Republicans are worried that the election for one of Texas’ seats in the U.S. Senate is slipping away after astounding results from the most recent polls.
Three of the polls show Democrat candidate James Talarico beating Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton, and a fourth shows a tie. Another three show Paxton beating the Democrat.
An average of the poll had Talarico above Paxton by 0.7%.
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah called on conservatives to back Paxton in light of Talarico’s extremist opinions and policies.
“Now is the time for every Republican to support @KenPaxtonTX. No exceptions. We can’t have a senator from Texas who thinks ‘God is nonbinary,'” wrote Lee with a link to the polling. Paxton defeated one of Lee’s colleagues, incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, in the Republican primary runoff after receiving Trump’s endorsement.
Two of the polls showing the Democrat winning were Fox News and New York Times/Siena polls, while the ones showing Paxton winning included Quantus and YouGov.
An average of the poll had Talarico above Paxton by 0.7%.
The Decision Desk election analysis group noted that Talarico was faring far better against Paxton in polling on the road to the election than Beto O’Rourke did when he tried to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in 2018. O’Rourke lost that contest.
Paxton most recently went on the attack after a report documented evidence that Talarico might have violated the residency rules when he ran for state representative in 2022.
“James Talarico has proven he has zero regard for Texans and the rule of law. He’s been lying to voters and shamelessly committing election fraud to hold onto power,” he wrote on Tuesday.
RELATED: Yet another bewildering anti-Christian statement from James Talarico has been unearthed
The Talarico campaign claimed that the discrepancy came from processing delays and denied the allegations.
BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere of “Stu and Dave Do America” told Blaze News that Paxton isn’t out for the count just yet.
“It’s hard for me to believe that Texans are going to wind up voting for a guy who just came out for reparations and who thinks God is nonbinary. Especially when they’re hit with hundreds of ads a week for months on end,” he said.
“Prediction markets once had Paxton as an 80% favorite, and he’s now all the way down to 54%,” he added. “Personally, I think there’s value there because I expect Paxton to improve his standing once the average John Cornyn voter starts thinking about control of the Senate going to the Democrats. Angry primary fights tend to fade as we get closer to November. But Talarico’s fundraising is scary, and it might take a sizable investment to get Paxton over the finish line.”
Democrats have a slim chance of winning the U.S. Senate in the midterms, but a victory in Texas would go a long way to help their cause.
Editor’s note: This article has been edited after publication to include a comment from BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere.
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