Do voters in 2026 care about a politician\u2019s affairs or otherwise messy love life?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the question Democrats are navigating as they try to defeat Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for Senate in Texas, who overcame a blitz of TV ads from his G.O.P. primary rival assailing him as a \u201cwife cheater\u201d<\/a> and publicizing his wife\u2019s decision to file for divorce on \u201cbiblical grounds.\u201d<\/p>\n James Talarico, the Democratic nominee, showed off one answer on Monday, when The Daily Mail<\/a> published photos and a video of Mr. Paxton traveling with another woman over the weekend to Reykjavik, Iceland. Mr. Paxton is separated from his wife, with the divorce not yet final \u2014 but that didn\u2019t discourage the British tabloid from headlining the article \u201cMarried Texas Republican caught on video with mistress on secret romantic getaway.\u201d<\/p>\n In a social media post, Mr. Talarico shared the Daily Mail article, seizing on the Iceland vacation to try to portray Mr. Paxton as distant from working-class Americans.<\/p>\n \u201cKen Paxton was impeached for taking bribes from donors,\u201d Mr. Talarico wrote on X<\/a> late Monday, referring to Mr. Paxton\u2019s 2023 impeachment on corruption charges, of which the State Senate acquitted him. \u201cHe became a multi-millionaire on a government salary. He takes lavish vacations in Iceland while Texans can\u2019t afford the basics. Ken Paxton doesn\u2019t serve us \u2014 he serves himself.\u201d He did not directly refer to his opponent\u2019s love life.<\/p>\n Mr. Paxton did not confirm or deny that he was romantically involved with the woman, and did not respond to a request for comment. His trial for divorce from Angela Paxton, a Texas state senator, was previously set to take place this month but was delayed. <\/p>\n Mr. Talarico\u2019s love life also became fodder for speculation after he revealed on a podcast<\/a> that he had a girlfriend \u201cof many years\u201d and met her while they worked together. The conservative online publication Current Revolt<\/a> soon reported that he was dating Brianna Menard, Mr. Talarico\u2019s former chief of staff, who is now a lobbyist at the Texas Medical Association. <\/p>\n \u201cAfter they developed feelings for each other, James\u2019 girlfriend left the office to pursue other opportunities,\u201d the campaign told The Austin American-Statesman<\/a> in a statement.<\/p>\n The dust-up over Mr. Paxton\u2019s vacation came as a New York Times\/Siena poll<\/a> showed the two candidates in a dead heat, with 47 percent of Texas voters supporting each one.<\/p>\n A majority of likely Texas voters saw Mr. Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian<\/a>, as having \u201cgood character\u201d and \u201cthe right kind of moral values.\u201d In contrast, fewer than 40 percent would say the same about Mr. Paxton, the survey found<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the Republican primary race, Senator John Cornyn lost badly<\/a> to Mr. Paxton in May despite outspending him<\/a> by more than $80 million on advertising and slamming him over his scandals.<\/p>\n Whether Mr. Talarico can make such attacks stick in solidly red Texas remains an open question.<\/p>\n His decision not to directly discuss Mr. Paxton\u2019s rocky marriage may reflect an awareness of American voters\u2019 shifting views, strategists said.<\/p>\n Brendan Steinhauser, a Republican strategist in Texas, said that voters had made it clear that they weren\u2019t concerned about candidates\u2019 personal lives.<\/p>\n \u201cCornyn obviously spent a lot of money delivering messages about this, and it just didn\u2019t work,\u201d Mr. Steinhauser said. \u201cThe feedback I got was, \u2018We want a disrupter, we want change, we want a fighter, and so we want Paxton.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n He said that in a polarized country, voters on both sides were willing to overlook adultery if it meant their party had a better shot.<\/p>\n But at the same time, Mr. Cornyn\u2019s work to inform voters of Mr. Paxton\u2019s past controversies might help Mr. Talarico\u2019s campaign, said Matt Angle, who runs the Lone Star Project, a Democratic political action committee.<\/p>\n \u201cJohn Cornyn has exposed Ken Paxton\u2019s corruption to Texans at a higher level than any Democrat ever has,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd he\u2019s done a service to this country.\u201d<\/p>\n Republicans have sought to paint Mr. Talarico as \u201cweak and weird,\u201d<\/a> labeling him \u201cLow T Talarico\u201d in an attempt to question his masculinity. One ad<\/a> spliced together clips of him saying that \u201cGod is nonbinary,\u201d that Jesus had helped him \u201creckon with (his) own Whiteness\u201d and that there were \u201cmany more than two genders.\u201d<\/p>\n