Paxton ad distorts Talarico's tax record as Texas Senate race intensifies

Republican Ken Paxton's campaign uses selectively edited remarks to portray Democrat James Talarico as a supporter of sweeping tax increases, but legislative records and the candidates' full statements tell a more complicated story.

In late August, Democrat James Talarico said that he had told “every … wealthy person” that “if you are OK with getting taxed more, if you’re OK with me limiting your influence in politics, you are welcome to join this movement that we are building.” But an ad from his Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, skips the part about wealthy people and influencing politics to brand Talarico as a proponent of raising all kinds of taxes.

Polling shows Talarico, a former Texas state representative, and Paxton, the state’s attorney general, locked in a tight battle for the open Texas Senate seat.

The Paxton ad, which has primarily aired on broadcast television over the past week, according to the ad tracking service AdImpact, takes other quotes from Talarico out of context and claims he “voted for an income tax” in the state and is “pushing higher property taxes.” It ends by saying, “Texans can’t afford Talarico’s radical agenda.”