WASHINGTON — Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign said he would debate state Rep. James Talarico in Texas’ U.S. Senate race after Talarico challenged him to do so Thursday morning.
Talarico, the Democratic nominee, said he had accepted invitations from three Texas media groups for televised debates and urged Paxton, who has not participated in debates in recent elections, to do the same.
“I’ll be on that debate stage because I answer to the people of Texas,” Talarico said in a statement. “Ken Paxton answers to his billionaire mega-donors. We’ll see if they let him show up.”
The Paxton campaign confirmed it had received the same debate invitations as Talarico. While the Republican did not commit to a specific host, his campaign said the attorney general plans to debate.
“Of course we are going to debate James Talarico and we look forward to engaging with potential debate hosts,” Paxton senior adviser Nick Maddux said in a statement. “Talarico is a serial liar who has spent his entire campaign shamelessly deceiving Texas voters about his radical record with[out] answering the hard questions.”
So far, Talarico has accepted invitations from Nexstar Media Group and KXAN News, NBC News/NBC Universal/Hearst Texas and WFAA/Tegna.