The issue that could tip the scales in the Texas Senate race

November 1, 2026 / 9:37 AM EST / CBS News

This year's midterm elections in Texas are on track to cost a billion dollars, with more than half of it spent on the U.S. Senate campaign – what could be the most expensive non-presidential race in American history. But whatever the price tag, it's certainly one of the most combative.

Republican State Attorney General Ken Paxton's campaign bus displays a rally cry from the 19th century Texas revolution against Mexico: "Come and take it." Paxton, whose government tenure has been marked by controversy, is President Trump's hand-picked candidate. At a rally October 23, Paxton exhorted the crowd: "Do you believe in protecting Texas and stopping Sharia law? So do I. Do you believe that parents, not the government, should raise your children? So do I."

Paxton's opponent is a Presbyterian seminarian and former middle-school teacher, State Representative James Talarico. Going into Election Day, polls show the two locked in a tight race.

Talarico draws his campaign's closing theme from the TV show about Texas high-school football, "Friday Night Lights." He told a crowd in San Antonio Oct. 24, "To win this election, we have to execute. We have to leave…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/