Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has secured endorsements from 18 members of the state’s Republican congressional delegation as he campaigns for the U.S. Senate against Democrat James Talarico, a show of consolidated GOP support that arrives alongside fresh questions about Talarico’s voter registration history.
The endorsement announcement names a roster that spans nearly every corner of the state, from West Texas ranching country to the Houston suburbs to the Rio Grande Valley. The list includes Reps. Craig Goldman, Monica De La Cruz, Nathaniel Moran, Pat Fallon, Lance Gooden, August Pfluger, Randy Weber, Jodey Arrington, Troy Nehls, Beth Van Duyne, Roger Williams, John Carter, Brandon Gill, Brian Babin, Michael Cloud, Pete Sessions, Wesley Hunt, and Ronny Jackson.
Eighteen sitting members of Congress from the same state lining up behind a single Senate candidate sends a clear signal: the Texas Republican establishment views Paxton as the man to hold the seat.
Paxton framed the race in stark terms, casting Talarico as a well-funded vehicle for a progressive agenda that doesn’t fit Texas. In a statement, Paxton said:
“We are united because we know what’s at stake in this election. James Talarico is the most well-funded Democrat in the nation representing the most radical agenda Texas has ever seen. Together we’re going to ensure Texas continues to lead the nation in defending faith, family, and economic prosperity.”
Rep. Beth Van Duyne offered one of the sharpest cases for Paxton, pointing to his record of suing the Biden administration on issues ranging from illegal immigration to federal overreach. Van Duyne stated:
“Especially during the Biden Administration, Ken Paxton, as Attorney General, relentlessly fought against Leftist and Socialist policies, that sought to undermine our nation through mass illegal immigration, vast expansion of federal power over businesses and citizens, and the cultural rot of DEI, BLM, and trans-indoctrination which threatened women’s sports.”
Van Duyne went further, describing the contest not as a standard partisan race but as a fight between “common sense and courage versus Communism and capitulation to forces who seek to undermine freedom, capitalism, and American exceptionalism.”
Rep. Jodey Arrington, who represents West Texas, made a direct appeal to his constituents. He said no attorney general in the country fought harder against the Biden administration’s overreach than Paxton, adding that he is “confident General Paxton will bring that same resolve and tenacity to the fight in Washington.” Arrington urged his “fellow West Texans” to vote for Paxton.
The endorsement wave follows a broader pattern of Trump-aligned candidates consolidating Republican support in key 2026 Senate races across the country.
Rep. Nathaniel Moran connected Paxton’s candidacy directly to President Trump’s policy goals, listing border security, tax cuts, deregulation, Second Amendment defense, and American energy dominance as shared priorities. Moran stated:
“Only Ken Paxton supports policy positions that align with the majority of Texans and the goal of increasing liberty, securing our border, cutting taxes and regulations, defending the Second Amendment, ensuring American energy dominance, and standing with President Donald J. Trump to finish the job he was elected to do.”
Moran also took a direct shot at Talarico, calling him “a progressive Democrat” who is “out of touch with Texas” and warning that the policy gains of the past two years could be unwound if Talarico wins.
Rep. Brandon Gill, who described himself as an early Paxton endorser, said the growing list of backers reflects real momentum. Gill stated that Paxton “has never been afraid to take on the radical left and organizations who want to harm Texas families and our way of life.” That kind of willingness to fight has become a litmus test in Republican primaries and general elections alike, as recent Senate races in other states have demonstrated.
The endorsement blitz lands at a moment when Talarico is dealing with a separate headache: questions about where he voted and where he actually lived.
The Texas Tribune and ProPublica reported that Talarico voted in five elections using his parents’ address after purchasing a home approximately six miles away in June 2022. He did not update his voter registration until September 2024, more than two years after buying the new home.
Paxton has accused Talarico of election fraud based on that reporting. It is important to note that this is an accusation; no formal charges have been reported. But the optics are damaging for any candidate, and especially for one running statewide in Texas, where election integrity remains a top-tier voter concern.
Breitbart News previously reported that Talarico declined to take questions from reporters after the voter registration story broke. His campaign has maintained that he lives and is registered at the north Austin home he purchased in 2022, but that claim does not address the two-year gap between the purchase and the registration update, or the five elections in which he voted from the old address.
When a candidate who wants to represent 30 million Texans in the U.S. Senate won’t answer basic questions about where he voted, voters are entitled to draw their own conclusions.
Beyond the congressional endorsements, Paxton has been building credibility on the national stage. He joined 15 other Republican state attorneys general in backing President Trump’s call for swift Senate passage of a budget resolution. The collective statement from the 16 attorneys general framed the push in terms of military readiness, agricultural support, and election integrity:
“Our call to action today represents our deep understanding of how critical it is for Congress to deliver resources for our warfighters, assistance for our farmers and ranchers, and the urgent need to pass the commonsense election integrity measures included in the SAVE America Act.”
That effort, reported by Breitbart News, positions Paxton not merely as a state-level officeholder seeking a promotion but as a figure already operating within a national Republican coalition. The SAVE America Act’s election-integrity provisions dovetail neatly with Paxton’s longstanding emphasis on voter fraud enforcement, and with the questions now swirling around his Democratic opponent.
Senate Republicans have been active on multiple fronts this session, including efforts to close longstanding loopholes in immigration enforcement. Paxton’s record of filing lawsuits against the Biden administration on border policy gives him a natural entry point into those fights if he reaches Washington.
The 18 Republican members of Congress backing Paxton represent a cross-section of Texas’s GOP delegation:
What remains unclear is whether this list represents the entirety of Texas’s Republican House delegation or a large majority of it. Either way, the breadth of the support, spanning border districts, suburban seats, and rural strongholds, suggests Paxton faces little internal resistance from the party’s elected officials.
Trump’s own endorsement of Paxton, which preceded this wave of congressional backing, has been a defining factor in the race. The pattern of Trump-endorsed Senate candidates winning across the map in 2026 gives Paxton’s campaign a tailwind that Talarico’s fundraising alone may not be enough to overcome.
Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1988. Democrats have poured money into the state cycle after cycle, believing demographic shifts will eventually flip it. Paxton’s allies clearly intend to make sure this is not that cycle.
Paxton enters the general election with a record of aggressive litigation against federal overreach, a wall of congressional endorsements, and a national coalition of attorneys general at his back. His opponent enters it with a voter registration timeline that raises more questions than his campaign has been willing to answer.
In Texas, that’s not a close call. It’s a contrast.
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