Talarico Says He Is Willing to Meet Paxton on What He Calls the Republican Nominee’s “Home Turf” — Fox News.
Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico is turning up the pressure on Republican nominee Ken Paxton, challenging the Texas attorney general to face him in a televised debate on Fox News moderated by Bret Baier.
Talarico issued the challenge Thursday, Sept. 24, as the two candidates head toward the November election. Paxton’s campaign said in July that he intended to debate Talarico, but Paxton had not committed to a debate as of Thursday.
Talarico Takes Challenge To Fox News
“Let’s go to Ken Paxton’s safe space. Let’s do Bret Baier on Fox News,” Talarico said in his challenge. “I’ll go into the lion’s den. Because I know what I believe, I’m proud of my record, and I’m not afraid of hard questions.”
Talarico has previously accepted invitations to televised debates with Paxton. In July, Paxton senior adviser Nick Maddux responded to Talarico’s announcement by saying, “Of course we are going to debate James Talarico.”
But no debate between the two candidates has been scheduled. WFAA, one of the outlets whose invitation Talarico accepted, reported that Paxton’s campaign had communicated with station management for weeks about arranging a possible debate but had not responded to messages since Aug. 24. Talarico also accepted a CNN debate invitation on Sept. 2.
Talarico Turns Paxton Attack Back On Him
Talarico used his latest challenge to turn a Republican campaign attack back against his opponent.
Ken Paxton is running from a fight. That sounds like the ‘low T behavior’ that he loves to accuse me of.
James Talarico
Republicans have used attacks questioning Talarico’s masculinity and testosterone during the Senate campaign. Talarico referenced those attacks while arguing that Paxton should agree to meet him face-to-face on a debate stage.
Talarico Says Texans Deserve Answers
Beyond the campaign sparring, Talarico framed his challenge around voters having an opportunity to hear directly from both candidates.
“Texans deserve to have their questions answered,” Talarico said. “They deserve the chance to make an informed choice.”
Talarico said he is willing to appear on Fox News and specifically proposed Baier as moderator, describing the network as Paxton’s “home turf.” He said he is willing to go wherever necessary to make a debate happen.
Paxton Has Not Committed To Debate
Paxton’s campaign has previously criticized proposed debate formats and moderators. After Talarico accepted CNN’s invitation, Maddux attacked the network and its proposed moderators while maintaining criticism of Talarico’s record.
As of Thursday, however, Paxton had not publicly committed to a debate date. His campaign also did not immediately respond to The Texas Tribune’s request for comment following Talarico’s latest challenge. (The Texas Tribune)
With early voting approaching, the question now is whether the two U.S. Senate candidates will meet on the same stage before Texans begin casting ballots.
