James Talarico is hoping to flip the script on one of the GOP’s peskiest attacks against Texas Democrats for over a decade.

Instead of waiting for Republicans to accuse him of trying “to California” Texas, as they’ve done with other stateside Democratic candidates, the U.S. Senate candidate is going on offense and pointing out Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s ties to the Golden State.

“I believe anyone can be a Texan. It doesn’t matter if you’re an 8th-generation Texan like me or a California transplant like Ken Paxton,” Talarico quipped in his speech to the Texas Democratic Convention in Corpus Christi last week, eliciting applause and laughter from the crowd.

Paxton was born in North Dakota but grew up in several different states because his father was in the Air Force and the family frequently moved. One of those stops was California, which Talarico made sure was a part of his speech.

But it’s not the first time he’s pointed out Paxton’s ties. On social media, Talarico’s campaign posted clips of past podcast interviews of Paxton talking glowingly about going to places like Laguna Beach in California and another of him talking about how hard it was to leave California as a junior in high school when his family relocated to Lawton, Oklahoma.

“I grew up in California,” Paxton told Houston attorney Tony Buzbee on a podcast interview in November 2025.

Paxton graduated from high school in Oklahoma and later attended Baylor University.

“Ken Paxton clearly misses his old home in California,” Paxton’s campaign team posted on social media last week.

Paxton’s campaign is firing back, accusing Talarico of disrespecting military families who end up moving around frequently. 

“Talarico should explain why he believes the children of service members who were stationed outside Texas are somehow ‘less Texan,’” Paxton’s campaign said in a press release responding to Talarico.

In addition, Paxton on Tuesday reposted part of Talarico’s speech to the Democrats calling him a California transplant, but with an image of his father, Warren Paxton, in his Air Force uniform. 

“I couldn’t be prouder to have grown up in a military family, traveling the nation,” Paxton wrote.

Attacking candidates’ California connections is usually reserved for Republicans who want to highlight their opponents more liberal views. In his first campaign for governor in 2012, Greg Abbott accused his then Democratic opponent, Wendy Davis, of trying to bring blue state values to Texas by raising money in California. Four years later, he was at it again, telling his Democratic opponent Lupe Valdez: “Don’t California my Texas!”

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz also used the phrase against Democratic opponents Beto O’Rourke in 2018 and Colin Allred in 2024.