James Talarico Draws GOP Endorsements While a Texas Rancher Says No to Paxton

On Saturday, James Talarico held his final Houston rally before Election Day at the Bayou Music Center downtown, a stop on his "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts" tour. Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for governor, introduced him. "No one ever thought that we would ever get this close," she told the crowd.

Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, faces Republican Ken Paxton on Tuesday. More than 20 Republican officials and party figures have endorsed him. Texas cattle rancher Glenn Rogers, a former Republican lawmaker, has also spoken out against Paxton.

Glenn Rogers is a rancher and veterinarian from Palo Pinto County who served in the Texas House as a Republican. In a 30-second ad from Lone Star Rising, a political action committee supporting Talarico, he tells viewers, "I'm a conservative Republican who represented rural Texas." He says he voted to impeach Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2023 because "character is more important than party," and he ends with a line about Paxton: "the last place he should be is the United States Senate."

In an October 9 interview with Bloomberg Government, Rogers said he had agreed to the ad only if it opposed Paxton without endorsing Talarico. He declined to say whom he would vote for.

His family has owned Holt River Ranch near Graford since 1906, and the ranch's website says he is the fifth generation to own it, after 35 years as a beef veterinarian. He now runs the ranch's heifer development program full time. He lost his House seat in the 2024 Republican primary after opposing Gov. Greg Abbott's school voucher plan; Abbott and Paxton both backed his opponent, CNN reported.

What Talarico says about farms and ranches

Talarico has made agriculture part of his pitch to rural voters. In a September interview with ABC 7 Amarillo, he said Texas needs a senator who will not undercut farmers and ranchers "with things like the Argentinian bailout, corrupt tariffs and this recent flood of unregulated beef into our markets."

His published rural plan says he would oppose new foreign beef imports and cuts to USDA programs that protect herds from pests like the New World screwworm, and remove tariffs on farm equipment and fertilizer. The plan also calls for simplifying the H-2A farmworker visa process while keeping strong labor standards, and for low-interest loans and grants to build and repair rural water systems. These are campaign commitments. What actually changes would depend on what Congress passes.

Beef imports and the cost of raising cattle affect the families who buy beef, not only the ranchers who raise it.

The Republicans on his list

On September 10, Talarico's campaign announced 21 current and former Republican officials and party figures backing him. Former Dallas Mayor and U.S. Rep. Steve Bartlett put it this way: "I am a proud Republican, and supporting James Talarico doesn't change that."

The list includes former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips and retired Justice Deborah Hankinson; former U.S. Reps. Steve Bartlett and Alan Steelman, and former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who now lives in Texas; former state Reps. Jimmie Don Aycock, Susan Lewis King, Bennett Ratliff and Todd Smith; former Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley; Lionel Sosa, who advised Presidents Reagan and both Bushes; former Texas Parks and Wildlife Department director Andrew Sansom; Shane Phelps, a deputy attorney general under John Cornyn; retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Kimberly Priest Johnson; Bryan Mayor Pro Tem James Edge; former Georgetown Mayor Dale Ross; former Dallas City Council members Donna Halstead and Jim Richards; former Duncanville Mayor Pro Tem Dorothy Burton; former Republican convention delegate Ryan Davenport; and David Maxwell, a former Texas Ranger who led the attorney general's law enforcement division under Paxton.

On October 31, former Republican state Sen. Kel Seliger told CNN he is backing Talarico too.

The other side

Paxton has denied wrongdoing, and the Texas Senate acquitted him in 2023 after the House impeached him. Republicans have argued that Talarico is mostly drawing Republicans who had already backed Democrats in earlier races. Fox News pointed in August to Whitley, who endorsed Democrats for lieutenant governor in 2022 and for president and U.S. Senate in 2024.

What you can do

If farm and ranch issues shape your vote, read each candidate's own words on beef imports, the cost of equipment and fertilizer, and rural water before Tuesday, and weigh them against what matters most to your household.