In one of his first rallies sincewinning President Donald Trump’s endorsementin his Senate race, Ken Paxton told the crowd he wanted to try something new.
The Democratic nominee,James Talarico, Paxton said, would be the “most radical US senator from Texas, maybe in the whole country, ever, so I wanted to test a few nicknames tonight and see if you can help me.”
The suggestions from the audience started flowing as Paxton passed the mic around. “Low-T Talarico.” “Tofu Talarico.” “Tala-freak-o.”
“Soy boy!” a man yelled out unprompted.
The food references came from an already burgeoning Republican talking point — that Talarico is a vegan, which he isn’t. Yet Paxton brought it up repeatedly, delighting a packed crowd of supporters inside a suburban Houston barbecue spot as waiters shuttled back and forth from the kitchen with heaping plates of brisket, sausage and ribs.
“We know that James Talarico would never come here because he doesn’t eat any of that stuff,” Paxton said. “We never had a US senator who didn’t eat meat, especially Texas barbecue.”
Talarico was, in a word, “unqualified” to represent Texas, according to Paxton.
The scene showed how Paxton is already pivoting to the general election ahead of Tuesday’sprimary runoff with incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. Paxton — and Trump — are previewing a furious wave of attacks and mockery for Talarico, as Republicans prepare to rally around the scandal-scarred state attorney general and work to keep the spotlight on the Democrat instead.
As Paxton spoke at Midway BBQ in Katy, TVs in the room showed Fox News replaying Trump’s comments earlier in the day declaring that Talarico “can’t get elected as a vegan in Texas.” Trump also called Talarico “a weird — a weird — candidate,” a comment that quickly made it into an ad from a pro-Paxton group.
Republicans have also repeatedly brought up Talarico’s 2021 comment during a state legislative debate that “modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes. In fact, there are six.” One of the patrons at Midway BBQ took the mic to call Talarico “six-gender Jimmy.”
Source: Drudge Report
