Texans will "vote for common sense and reasonableness, and they'll reject 'Talafreako,'" in the upcoming Texas U.S. Senate race, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Joe Gruters told Breitbart News.
The post Exclusive — RNC Chairman Joe Gruters: Republicans Will Coalesce Behind Ken Paxton, ‘Ruby Red Texas’ Will Reject Talarico appeared first on Breitbart.
Texans will “vote for common sense and reasonableness, and they’ll reject ‘Talafreako,’” in the upcoming Texas U.S. Senate race, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Joe Gruters told Breitbart News.
Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow interviewed Gruters at the 2026 Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) National Leadership Summit on Aug. 31, where the two discussed the state of the Texas U.S. Senate race and the battle between Republican Ken Paxton and far-left Democrat James Talarico — dubbed “Talafreako” by President Donald Trump.
“I think we’re within the margin of error, but I think Texas is a ruby-red state. I think Paxton wins, and he’s won statewide three times [and] just took out a popular incumbent,” Gruters predicted.
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Texas Attorney General Paxton is facing Talarico after massively ousting establishment-backed incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) by double-digits. Cook Political Report has ranked the Texas U.S. Senate race a “toss-up,” and Real Clear Polling shows a polling average of Talarico narrowly leading Paxton, within a margin of error.
“Listen, when you go through a race where you have to punch somebody in the face, yes, there’s hurt feelings and Cornyn had a lot of friends,” Gruters remarked. “But at the end of the day, the Republicans will coalesce behind Paxton. They will vote for common sense and reasonableness, and they’ll reject ‘Talafreako.’”
“Again, this is a case where if the Democrats maybe put up even a guy like Beto [O’Rourke], maybe they’d have a chance. But ‘Talafreako’ is so out there and so crazy, and his positions on Christianity, on God himself being [non]binary, and then six genders, and wanting to mutilate little kids, boys in girls’ bathrooms, all these things for ruby red Texas — I don’t think so,” he continued.
“I think Paxton wins, and at the end of the day, I don’t think that’s within a point or two,” he said.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
