Gov. Greg Abbott, right, speaks at a news conference with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, left, in 2020. The two are in close races on Nov. 3.
Jay Janner
Austin American-Statesman/USA TODAY NETWORK
FORT WORTH
More than half the vote in is, and justice appears to be catching up to Ken Paxton after more than 20 years.
Now the questions are:
• How many other Republicans will Paxton and Donald Trump drag down Tuesday?
• And will Texans and Tarrant County get an honest vote count?
Why Ken Paxton’s problems hurt all Republicans
The Curse of Paxton may hurt Texas Republicans more than Trump.
For all his failings, Trump has always inspired his voters with sheer force, orneriness and bluster.
But if Trump is the bull in the china shop, Paxton is the shop tabby cat.
The difference in Trump and Paxton is plain: Paxton doesn’t stand up and fight.
He uses lawsuits and paper to carry out his grudges. He is not strong enough to use words, or argue face-to-face.
He never testified as he came within a thinning Dan Patrick hair of being removed by fellow Republicans as Texas attorney general in a trial where Patrick excluded the telltale witnesses.
He never stood face-to-face and called Talarico any of those cute nicknames.
He never stood up in church and confessed anything in any way, and he almost never went to church or faced his God at all in a campaign where he made light of Talarico’s faith.
Frankly, neither Paxton nor Talarico seems like they can stand up and ferociously defend Texas in the tight-knit club of the U.S. Senate. But Talarico is 26 years younger and can learn to dish it out.
Greg Abbott really leads the ticket, but there’s Hinojosa
Paxton’s weakness has only made it tougher on the Republicans beneath him on the ballot.
They have counted on Gov. Greg Abbott as the party champion, but Abbott has let rural Texans down on data centers and support for public schools.
Abbott himself is in a down-to-the-wire race against Democrat Gina Hinojosa, and Paxton is dragging him down.
Other Republican state officials are still leading in polls, but maybe not in the early vote .
They need another 500,000 or so Republican voters to show up.
Who’s counting the votes? You won’t believe
If you wondered whether the vote count would be honest, you already have your answer.
When it came time to appoint objective clerks to the county Early Voting Ballot Board that verifies mail-in ballots, current Tarrant County Republican Party Chairman Tim Davis instead named a list that included one candidate’s wife.
White Settlement City Council member Aaron James, a county Republican Party activist, is running for re-election against David Burke and Don Wagnon. Yet his wife, Jennifer, was named and approved for the board that decides whether to accept or reject voters’ mail-in ballots.
After Jennifer James was approved, police ticketed her for theft. One of Mayor Faron Young’s campaign signs was stolen Oct. 1.
The theft was caught on video.
Davis’ hand-picked election judge, Amie Super, is also a Republican activist chosen by the party. She has not said yet whether James reviewed any ballots, or how many.
County officials appointed more clerks without comment at an abruptly called Oct. 29 meeting, and James is now described as a poll watcher.
Those board members take a sworn oath to be objective. They can’t be a candidate’s relative.
Tarrant County Republican Party officials know that.
How your vote can be thrown out
There’s a reason I pay attention to the Early Voting Ballot Board and election judge.
In 2020, my mail-in ballot was thrown out.
One of the Ballot Board clerks said the signatures on the application and the ballot didn’t match. I used a marking pen for one.
The Republican election judge agreed. But later, the county election administrator and Secretary of State’s office said the writing was clear enough and the ballot should have been accepted.
When I checked into who was on the Ballot Board that day, I found they were members of the Grapevine-based True Texas Project.
So much for the current Tarrant County Republican Party and “election integrity.”
This story was originally published October 30, 2026 at 4:50 AM.
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Bud Kennedy is a Fort Worth Star-Telegram opinion columnist. In a 54-year Texas newspaper career, he has covered two Super Bowls, a presidential inauguration, seven national political conventions and 19 Texas Legislature sessions..
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