid Claim on Paxton Coward Condition
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October 10, 2026
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico sought to make a mockery of conspiracy theories about his mental health when he said on Saturday night that he needed proof of Ken Paxton's manhood after the state attorney general refused to say for almost three months whether he'd have the guts to debate.
Talarico gave Paxton a mouthful of his own medicine after staying silent for several days while the Republican demanded proof that the Democratic opponent was still alive after his campaign was sidelined for more than a week in the wake of an influenza diagnosis that the AG's allies. Paxton and his allies set themselves up to get slammed when they claimed despite the lack of any actual evidence that Talarico was being treated for a breakdown at a mental health hospital in Ohio.
But the Democrat came out swinging on Saturday evening when he announced in a post on X that he'd received information that Paxton has an infliction that causes people to be cowards. "I challenged Ken Paxton to a debate 85 days ago, but no one has heard from him," Talarico said in a post on X. "People are getting worried.
I’ve received credible reports he's suffering from a rare condition that causes clinical levels of cowardice.
"@KenPaxtonTX: I am asking for proof of ability to debate," Talarico added.
Paxton's team continued on Saturday to cling to the narrative on Talarico's ostensible incapacitation - quoting sources they declined to identify on claims that the Democrat flew back to Austin on Friday where he emerged to their surprise at the ACL music festival on the edge of downtown Austin in Zilker Park. Paxton contended that Talarico's surfacing at Austin City Limit was crafted to create the appearance that the Democrat was capable of campaigning.
And then Talarico showed up the Travis County Democratic Party headquarters to launch an unprecedented canvassing effort that's unleashing an army of volunteers at a level never witnessed in the nation's second largest state until now.
The Paxton camp issued a formal proof of life request when the AG and his allies were peddling unsubstantiated rumors on Talarico being missing from the campaign trail for more than a week because he being treated for a breakdown at a mental health facility in Ohio without any evidence to back up the claim. Paxton backers came up with records on private flight on Friday from Hamilton to the Texas Capitol City. But they've been unable to prove that Talarico was on the plane like they've been claiming.
"James Talarico claims he was missing for 13 days because he had the “flu.” Who actually believes that?," Paxton said in a post on Saturday afternoon. "He was only seen for the first time in 13 days during a staged 15-minute appearance at a music festival. He owes Texans answers."
Paxton's bid to portray the opponent as mental lost more steam on Saturday when a new poll by a Republican firm showed Talarico running stronger than he had a month ago. The Trafalgar survey, which was taken over the course of three days that ended Thursday, found Talarico up on Paxton by nearly 4 points at 47.1 percent compared to the Republican Senate hopeful at 43.6 percent. Talarico fared better in the firm's October poll than he did in a Trafalgar survey on the Senate race one month ago when he led the attorney general by only one point.
The latest Trafalgar poll raised eyebrows inside the state Capitol corridor, however, after showing Talarico with substantially more support among white voters and less among Hispanics than all of the other polls on the Texas Senate contest have detected in recent months. But the bottom line numbers - with Talarico in front by 3.5 points - matched the average advantage the Democrat has enjoyed in all of the polls that have been conducted on the Texas Senate contest in the past month.
Paxton's team found a dash of consolation when the Democrat's odds dropped several points on the prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket during the weekend. Talarico's projected lead dipped by one or two points on most of the election tracker forecasts for the Texas Senate fight amid the furor that Paxton's camp managed to trigger over the Democrat's extended absence. But Talarico's probabily of victory had climbed back up a point to 63 percent on Kalshi and jumped two to 65 percent on Polymarket after sunset on Saturday.
Paxton's focus on Talarico's mental abilities and time he missed on the campaign trail has set the Republican up to be hammered for putting his own bid on hold during a peak week for campaigning in the summer when he traveled to Europe with a girlfriend on a multi-nation trip that ended up in London on the Fourth of July.
Paxton had seized the lead in the polling for several weeks in June. But he's been trailing since his return from vacation - and he's failed to get the boost he'd expected from Trump's midterm convention in Dallas a month ago. After refusing to spend resources on the Texas Senate fight, the Republicans at the national level are flooding the Paxton campaign with money at a pace that could reach $200 million.
But Paxton faces a make-or-break decision on whether to heed the president's call for a debate with Talarico in a move that would make it harder to depict him as unmanly or to continue to dodge a meeting on the stage with the Democrat who'd be expected to crush the AG at a debate.
Trump declared at a rally in San Antonio on Wednesday that Paxton was "ready, willing, and able" to debate. But Paxton has no plans to participate in a debate because he knows he would have no chance to win. The expectations that the president raised will make it an even bigger story if and when Paxton won't show for a debate.
more to come ...
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