I Was A Republican Mayor Of Dallas—Here's Why I'm Voting For Talarico Over Paxton: Steve Bartlett

let's talk about the time that we're in because as we sit here we're about a week and a half from election day and things are heating up in texas to say the least all eyes are on the lone star state especially at that really tight senate race between state representative james talarico and the state's attorney general ken paxton and depending on what poll you're looking at either talarico is ahead by a few points or they are neck and neck and tied So to start off the conversation, how are Texans feeling about this race right now? What's the mood down there?

Well, I believe that James Tallarico will win and should win for a whole lot of reasons, but I think it is really close and really tight.

The Paxton campaign has come out with just...

I've been in politics all my life, and it's the most negative and false and lying ads that I've ever seen in my life.

So that's what's tightening it up a little bit is these really aggressive negative advertising.

But nevertheless, I think Tallarico will win.

In Britain, I should tell you one reason that I think he will win

is related to the Republican legacy,

and that is a significant number of Republicans will vote for James Tallarico, understanding he's a Democrat, disagreeing with some of his stands on issues, but agreeing with most of his stands, and also as a vote against Ken Paxton.

I do want to talk about some Republican defectors because some members of the Bush family, arguably Texas's most prominent Republican dynasty, are throwing their support behind Tallarico.

And when you look at other polling when it comes to the governor's race in Texas, the incumbent governor, Greg Abbott, he has more breathing room.

He's a few points ahead of his Democratic challenger.

And then depending on the poll you look at when it comes to the Senate race, Paxton is either neck and neck and tied with Tallarico or trailing him by a few points.

So why do you think Tallarico is able to attract some Texas Republicans?

Well, one of the ironies of all of this is that the Ken Paxton nomination and Tallarico doing so well is actually affecting Greg Abbott's campaign.

I think Greg Abbott will be reelected.

but I think what's holding him down is the Senate race and trying to carry Paxton.

And so therefore, I think that the Republican support for Tallarico, which is considerable, it'll be double digit or higher support, not just the Bush family, but a lot of former elected officials, Republican officials, some current elected officials are publicly out there campaigning for Tallarico.

So it, That changes the equation a lot.