(DCNF)—Republican Texas Senate nominee Ken Paxton lambasted Democratic rival James Talarico’s record on law enforcement against a backdrop of 22 sheriffs on Tuesday afternoon — just one day after the Democrat nominee promised black voters a federal crackdown on policing.
In a press conference at the annual gathering of the Texas Sheriffs Association in Fort Worth, Paxton said that Talarico’s voting record and public statements about law enforcement reveal that his recent pivot to the political center appears to be just an act.
“My opponent had been trying to reinvent himself during this campaign. He’s going to tell audiences different stories depending on where he’s at. He’s trying to distance himself from positions he has previously embraced,” Paxton, who currently serves as Texas’ attorney general, told the cowboy hat-clad sheriffs. “He’s going to say he’s for law enforcement. But what he wont tell you is the rest of the story.”
Talarico is seeking to become the first Texas Democrat elected to the Senate in 38 years. Paxton and Talarico are in a statistical dead heat, according to recent polling.
The presser follows Talarico’s headline-grabbing Monday night town hall in DeSoto, Texas, a majority-black suburb of Dallas, during which Talarico endorsed reparations for slavery and a federal bill to “protect all Americans from police violence, including our black communities.” This racial justice rhetoric appears to clash with his previous campaign image as a moderate focused on affordability.
However, Talarico is simultaneously seeking to mend fences with some black Democrats following a bruising March primary win against Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who had the support of many majority black areas in the state.
During the Tuesday press conference, Paxton hit Talarico for backing a 2021 Texas bill called the George Floyd Act in the state House of Representatives. This legislation sought to end qualified immunity for police officers, among other sweeping policing reforms. During the same legislative session, Talarico introduced a bill that would ban contracts between police and reality television shows such as “Live PD.” He named this bill Javier Ambler’s Law after a black man who died of heart failure while in police custody in 2019.
Talarico’s votes on law enforcement legislation in the Texas House include opposing a bill to tighten bail requirements for violent criminals, voting against mandatory minimum sentences for human traffickers and voting against designating drug cartels terrorist organizations.
Talarico’s public statements appear to be out of step with Texas law enforcement as well. He said in 2020 that “our system of policing is deeply broken” and argued that it should be replaced.
Paxton also criticized Talarico — who represents the city of Austin in the Texas House — for donating to the Austin Justice Coalition, an organization that has advocated for defunding the city’s police department.
“That wasn’t an accident. That wasn’t a misunderstanding. That was a choice,” the Republican said during the Tuesday presser with sheriffs.
Paxton drew a stark contrast between Talarico’s past actions and his own record as the Lone Star State’s top prosecutor during the press conference. He expressed support for securing the border, cracking down on cartels bringing fentanyl into the country, the mandatory detention and deportation of immigrants, and qualified immunity for law enforcement officers.
“It is a great honor to stand with the attorney general today and endorse him. There is no problem with where he stands,” said Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn during the event. “He is a southern border champion whereas his opponent wanted to put out a welcome mat, whereas his opponent has donated money to defund the police.”
The Talarico campaign did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
On Monday in DeSoto, in response to a question about reparations for black Americans for slavery, Talarico said that “we have to correct the injustices from our past.”
“We are seeing the reverberations of slavery in modern day Texas all over the place,” he continued. “And until we as a society are committed to righting those past wrongs, of restoring our black communities, we’re never going to be able to get this country back on track.”
The Democrat said that it would transform American politics if black voters helped him clinch the election, and that this overhaul will include a path to “repair those past harms” to black Americans. Talarico also touted his advocacy for the George Floyd Act.
“We failed to pass the George Floyd Act, which would have been transformational in ensuring that police officers are actually protecting and serving all of us,” he said. “And I hope that when we win this seat, when we win a Senate majority, we can pass federal legislation to protect all Americans from police violence, including our black communities.”
Bad blood appears to linger among some Democratic voters who supported Crockett in the March primary in which Talarico’s six-point win was seen as an upset.
At a Sunday town hall in Houston, Talarico faced some tense questions from agitated voters. Some have accused the Democratic nominee’s supporters of online bullying, according to Texas media reports.
Crockett endorsed Talarico the day after losing to him — but said in June that she has no plans to campaign for her party’s Senate candidate.
Talarico on Sunday announced a $25 million get-out-the-vote effort aimed at black voters as he seeks to repair his reputation among them.
“I’m going to keep showing up and I’m asking you to continue to hold me accountable,” he said at a Houston town hall.
In the spring primary, Crockett defeated Talarico in the counties that include Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston — all of which have significant black populations — as well as nearly all East Texas counties where the Democratic Party electorate is predominantly black.
In Houston-centered Harris County, Crockett won 86% of the vote in heavily black precincts while Talarico won predominately white precincts in the county by a three-to-one margin, The New York Times reported. Talarico also carried the county’s precincts with a mix of Hispanic and white residents but lost in neighborhoods with large black and Hispanic populations.
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