Texas Democrat James Talarico is rolling out ads that call out Joe Biden for failing on the border and hit Ken Paxton over data center deals as early voting approaches.
Newsweek reported that Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico opened the week with two fresh television spots, one aimed at former President Joe Biden’s border record and another accusing Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton of cashing in on the data center boom.
The ads land days after Talarico returned from a flu absence and just a week before early voting begins October 19. Election Day is November 3. He is trying to hold a narrow lead in one of the most expensive Senate races in the country.
In the border spot, Talarico stands before a Texas flag and draws a line between his state and his party.
He says in the ad:
"I'll always put Texas before any political party. I called out Joe Biden for failing us on the border. I worked with Republicans to pass the largest property tax cut in Texas history."
That message targets Hispanic voters along the border who watched migrant encounters soar under Biden. Customs and Border Protection frequently logged more than 2 million encounters a year during his presidency. In 2024, Donald Trump flipped Hidalgo and Cameron counties and carried Starr County by 16 points, the first Republican presidential win there in a century.
Talarico has pressed the border argument since July, when he unveiled a plan in Terrell County. He has said Biden “and his administration failed us on our southern border.” Asked whether national Democrats erred by neglecting border security, he answered, “Absolutely,” and added that “National Democrats took the border for granted.”
Biden’s name still carries weight in those communities, and the strain inside his own circle has been public for months, including accounts of Hunter Biden pleading with his father to step aside. Talarico’s ad is a late attempt to put distance between himself and that record.
A late July Texas Pulse poll found Paxton leading Talarico 48% to 44% on who would better secure the border. Paxton, as attorney general, sued the Biden administration scores of times. His campaign has dismissed Talarico’s shift as political convenience.
Paxton said in a statement this summer:
"James Talarico is a hypocrite who has taken a page out of the Joe Biden playbook."
Fox News Digital reported that Talarico’s campaign could not point to a break with Biden while Biden was still in office. Talarico has cited a 2022 speech as earlier criticism. The timing gap is plain.
Republican strategist Mike Madrid told Newsweek in April that Talarico’s pitch has always aimed at the center. “In Texas, you can’t do this with just Democrats. You’ve got to have Republicans,” Madrid said. That is the coalition math. No Democrat has won statewide in Texas since 1994.
The second ad goes after Paxton’s ties to the data center industry. Talarico charges that the attorney general delivered special treatment and took money in return.
He says in the spot:
"Ken Paxton is selling off Texas, our land, our water, our communities. Anything to make a buck. He gave data centers billions in special tax breaks and they gave him nearly half a million in campaign contributions."
A NOTUS review of Federal Election Commission records found Paxton’s campaign took in at least $448,000 through June from executives and committees tied to firms that build, run, or invest in data centers. When the campaign posted the ad on X, it added: “Data centers bankroll Paxton, they get tax breaks, and you get stuck with the bill.” It also noted the ad “was made by humans, not AI.”
Talarico’s July “Hold Data Centers Accountable Plan” calls for repealing the state’s sales tax exemption for the industry, forcing developers to fund their own power and water infrastructure, requiring closed-loop water systems, and giving communities a voice before projects break ground. His plan cites an estimated $3.2 billion in state tax breaks. He stopped short of the statewide moratorium some Texas Democrats wanted.
Voters are wary. An August University of Texas / Texas Politics Project poll found 57% of registered voters opposed building a data center in their community, with 41% strongly opposed. A June survey showed rural opposition at 62% and suburban opposition at 60%.
Governor Greg Abbott once called Texas the “epicenter of AI development.” He has since moved to tighten oversight and end the industry’s sales tax breaks. Paxton was slower to define his position, then issued a “Texas First Data Center Plan” in August that backs repealing the incentives, makes data centers pay for the electricity infrastructure they need, requires closed-loop cooling, and would restrict AI facilities in rural residential areas.
In May, Paxton called the issue “complicated” on the Valuetainment podcast and said the United States is competing with China on artificial intelligence and “we cannot lose that race.” CBS Texas found Talarico voted for a data center sales tax incentive in 2023 that never became law, a fact Paxton’s side has used to paint him as inconsistent.
Outside spending has swamped the race. AdImpact estimates total ad spending has passed $440 million, the most of any Senate contest this cycle. Since September, Republican super PACs have steered more than $150 million toward Paxton, compared with roughly $4 million from Democratic super PACs for Talarico. A Texas PAC affiliated with the Senate Leadership Fund spent $131 million in 17 days.
Elon Musk gave $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC backing Paxton and, according to figures his representatives supplied to The New York Times, $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund. Musk’s America PAC had spent more than $6 million by late September supporting Paxton and opposing Talarico. On the other side, Lone Star Rising, the main pro-Talarico super PAC, has taken about $10 million from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, a backer of data center growth.
Talarico raised more than $27 million in the first quarter and $30 million in the second. Paxton’s campaign said it raised more than $18 million from July through September. Third-quarter FEC reports were due the day after Talarico’s October 14 CNN town hall. Family and party drama around Jill Biden’s recent comments on elections and age limits has kept the Biden name in the news while Texas Democrats try to localise the race.
Talarico, 37, has Type 1 diabetes. He disclosed a flu case on September 30 in a video to a U.S. Hispanic Business Council event in Edinburg, saying he had been “shaking too many hands on the campaign trail” and wanted to keep people safe. The CDC notes that Type 1 diabetes raises the risk of serious flu complications. He stayed out of public view until an unannounced appearance Friday at the Austin City Limits music festival.
Paxton’s campaign demanded “proof of life,” set up a “Tala-Freak-Out Tip Line,” and circulated missing-person-style posters, the Texas Tribune reported. After a San Antonio rally, President Trump wrote on Truth Social that Talarico was “MISSING IN ACTION.”
Spokesperson JT Ennis answered on X Friday:
"Hate to disappoint the conspiracy theorists, but James is still alive and meeting with voters at ACL today."
The RealClearPolitics average of polls from September 18 to October 8 had Talarico at 48.1% and Paxton at 45.3%. A Trafalgar Group survey fielded October 6, 8, during Talarico’s absence, showed him up 47% to 44%. YouGov and a New York Times/Siena College survey in early October each had Talarico ahead by 6 points. A late-September Fox News poll put the gap at 2 points.
Hispanic voters have been a bright spot for Talarico. An Emerson College poll in August showed them breaking his way by 19 points. A later Cook Political Report / TelevisaUnivision survey had him ahead 63% to 30% in that group. Republican strategist Alex Patton of Ozean Media told Newsweek earlier this year that Texas voters are responding to Talarico as a candidate even if they are not warming to the national Democratic message.
“You gotta run through the tape and leave nothing to chance,” Patton said. Democratic strategist Doug Gordon put it bluntly: “Every Democrat should be running as if they’re 10 points behind.” Southern Methodist University political scientist Calvin Jillson asked whether late millions “poured in late to rough up Talarico” could let Paxton “squeak through.”
Paxton has not accepted four debate invitations. Talarico headlined a CNN town hall on October 14. The money advantage sits with the Republican side, and the border remains the issue where Paxton has polled stronger. Decisions once debated inside the Biden White House, including reports that Biden weighed pardoning Trump, still shape how national Democrats are read in Texas.
Talarico’s twin ads try to do two jobs at once: concede the border disaster his party long downplayed, and turn local anger over data centers and utility costs against Paxton. Paxton’s record of suing the Biden administration gives him a ready reply on security. On data centers, both men now talk about ending tax breaks and making the industry pay its own way, after the contributions and the incentives already flowed.
Texas voters living with the bill from open borders and industrial carve-outs do not need another national talking point. They need results, and they can tell the difference between a conversion and a campaign ad.