Paxton vs. Talarico: New poll shows a tight race for U.S. Senate in Texas
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and state Rep. James Talarico are neck and neck in their Nov. 3 general election fight for the U.S. Senate, according to a new poll.
The June poll from the Texas Politics Project at The University of Texas at Austin has Paxton, a Republican, winning 43% of votes and Talarico, a Democrat, winning 42% of votes. That’s essentially a tie: The survey of 1,200 self-reported registered voters was done between June 5-12 and has a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points, meaning results can vary by that much in either direction..
Three percent of those polled said they planned to vote for Libertarian Ted Brown. Another 3% said they preferred “someone else,” and 10% said they hadn’t thought enough about their preferred candidate to have an opinion.
The results come in the weeks after Paxton — with President Donald Trump’s endorsement in tow — soundly defeated incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a May 26 Republican primary runoff.
Eighty-four percent of Republicans surveyed said they’d support Paxton. Eighty-eight percent of Democrats said they’d back Talarico.
Forty percent of independents said they favored Talarico, compared to 12% who support Paxton. Thirty-four percent of independents said they didn’t have an opinion.
Other recent polls have also shown a tight race between Paxton and Talarico, as Republicans in Washington work to hold on to their majority in Congress.
Margins are wider in other statewide races, the Texas Politics Project poll found.
Republican incumbent Greg Abbott led Democrat Gina Hinojosa by 7 points in the race for Texas governor. Republican incumbent Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also has a 7-point lead over Democrat Vikki Goodwin. Both challengers are Austin state representatives.
In the race for Texas attorney general, Republican state Sen. Mayes Middleton leads Democratic state Sen. Nathan Johnson by five points.
