2026-05-25T09:00:08.358Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/25/politics/james-talarico-ken-paxton-texas-senate-vegan
得克萨斯州凯蒂市——
在赢得唐纳德·特朗普总统背书并参与参议院竞选后的首场集会上，肯·帕克斯顿告诉在场人群，他想尝试点新花样。
帕克斯顿称，民主党候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科将是“美国有史以来，或许全美范围内最激进的得州联邦参议员，所以今晚我想试几个绰号，看看大家能不能帮我选一个。”
帕克斯顿将麦克风递给观众，台下随即涌现出各种提议。“低 testosterone 塔拉里科”。“豆腐塔拉里科”。“塔拉里科怪胎”。
“大豆男孩！”一名男子自发大喊道。
这些与食物相关的称呼源自共和党已经炒得火热的一个论调——塔拉里科是纯素主义者，而事实并非如此。但帕克斯顿反复提及这一点，在休斯顿郊区一家烧烤店内挤满的支持者群体中博得了满堂彩，服务员正端着满满一盘盘牛腩、香肠和肋排穿梭于厨房和餐桌之间。
“我们知道詹姆斯·塔拉里科绝不会来这里，因为他不吃这些东西，”帕克斯顿说道，“我们从未有过不吃肉的联邦参议员，尤其是在得州烧烤这种场合。”
在帕克斯顿看来，塔拉里科根本没有资格代表得州。
这场集会展现了帕克斯顿如何提前转向大选攻势，距离周二与现任参议员约翰·康林的党内初选决选仅剩数日。帕克斯顿——以及特朗普——正预示着将对塔拉里科发起猛烈的攻击和嘲讽，共和党正准备团结这位丑闻缠身的州总检察长，并将焦点始终对准这位民主党候选人。
帕克斯顿在米德韦烧烤店发表演讲时，店内的电视正在播放福克斯新闻重播特朗普当天早些时候的言论，特朗普称塔拉里科“在得州以纯素主义者身份绝对不可能当选”。特朗普还称塔拉里科是“一个古怪的——非常古怪的——候选人”，这番言论很快被一个支持帕克斯顿的组织制作成了广告。
共和党还反复提及塔拉里科2021年在州议会辩论中的言论：“现代科学显然承认，生物学上的性别远不止两种。事实上，有六种。”米德韦烧烤店的一名顾客拿起麦克风，称塔拉里科为“六性别吉米”。
共和党此番策略让人联想到2018年——另一个特朗普执政的中期选举年——当时参议员特德·克鲁兹在与民主党众议员贝托·奥罗克的竞选中形势比预期严峻，便通过持续对奥罗克进行个人嘲讽来调动共和党基础选民的热情。克鲁兹还用上了食肉的得州人能共情的方式贬低奥罗克，称他是“三重肉华堡自由派”。
塔拉里科成为重大威胁的速度远比奥罗克要快。如果他在周二胜出，帕克斯顿将在大选竞选活动中面临困境——此前康林和全国共和党已斥资数千万美元散播针对他的腐败和通奸指控。
特朗普对帕克斯顿的背书立刻让他成为决选的领跑者。帕克斯顿在烧烤店外接受美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）采访时表示，他已准备好与华盛顿的共和党人“团结一心”。
康林一直警告称，帕克斯顿将成为共和党在11月大选的累赘。他周五在科珀斯克里斯蒂对支持者表示，他自豪地支持特朗普，但“得州人有权选择我们的参议员，其他人无权干涉。”
如果帕克斯克斯顿成为共和党候选人，民主党人对该党自1988年以来首次赢得得州参议院席位的前景持谨慎乐观态度。然而，就在上周晚些时候帕克斯顿在全州范围内举行决选最后几场集会时，几乎找不到任何支持者能想象得州选民会选举塔拉里科。
67岁的退休IT工程师布莱恩·米纳齐是帕克斯顿的支持者，他表示今年早些时候看到几块庭院竞选广告牌后，便开始研究塔拉里科及其立场。他说，自己的反应是“哦，绝对不行”。
“他不是那种会争取我支持的人，”米纳齐说道，似乎用饮食术语总结了两人截然不同的世界观，“我想要牛排；这家伙想要寿司。”
共和党近期又找到了新的攻击素材：塔拉里科与前总统贝拉克·奥巴马一同造访奥斯汀一家塔可饼店时，点了两份土豆鸡蛋芝士塔可——这是常见的早餐塔可组合，虽不含肉类，但并非纯素。
在一些塔拉里科的支持者看来，共和党对塔拉里科饮食的执着已经令人厌烦。周四，在一名记者刚开口问及相关话题时，塔拉里科的支持者朱莉·刘易斯便翻了个白眼并叹了口气。
“这是我听过最蠢的事，”来自圣安东尼奥的62岁退休人员刘易斯说道，当时她正在提前投票，“他吃什么有什么关系？我不在乎他吃什么。我在乎的是他的原则。而这些其他人毫无道德底线。”
“这只是一个例子，证明特朗普有多蠢，以及特朗普认为民众有多蠢，”她补充道。
塔拉里科一直以轻松的态度回应有关他是纯素主义者的指控，这些指控源于一段重新浮出水面的2022年视频，视频中他谈到减少肉类消费，并在州众议院竞选期间开展“无肉”宣传活动。他的竞选团队确实发布了一份“詹姆斯·塔拉里科关于纯素指控的官方声明”，其中仅包含一张他在得州州博览会上咬火鸡腿的照片。
至于他的大选策略，塔拉里科已暗示，他可能会采取比帕克斯顿更广泛的方针，以期建立一个覆盖面更广的联盟。他在初选期间曾在总检察长办公室外公布一项反腐败议程，以此攻击帕克斯顿，而最近他又出现在休斯顿的一个私人飞机航站楼外，呼吁关闭“亿万富翁税收漏洞”。他在四分钟的演讲中并未提及帕克斯顿。
尽管华盛顿的民主党团体针对特朗普对帕克斯顿的背书，重新翻出了帕克斯顿的丑闻，但塔拉里科发布的声明则克制得多。
“詹姆斯正在打造一场以民众为动力的运动，以对抗这个腐朽、腐败的政治体系——不是对抗任何一位政客，不是对抗任何一个政党，而是对抗那些让得州民众生活成本上升、中饱私囊的亿万富翁巨型捐助者和傀儡政客，”塔拉里科竞选团队发言人JT·恩尼斯在为此次报道发布的声明中说道。
支持塔拉里科的超级政治行动委员会“孤星崛起PAC”计划“积极揭露任何共和党提名者的失败和腐败”，该组织主任加里·琼斯在一份声明中表示。
自3月3日初选中击败众议员贾斯敏·克罗克特以来，塔拉里科花了大量时间努力团结得州民主党人，尤其是那些压倒性支持克罗克特的黑人选民。他会见了包括沃斯堡民权活动家奥帕尔·李在内的知名黑人领袖，正是李领导了将六月节定为全国假日的运动。
他在达拉斯保罗·奎因学院发表了毕业典礼演讲，该学院是得州历史最悠久的黑人学院，同时发布了一项解决孕产妇死亡率问题的计划，该问题对黑人女性的影响尤为严重。
有迹象表明塔拉里科的大选策略，上月他试图通过支持特朗普暂停联邦汽油税的呼吁，在州共和党领导人与特朗普之间制造分歧。得州州长候选人民主党提名者吉娜·希诺霍萨也呼应了这一呼吁，她周四在奥斯汀举行新闻发布会，要求州长格雷格·雅培履行长期承诺，从联邦政府报销得州在边境安全上花费的数十亿美元。
“肯·帕克斯顿也可以为我们的钱提起诉讼，”她说道，这表明如果帕克斯顿成为共和党候选人，除塔拉里科之外的民主党候选人也可能将他纳入攻击目标。
尽管一些民主党人对帕克斯顿早期对塔拉里科的猛烈抨击嗤之以鼻，但其他人表示，该党必须清楚认识这场竞选的利害关系。
曾因在得州堕胎禁令下被拒绝治疗而起诉帕克斯顿的堕胎权利活动家劳伦·米勒表示，得州民主党人应该“极其认真地对待”帕克斯顿，并称他“为了推进其保守议程和政治生涯，不惜歪曲法律”。
“让他担任任何需要承担责任的职位都几乎是可怕的前景，”米勒说道，“坦率地说，监督油漆干燥这样的工作，对像肯·帕克斯顿这样腐败和极端的人来说权力都太大了。”
周四在圣安东尼奥提前投票后，塔拉里科的支持者史蒂文·霍尔特敦促候选人坚持既定路线，并就腐败问题“狠狠打击”帕克斯顿。30岁的当地大学生霍尔特补充道，那些对塔拉里科点了土豆鸡蛋芝士塔可感到愤怒的人，可能从一开始就没打算投票给他。
“我觉得那是很正常的点餐选择，”霍尔特说道，“那些认为这不正常的人，平时根本不会经常点塔可。”
如今，帕克斯顿的支持者认为这场决选他稳操胜券，除非自己出现失误。
帕克斯顿在接受CNN采访时表示，他欢迎特朗普前来得州为他进行大选竞选活动——考虑到特朗普在得州选民中的支持率持续下滑，这一点值得关注——并且他“绝对”会与塔拉里科进行辩论。
尽管如此，帕克斯顿的支持者认为大选竞争激烈的可能性很小。一些人主动承认了他的丑闻——或者用其中一人的话说，是“不稳妥的道德操守”——但仍对帕克斯顿能胜出充满信心。
来自康弗斯的62岁退休人员赖安·丰唐说：“或许在正常时期，帕克斯顿的包袱可能会对他造成伤害。”
“我认为目前支持帕克斯顿这类真正大力支持特朗普总统的人势头正盛，”丰唐在提前投票后说道，“我认为这将帮助他胜出，尤其是考虑到他可能的对手。我认为他（塔拉里科）一点实力都没有。”
不过，也有一些迹象表明共和党存在焦虑情绪，就在帕克斯顿结束决选竞选活动之际。在凯蒂市的集会上，当地获得特朗普背书的国会候选人特雷弗·内尔斯警告人群，“通往11月的路还很长”。
“我们都知道初选竞争非常激烈，”内尔斯说道，“有些选民可能因为自己支持的候选人落选而情绪激动，但输掉选举的方式就是不团结在保守派共和党人周围。”
周四在圣安东尼奥举行的帕克斯顿集会上，另一位获得特朗普背书的众议院候选人布兰登·埃雷拉表示，看到如此多的人到场投票让他备受鼓舞，因为“本届选举周期我们最大的挑战之一是选民倦怠”。
帕克斯顿在凯蒂和圣安东尼奥的每场集会都吸引了150多人到场。在凯蒂市，当他首次提及特朗普的背书时，人群鼓掌欢呼了近半分钟。“我爱唐纳德·特朗普，”帕克斯顿说道。
对这些观众而言，帕克斯顿的争议事件以及随之而来的选举风险都是可以接受的代价。
“我知道大家在说丑闻，但你知道吗？有比尔·克林顿，有很多总统都有过丑闻，”57岁的帕克斯顿支持者南希·塔特姆周四在圣安东尼奥提前投票后说道，“我们都不完美。只要他的价值观与我一致，我就没问题。”
A ‘vegan’ and ‘Tala-freak-o’: GOP prepares a furious general election messaging blitz against Talarico
2026-05-25T09:00:08.358Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/25/politics/james-talarico-ken-paxton-texas-senate-vegan
Katy, Texas—
In one of his first rallies since winning President Donald Trump’s endorsement in his Senate race, Ken Paxton told the crowd he wanted to try something new.
The Democratic nominee, James Talarico, Paxton said, would be the “most radical US senator from Texas, maybe in the whole country, ever, so I wanted to test a few nicknames tonight and see if you can help me.”
The suggestions from the audience started flowing as Paxton passed the mic around. “Low-T Talarico.” “Tofu Talarico.” “Tala-freak-o.”
“Soy boy!” a man yelled out unprompted.
The food references came from an already burgeoning Republican talking point — that Talarico is a vegan, which he isn’t. Yet Paxton brought it up repeatedly, delighting a packed crowd of supporters inside a suburban Houston barbecue spot as waiters shuttled back and forth from the kitchen with heaping plates of brisket, sausage and ribs.
“We know that James Talarico would never come here because he doesn’t eat any of that stuff,” Paxton said. “We never had a US senator who didn’t eat meat, especially Texas barbecue.”
Talarico was, in a word, “unqualified” to represent Texas, according to Paxton.
The scene showed how Paxton is already pivoting to the general election ahead of Tuesday’s primary runoff with incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. Paxton — and Trump — are previewing a furious wave of attacks and mockery for Talarico, as Republicans prepare to rally around the scandal-scarred state attorney general and work to keep the spotlight on the Democrat instead.
As Paxton spoke at Midway BBQ in Katy, TVs in the room showed Fox News replaying Trump’s comments earlier in the day declaring that Talarico “can’t get elected as a vegan in Texas.” Trump also called Talarico “a weird — a weird — candidate,” a comment that quickly made it into an ad from a pro-Paxton group.
Republicans have also repeatedly brought up Talarico’s 2021 comment during a state legislative debate that “modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes. In fact, there are six.” One of the patrons at Midway BBQ took the mic to call Talarico “six-gender Jimmy.”
The Republican strategy is reminiscent of 2018 — another midterm year with Trump in power — when Sen. Ted Cruz found himself in a tougher-than-expected race with Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke and sought to rouse the GOP base with sustained personal ridicule of O’Rourke. Cruz also denigrated O’Rourke in terms that carnivorous Texans could relate to, calling him a “Triple Meat Whataburger liberal.”
Talarico has established himself as a formidable threat much sooner than O’Rourke did. And if he wins Tuesday, Paxton enters the general election campaign after Cornyn and national Republicans spent tens of millions of dollars airing allegations of corruption and adultery against him.
Trump’s endorsement of Paxton instantly made him the front-runner in the runoff. Paxton told CNN in an interview outside of the barbecue joint that he was “ready to unite” with Washington Republicans.
Cornyn has kept up his warnings that Paxton would be an albatross for the GOP in November. He told supporters Friday in Corpus Christi that he proudly supports Trump but that “Texans get to choose our senator and no one else.”
If Paxton becomes the GOP nominee, Democrats are cautiously optimistic about the party’s chances of winning their first Senate election in Texas since 1988. Yet as Paxton held his final rallies of the runoff across the state late last week, it was hard to find any supporter who could fathom that Texans would elect Talarico.
Blaine Minazzi, a 67-year-old retired IT engineer who supports Paxton, said he started researching Talarico and his positions after seeing a few yard signs earlier this year. His reaction, he said, was, “Oh, hell no.”
“He’s not the kind of guy that would by vying” for my support, Minazzi said, seeming to sum up their vastly different worldviews in the parlance of diet. “I want steak; this guy wants sushi.”
Republicans found new fodder for the narrative more recently after Talarico visited a taco shop in Austin with former President Barack Obama and ordered two potato, egg and cheese tacos, a common breakfast taco combo that is nonetheless meat-free — though not vegan.
To some of Talarico’s supporters, the GOP fixation with Talarico’s diet is already exhausting. One Talarico backer, Julie Lewis, rolled her eyes and sighed Thursday before a reporter could finish asking a question about the topic.
“That is the dumbest damn thing I’ve ever heard,” said Lewis, a 62-year-old retiree from San Antonio, where she was voting early. “What difference does it make what he eats? I don’t care what he eats. I care about his principles. And these other men have no moral compass.”
“It’s just an example of how stupid Trump is and how stupid Trump thinks people are,” she added.
Talarico has responded lightheartedly to the vegan allegations, which stem from a resurfaced 2022 clip in which he talked about reducing meat consumption and running a “non-meat” campaign for the state House. His campaign did issue an “Official Statement from James Talarico on Vegan Accusations” that consisted entirely of a picture of him taking a bite out of a turkey leg at the State Fair of Texas.
As for his strategy in the general election, Talarico has signaled that he may aim more broadly than Paxton as he looks to build a far-reaching coalition. He sought to take on Paxton during the primary by unveiling an anti-corruption agenda outside the attorney general’s office, but more recently appeared outside a private jet terminal in Houston to call for closing “billionaire tax loopholes.” He did not mention Paxton during four minutes of remarks.
While Democratic groups in Washington responded to Trump’s endorsement of Paxton by rehashing Paxton’s scandals, Talarico released a statement that was far more restrained.
“James is building a people-powered movement to take on this broken, corrupt political system — not any one politician, not any one political party, but the billionaire mega-donors and puppet politicians who have made life more expensive for Texans while enriching themselves,” Talarico campaign spokesman JT Ennis said in a statement for this story.
A pro-Talarico super PAC, Lone Star Rising PAC, plans to “aggressively expose the failures and corruption of whoever wins the Republican nomination,” the group’s director, Garry Jones, said in a statement.
Since triumphing over Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the March 3 primary, Talarico has spent considerable time trying to unite Texas Democrats, especially the Black voters who overwhelmingly supported her. He has met with prominent Black leaders including Fort Worth civil rights activist Opal Lee, who led the movement to make Juneteenth a national holiday.
He delivered the commencement address at Paul Quinn College in Dallas, the oldest historically Black college in Texas, and released a plan to tackle maternal mortality, an issue that disproportionately affects Black women.
In one hint at a general-election strategy, Talarico sought last month to drive a wedge between state GOP leaders and Trump by embracing Trump’s call for suspending the federal gas tax. The call was echoed by the Democratic nominee for governor, Gina Hinojosa, who held a news conference in Austin on Thursday to demand Gov. Greg Abbott fulfill his long-running promise to get reimbursement from the federal government for the billions of dollars Texas has spent on border security.
“Ken Paxton could be suing for our money too,” she said, signaling how Democratic candidates beyond Talarico could loop him into attacks if he is the GOP nominee.
While some Democrats have scoffed at Paxton’s early broadsides against Talarico, others say the party must be clear-eyed about the stakes of the race.
Lauren Miller, an abortion rights activist who sued Paxton after she was denied care under the state’s abortion ban, said Texas Democrats should take Paxton “extremely seriously,” adding that he is “willing to bend the law” to advance his conservative agenda and political career.
“It’s almost a terrifying prospect to have him anywhere close to another office where he has any level of responsibility,” Miller said. “Just quite frankly, supervising paint dry is too much power for some as corrupt and extreme as Ken Paxton.”
After voting early Thursday in San Antonio, one Talarico supporter, Steven Holt, urged the candidate to stay the course and “hammer” Paxton on corruption. Holt, a 30-year-old local college student, added that people who are worked up about Talarico ordering a potato, egg and cheese taco probably were not planning on voting him to begin with.
“I think that’s a very normal thing to order,” Holt said. “People who think that isn’t a normal thing aren’t ordering tacos on the regular.”
Now, Paxton’s supporters see the runoff as his to lose.
Paxton told CNN in an interview he would welcome Trump to campaign with him in Texas during a general election — notable given the president’s sagging approval rating with Texas voters — and that he would “absolutely” debate Talarico.
Despite that, Paxton’s supporters see little reason for a competitive general election. Some proactively acknowledged his scandals — or “shaky ethics,” as one put it — but expressed confidence Paxton would persevere.
Ryan Fontenot, a 62-year-old retiree from Converse, said that “maybe in normal times Paxton’s baggage might’ve hurt him.”
“I think the momentum is behind people like Paxton right now who are really, really supporting President Trump,” Fontenot said, speaking after voting early. “I think that’s going to carry him over, especially because of who he’s likely to be running against. I don’t think he’s very strong at all.”
Yet there were some signs of GOP anxiety as Paxton closed out his campaigning for the runoff. At the Katy rally, a local Trump-endorsed congressional candidate, Trever Nehls, warned the crowd that there is “a long road ahead” to November.
“We all know there have been some very contentious primaries,” Nehls said. “Some folks probably a little emotional if their candidates did not win, but the way to lose an election is not unite behind the conservative Republican.”
At a rally for Paxton on Thursday in San Antonio, another Trump-endorsed House contender, Brandon Herrera, said he was encouraged to see such a large turnout because “one of the biggest things we’re going to be fighting this cycle is voter apathy.”
Paxton filled rooms with over 150 people at each stop in Katy and San Antonio. In Katy, the crowd applauded and cheered for nearly half a minute when he first mentioned his Trump endorsement. “I love Donald Trump,” Paxton said.
To such audiences, Paxton’s controversies — and the electoral risks that go with them — are an acceptable price to pay.
“I know they’re saying scandals, but you know what? There’s been Bill Clinton, there’s been a lot of presidents that had scandals,” said Nancy Tatum, a 57-year-old Paxton supporter, after voting early Thursday in San Antonio. “We’re all imperfect. As long as his values line up with mine, I’m OK with that.”