Paxton campaign makes first major ad buy in Senate race

WASHINGTON — Ken Paxton’s campaign is launching its first substantial broadcast ad buy of the general election with two economy-focused spots that will run in three South Texas markets.

The ads, first shared with The Texas Tribune, will run on broadcast, streaming and digital platforms in the Harlingen, Laredo and Corpus Christi markets. One is a positive spot about Paxton’s economic plan, which is centered around tax breaks for healthcare and housing-related expenses, while the other bashes Democrat James Talarico for his opposition to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Polling routinely places cost of living and affordability as voters’ top priority in the November midterms.

The positive ad, “Ken’s Plan,” touts his support for a suite of tax deductions for items like a down payment on a home or health insurance premiums and says Paxton is “leading the fight to make life affordable for Texans.”

The negative ad depicts Talarico, a Democratic state representative from Austin, in front of a gas pump before claiming he supports higher taxes and taxes on tips and overtime — a nod to his opposition to Republicans’ signature spending and tax bill that extended the 2017 Trump tax cuts and created new tax breaks for tipped wages and overtime pay. Talarico has criticized the bill over its cuts to Medicaid and SNAP spending, saying its tax benefits help the ultra-wealthy.

Playing on his last name — “rico” means rich in Spanish — the ad says Paxton, by contrast, will lower costs.

“Rico?” the ad’s narrator says, according to a transcript. “N’ombre, Tala-broke. That’s what he’ll make Texas.”

The ad buy comes from Paxton Victory, a joint fundraising committee between Paxton’s campaign, the super PAC supporting him and other entities. The ad buy will be about $300,000 per week, according to the campaign.

In a statement, Paxton said Talarico has rebranded as a moderate but that he has long supported radical policies, including on taxes.

“If Talarico is given power, he will return to his radical ways and tax Texans into oblivion,” Paxton said. “While he’s focused on making life more expensive for working families, I will continue to fight to lower costs, put more money in your pocket, and restore the American Dream.”

Both candidates have cast themselves as the protector of an American Dream that is increasingly out of reach for Texans while seeking to hang high prices around the neck of their opponent.

Talarico, whose economic plan is focused on raising tax rates on corporations and billionaires, closing tax loopholes for those groups and raising the minimum wage, has hit Paxton on gas prices. He called for a suspension of the federal diesel tax in April — a move he repeated Monday after the national average price of diesel passed $6 per gallon.

Paxton’s ads come amid a deluge of spending from allied PACs, most notably about $60 million from Texas PAC, an offshoot of Senate Leadership Fund, the outside group affiliated with Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

After Talarico had the airwaves mostly to himself over the summer, GOP groups including the Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. and others have this month committed tens of millions toward boosting Paxton in the Texas Senate race. Recent polling has shown Talarico with a margin of error lead over Paxton — a rare sight in conservative Texas, which has not elected a Democrat to a statewide office in over 30 years. Several prominent political analysts classify the race as a toss-up.

Talarico, who has significantly outraised Paxton and whose campaign has continued to spend millions on ads each week, released a digital ad Monday responding to the wave of money attacking him. In the ad, he says billionaires are going after him for the democratic reforms he supports, including banning the use of dark money in elections and establishing term limits.

“If the billionaires are coming after us, we must be doing something right,” Talarico said.