A new poll shows one of Donald Trump’s most despised political foes overtaking the Trump-backed MAGA candidate in a crucial Senate race.
Democrat James Talarico, 37, has given Democrats their strongest shot in years of flipping a U.S. Senate seat in Texas, where he’s facing Republican Ken Paxton, 63, the state’s controversial attorney general.
A New York Times poll taken last month showed him neck and neck with Paxton, a Trump ally who spoke at the “Stop the Steal” rally in D.C. before the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021, and was backed by Trump over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn.
However, a Fox News poll aired on Thursday shows the Democrat leading Paxton by 3 points, 51-48, and gaining ground among key constituencies—heralding a potential upset that could help Democrats gain control of the Senate in November’s midterms.
The poll also shows Talarico, who is a student at a Presbyterian seminary as well as a politician, winning 68 percent of independents, 98 percent of Democrats and about a quarter of non-MAGA Republicans.
Fifty-nine percent of Democrats polled said they were extremely motivated to vote, compared to 52 percent of Republicans. Only 47 percent of Republicans said they were interested in the election, compared to 53 percent of Democrats.
Talarico is the preferred choice among white evangelical Christians, white men without a college degree, rural voters, regular worship attenders, men, and voters ages 65 and older.
Talarico is also popular with Black voters, a turnaround after claiming only a fifth of Black votes in Houston and Dallas in a contentious primary win in March over U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
He also polled well with moderates, voters under age 30, Hispanic voters, women and voters with a college degree.
Paxton defeated Cornyn for the Republican Senate nomination in May after winning Trump’s endorsement despite a string of controversies including longstanding securities fraud charges, impeachment in the Texas House of Representatives, and a messy divorce in which he was accused of adultery.
“Although Paxton dominated Cornyn in the GOP primary, that bruising contest left scars,” Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts Fox News polls with Democrat Chris Anderson, said on Thursday.
He said Paxton has “considerable work to do with non-MAGA Republicans and independents, and that undoubtedly requires aggressively tying Talarico to the Democratic Party’s far left.”
The poll found 59 percent of voters overall—and 36 percent of Republicans—believe Paxton lacks the character to serve as a senator.
Despite the figures, Paxton’s team said the “only poll that matters” will be on Nov. 3. “Talarico’s campaign will end up exactly where every Democrat before him has ended up in Texas: a pipe dream,” Nick Maddux, a senior adviser to Paxton, said in a statement.
![Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico speaks during the Texas Democratic Convention]](https://www.thedailybeast.com/resizer/v2/TVQAKMLPSJCWLBWUJQKMJHV4LI.jpg?auth=747b52ac9899b7532f4090bfd261a27d66e84d9c8c72f4c4a233cc5065a0d79a&width=800&height=533)
The Daily Beast has contacted Paxton’s team for comment.
Trump christened Talarico “Talafreako” during his speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last week.
The president said Talarico “hates guns, hates oil, hates sex, hates women, and says he is a ‘Christian who hates Christianity.’ Other than that, I think his platform is quite good.”
He added, “And that means he’s not going to do very well against Ken Paxton, who hopefully in Texas is going to win.”
Dipping into one of his trademark vintage pop culture references, the 80-year-old president again compared Talarico’s appearance to that Alfred E. Neuman, the Mad magazine mascot introduced in 1954.
In a Truth Social tirade in May Trump said Talarico might be “the worst TEXAS candidate I have ever seen.”
As part of the rant, Trump claimed Talarico “believes there are 6 genders” and “was a big Mask Wearer until recently.” He also claimed that he was a “Vegan who dislikes meat.”
Earlier this month, Paxton abandoned his own press conference when he was grilled on the latest controversy surrounding him.
The New York Times reported this month that Paxton had expanded his real estate holdings, which are worth an estimated $9 million.
His latest real estate transactions included the purchase of three condominiums worth $1.6 million at a luxury resort in Utah.
An angry Paxton stormed out of the press conference insisting that he only wanted to answer questions on law enforcement, rather than his personal finances.
