There are distinct differences between the two senatorial campaigns in Texas. These have become clear over the past several days. When the Republicans want an embarrassing story about James Talarico, they have to make one up. When the Democrats want an embarrassing story about Ken Paxton, all they have to do is wait for the videos to come through. From The Wall Street Journal:
Meanwhile, damaging revelations about Paxton continue to emerge. A new scene that could join the list: a previously unreported New Year’s Eve 2024 celebration where Paxton partied in Dubai with two fugitives from U.S. justice and a woman who wasn’t his wife. As fireworks exploded over the Burj Khalifa skyscraper to welcome 2025, Paxton and his girlfriend Tracy Duhon watched from a luxury high-rise balcony full of people, according to a video of the gathering viewed by The Wall Street Journal, details of which were contained in court filings and confirmed by people familiar with the matter.
Among those at the event with Texas’ top law-enforcement official were two Americans who had been indicted months before on federal healthcare-fraud charges but failed to return to the U.S., Anosh Ahmed and Sameer Suhail, according to the court records and people familiar with the matter. Ahmed, a healthcare executive, had donated $190,000 to Paxton, campaign-finance records show, including $25,000 days after he was indicted.
Game knows game, man.
Paxton's candidacy is completely a creature of the White House political operation. The president got incumbent John Cornyn stuck in his apparently bottomless craw and went all-in on Paxton in the Republican primary, even though, according to the WSJ, some of the president's people warned him that Paxton was a big bag of unredeemable sin. Game knows game, man.
But the president plowed ahead and managed to get Paxton the nomination, after which Paxton immediately fell behind Talarico in most polls and he has resolutely stayed there for the entire campaign.
Speaking of which, the Lexington Herald-Leader took a deep dive into the Kentucky ratfcker who was behind the idiotic story about Talarico's being flown to a mental-health clinic in Ohio.
Despite being a national figure in conservative spaces, Sortor has his own complicated history with the law in Kentucky. He has been charged twice with driving under the influence and was convicted in one case. He also pleaded guilty to criminal mischief after a 2020 incident where a woman alleged he repeatedly called her, harassed her over text and temporarily stole her dog. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported in 2025 that Sortor has had an active warrant for his arrest since June 2023.
There's your conservative "influencer" right there. An alleged dog rustler. It is to weep.