In Texas, we've got an interesting race in the works. We've got James Talarico, whom I've already talked about today, and Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Talarico is...ugh.
However, while I'm clearly pulling for Paxton to win, let's also be real here. This is a guy with more than enough baggage of his own. It's really a matter of opinion as to whether his is better or worse than Graham Platner of Maine's baggage. A Nazi tattoo or repeated allegations of corruption while in office?
For some, this is a no-win race.
In November, Texans will go to the polls to choose their new junior senator. This choice comes down to one of the most corrupt and morally repugnant politicians in recent memory and a full-blown heretic. A scandal-plagued liability masquerading as an anti-establishment freedom fighter versus a far-left progressive culture warrior cosplaying as a theologian.
It is a shame that one of these deeply unserious individuals will now represent the U.S.’s second-largest state.
To be fair, this race was a no-win proposition before Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the GOP primary earlier this week. Cornyn, while lacking Paxton’s personal flaws, is perhaps the Republican Party’s biggest traitor on gun rights. Cornyn helped push through the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the worst gun control bill in decades. The law made it more difficult for citizens under 21 to buy a gun and provided federal funding and incentives for states to implement dangerous and easily exploitable “red flag laws.”
Obviously, citizens of a state that flies its flag even with Old Glory and represents rugged individualism perhaps more than any other, did not take kindly to this betrayal. No one who takes Second Amendment rights seriously will shed a tear over John Cornyn’s career in the Senate coming to an end.
Paxton successfully exploited voters’ justified frustration over Cornyn’s weakness and willingness to work with Democrats, but Paxton is far from a principled truth-teller. In 2020, his staffers blew the whistle to the FBI regarding blatant corruption stemming from his relationship with an Austin real estate developer and GOP donor. Paxton allegedly misused his office to provide favors to Nate Paul, and Paul allegedly paid for expensive renovations on Paxton’s home and provided a job for a woman with whom Paxton was having an extramarital affair. Paxton was impeached by the Texas House in 2023.
The author, Brady Leonard, argues that Rep. Wesley Hunt would have been a better option on the GOP side, while Rep. Jasmine Crockett is just as leftist as Talarico, but doesn't couple it with the heresy, and thus would be preferable.
While I agree that Hunt would have been a solid option on the GOP side with less baggage than Paxton--baggage he's managed to convince a lot of people in the state was really a politically-motivated witch hunt, regardless of whether he's right or not--I can't see Crockett as being a preferable candidate. After all, she was adored by a lot of Democrats, people who actually think she should run for president.
But the question we have to ask is who is better here and now, and considering that corruption seems to be a way of life for most members of Congress, I don't see Paxton being the worst option possible. He'll at least work to protect our gun rights, which Talarico most definitely won't do, and that Cornyn failed to do. Maybe he'll get caught and bounced from the Senate, be an embarrassment to Texas, and become rommies with Bob Menendez...or maybe he won't. Maybe he's right, and it was all a witch hunt. Since none of it actually stuck, though, it's unlikely to be much of an issue for a lot of voters.
It's not a case of a no-win scenario. It's simply a case of there being one win that's only slightly better than a loss, but still much better than any Pyrrhic victory you might try to frame it as.
So you don't like the choices in Texas? Well, that blows, but since I haven't liked most of my choices for president over the last few decades, I can tell you that you get used to it.
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