Texas pastor coalition backs Ken Paxton in homestretch of Senate campaign

The Senate race between Republican Texas Attorney General and Democrat State Rep. James Talarico has been tight and fierce. As the campaigns hit the last two weeks, faith leaders in the Lone Star State are uniting.

by Summer Lane | October 16, 2026

In the great state of Texas, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is fighting hard to bring home a win at the ballot box in roughly two weeks, facing a surprisingly popular – and polarizing – Democrat opponent.

Amid the homestretch, 27 faith leaders in Texas have formed a coalition, “Pastors for Paxton,” to push for the attorney general’s victory.

The coalition will unite in prayer with their communities ahead of early voting, a press release circulating online noted.

Paxton’s campaign against Democrat State Rep. James Talarico is tighter than most expected, with the Democrat leading by thin margins in some polls, including The Texas Politics Project and ReconMR/Siena, The Hill reported.

According to The Dallas Morning News, Talarico has launched “Faithful Texans for Talarico” to compete with Paxton for the critical religious voting bloc in Texas.

Talarico is known for his radical takes on Christianity. A so-called Presbyterian seminarian, Talarico has come under fire for some of his statements about God (he has said God is “non-binary”) and gender (he has claimed there are six biological sexes).

He also claimed recently during a CNN Town Hall that the Bible is “silent” on the issue of abortion. “The Bible is silent on the issue of abortion; it means you and I have to both look at different scriptures to try and come to a conclusion,” Talarico said.

Talarico instead framed abortion as a “public policy” or public health debate, rather than a moral or theological controversy – a tactic that will no doubt irk hardline conservative voters who swing pro-life at the ballot box.

Regardless, Talarico’s campaign has made serious gains in the Lone Star State, even following Talarico’s nearly two-week absence on the campaign trail. As reported by LindellTV, Talarico disappeared from the campaign trail, claiming to have been sick with the “flu.” He reappeared late last week.

Some suggested that Talarico may have actually been checked into a mental health facility in Texas, but that report has been emphatically denied by Talarico since his reappearance.

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