Voters stand in line Monday outside Fretz Park Branch Library during the first day of early voting for the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Chris Swann/The Dallas Morning News
Republican Ken Paxton warned that a Democratic victory could threaten America’s future. Democrat James Talarico accused billionaires of trying to buy a U.S. Senate seat.
Both candidates brought their competing messages Monday to North Texas, a crucial battleground in their closely contested race, as early voting began.
“If we lose Texas, we’re going to lose the country, and that’s what we’re fighting for,” Paxton told a large crowd packed into Matt’s Rancho Martinez restaurant in Allen. “This is our time, our moment, to draw the line in the sand that generations of patriots drew before us.”
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At the University of North Texas in Denton, Talarico urged students to cast their ballots immediately after his rally and encourage friends, classmates and family members to do so as well.
“If we get our friends, our classmates, our family members to show up, I am confident,” Talarico said. “I feel it in my bones that we are going to win this election.”
The Republican attorney general and Democratic state representative are making sharply different appeals in the final two weeks of a race that could help determine control of the Senate.
Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate nominee, at his early vote rally Monday at Matt’s Rancho Martinez restaurant in Allen.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Paxton said Democrats would threaten President Donald Trump’s agenda and Texas’ conservative policies. Talarico urged Texans to challenge what he calls a corrupt political system controlled by wealthy donors.
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No Democrat has won a U.S. Senate race in Texas since 1988. But polls show a close contest this year as Republicans confront voter frustration over the economy and concerns within their own party about Paxton.
Paxton’s warning
Paxton used his Allen stop to attack Talarico’s positions on energy and transgender issues.
He said Talarico’s support for environmental policies would hurt Texas’ oil and gas industry. He also accused Talarico of being out of step with Texas values because he supported “transitioning our kids.”
“How about we transition him and his crazy ideas right out of Texas?” Paxton asked as the crowd roared.
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Talarico has said he supported a 2023 Texas House amendment banning gender-affirming surgeries for minors but opposed the underlying bill because it also restricted other medical treatments. He has said he would support a national ban on such surgeries for minors.
In Allen, state Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville, who also serves as Paxton’s attorney, told supporters that their votes could shape the country’s direction for years.
“Unless you want to spend the next six years interrogating your whiteness, and you want to spend the next six years trying to decide which liberal to appoint to the United States Supreme Court, remember this is an existential election,” Little said. “If we do not control the presidency and we do not control the United States Senate, we will not control the United States Supreme Court. Your vote matters. Your family’s votes matter.”
Paxton said a Talarico victory could help Democrats take control of the Senate, jeopardizing Trump’s second-term agenda.
“A vote for James Talarico is not just a vote for his radical agenda, it is a vote for Chuck Schumer to run the Senate,” Paxton said of the Democratic minority leader from New York.
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Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is scheduled to return Oct. 27 to Texas for a “midterm rally.”
State Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate, at his rally Sunday in Plano.
Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News
In Denton, Talarico made wealthy political donors the focus of his attacks, accusing them of trying to buy influence in Washington.
The former public school teacher emphasized his background, contrasting his experience with what he described as a corrupt political class beholden to billionaires.
He singled out Elon Musk, accusing the billionaire of trying to buy himself a senator.
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Musk gave $158 million to a Republican super PAC, which then directed that amount to another group supporting Paxton.
“We are going to send a crystal clear message to the world’s first trillionaire,” Talarico said. “Texas is not for sale.”
Talarico’s push
The message echoed Talarico’s Sunday evening rally in Plano, where he urged several hundred backers to challenge powerful political interests despite the odds.
“We are the underdogs in this race,” Talarico said. “This election is a battle between the powers that be and the powers that ought to be.”
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Talarico also attacked Paxton’s legal troubles, drawing a sharp distinction between their political careers.
“I have a legislative record. Ken Paxton has a criminal record,” Talarico said. “That’s the choice in this election.”
Paxton was indicted on felony securities fraud charges in 2015, accused of misleading investors in a technology company. He denied wrongdoing and reached an agreement with prosecutors in 2024 to pay restitution, perform community service and complete ethics training. The charges were dismissed in 2025 without a conviction.
In Plano, Talarico promised to fight corruption in Washington and called for overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, which allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts independently to influence elections.
“This is the rot at the core of this broken, corrupt system,” he said.
The candidates are crisscrossing Texas on competing tours as they try to turn their messages into votes before Election Day on Nov. 3.
Paxton is on the third day of his “Come and Take It” bus tour, which began Saturday in Rockwall. He was scheduled to appear Monday night in Fort Worth with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Talarico is traveling on his “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts” swing, named for a phrase from the Texas high school football television series “Friday Night Lights.”
Early voting runs through Oct. 30.