James Talarico, the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee in Texas, challenged his opponent — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — to a debate on Fox News while speaking at the annual Texas Tribune Festival, a journalism convention, on Thursday.
“Let’s go to Ken Paxton’s safe space,” Talarico said at the event. “I’ll go into the Lions Den because I know what I believe. I am proud of my record, and I’m not afraid of hard questions.”
Talarico also addressed advertisements created against him and his campaign. One advertisement says that Talarico voted against bills intended to stop Chinese Communist Party influence in Texas. The ad references debate surrounding Texas Senate Bill 17, which restricts foreign governments, companies and individuals from buying property in Texas. Talarico voted against the bill which became law in June 2025.
“I voted for an amendment to the bill to ban China from buying land near military bases,” Talarico said at the event. “What I objected to was the overly broad language in the bill that would have given the governor of Texas ultimate power to decide who gets to buy property and who doesn’t.”
Talarico responded to critiques from opponents calling him a socialist by saying he was fighting for “OG capitalism.” He said he felt corporations needed to give back to their workers more and suggested H-E-B as an example of having “corporate ethos.”
“I believe in free enterprise. I believe in competition. I believe in free markets and growth,” Talarico said. “The point I’ve made in the past is that this system we have now is actually not capitalism. This system only works for those who can afford to buy politicians like Ken Paxton, who can afford to buy access to control. This is not capitalism. This is crony capitalism.”
