US Chamber of Commerce endorses Paxton over Talarico

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced it endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over Democrat James Talarico in the state’s battleground Senate contest ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

“The choice is clear in Texas. Attorney General Ken Paxton has been a defender of free enterprise and the pro-growth policies that empower American businesses to thrive,” Neil Bradley, Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer of the Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement. “He has pushed back against federal overreach, helped preserve a low-tax environment, and defended the energy sector from burdensome mandates.”

“Paxton understands that true economic prosperity relies on a fair and predictable justice system. We look forward to working together on meaningful legal reform that shields job creators from lawsuit abuse and red tape,” Bradley concluded. 

Paxton, a Trump-endorsed candidate, ousted Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in a Republican primary runoff in May but since then has struggled to build a lead against Talarico amid dissatisfaction with the GOP in the Lone Star State.

Cook Political Report shifted the race away from Republicans to a “toss-up” rating in August. Decision Desk HQ, a partner of The Hill, designated the race as a coin flip but narrowly favoring Democrats, giving Talarico a 54 percent probability of flipping the seat. 

Talarico has also hammered Paxton on his controversial record as the Lone Star State’s top prosecutor who was impeached by the Texas state House in 2023 before being acquitted by the state Senate — and, in audio shared by The New York Times, Paxton contended that his appearance at the GOP’s midterm convention “dropped our numbers.” 

The Chamber of Commerce has been active for over 100 years and previously clashed with the Trump administration earlier this year over enacting tariffs against nearly every country. 

The Chamber of Commerce opposed President Trump’s tariffs in an amicus brief in a Supreme Court case last year arguing the president was overstepping his statutory authority and his actions were causing “irreparable harm to businesses of all sizes.”

The Supreme Court later ruled the tariffs were unlawful and rejected Trump’s expanded use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in imposing tariffs. 

After the ruling, Bradley wrote in another statement that the Chamber of Commerce encouraged “the administration to use this opportunity to reset overall tariff policy in a manner that will lead to greater economic growth, larger wage gains for workers, and lower costs for families.”