James Talarico Challenges ‘Low T’ Ken Paxton to Debate Moderated by TMZ, Mocks His ‘Pretty Small’ Crowds

Texas State Rep. James Talarico (D) issued a challenge to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, his opponent in the race to be the Lone Star State’s next senator, inviting him to finally debate in a meetup moderated by TMZ.

The battle between Talarico and the scandal-plagued AG has become one of the most expensive and most bitter in U.S. political history. Paxton defeated incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the primary with a boost from President Donald Trump’s endorsement, but that win required a runoff, burned through campaign funds, and put a spotlight on the series of scandals, lawsuits, and other controversies that have dogged Paxton for years.

When Talarico announced he had the flu and dropped off the campaign trail earlier this month, it looked like Paxton had finally stumbled into some good luck, but instead the campaign chose to amplify several right-wing influencers who were sharing their wild and unfounded speculations that Talarico had fled the state to seek mental health treatment. Even more unhinged theories bubbled up in MAGA circles online, accusing Talarico of seeking some sort of transgender medical procedure and other assorted conspiracies.

Paxton demanded “proof of life” from Talarico, the Democratic nominee popped up smiling and shaking hands with attendees at a music festival in Austin, the medical facility the conspiracists claimed Talarico was at issued a statement denying he had ever been a patient of theirs, and the entire kerfuffle helped highlight Talarico’s attacks on Paxton for refusing to agree to debate him.

Talarico has continued to throw rhetorical punches at Paxton for not being willing to debate, and was asked about that — and the attacks Paxton’s camp has lobbed at him — in an interview with TMZ DC’s Jacob Wasserman.

WASSERMAN: A lot of people come after you over your “masculinity.” I mean, me too, man — you know, it makes two of us, but I hear “Low-T Talarico”, “Tofu Talerico.” Do you feel like at, to some extent, it’s important for a candidate to be macho?

TALARICO: Well, I mean, Ken Paxton has refused to debate, and that’s — that’s pretty “low-T” behavior in my book. You know, I think y’all at TMZ got to talk with Ken Paxton earlier, about his refusal to debate, and he said something about he
doesn’t want to do it on CNN, but I actually challenged him to do it on Fox News, on his home turf, in his safe space. But maybe —this is now just occurring to me — maybe TMZ should host this debate. You seem to — you get a hold of Ken Paxton easier than most journalists do. So —

WASSERMAN — I’m all the way in.

TALARICO: So, you’re in. You can be the moderator.

WASSERMAN: I’m in!

TALARICO: All right. You go find Ken Paxton. You get him to agree, and we’ll do it!

WASSERMAN: Okay. I was going to leave tomorrow, but —

TALARICO: No, you got to stay now. You got to stay, and we got to see how — you know, Ken Paxton tells us constantly about his testosterone and — and we’re all ready to see it.

WASSERMAN: So, in his defense, in his defense, like you’re going on a tour right now. So is he. So like, isn’t it better if you’re Ken to be meeting voters than to be screaming with you on TV? Like, I kind of get where he’s coming from to some extent.

TALARICO: Well, I don’t know how many voters he’s meeting because his crowds are pretty small. Obviously we’re getting to meet thousands of people out here on the campaign trail. So, I don’t know if we could call his a tour, but he is certainly driving around.

WASSERMAN: My colleague has been going to that. They’re — they were hitting the “YMCA.” They’re having some fun. So, it’s —yeah, so —no, it’s — they’re doing well. But, no, I get what you — I get what you mean.

You know what’s interesting, though? Just going back to the macho thing. It’s like Abdul El-Sayed, Wes Moore, they’ve made the calculus, like “I need to lean in to being a man. I want to post videos of me lifting.” So even people in your party though, they think like “I got to lean into being a man.”

TALARICO: Maybe. So I don’t — I don’t have that insecurity, I guess. So — but everybody’s got to do their own thing.

Watch the video above via TMZ on YouTube (relevant section starts around the 1:20 mark).

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