Ken Paxton
Texas attorney general since 2015; previously served in the Texas House and Texas Senate.
2026 GENERAL ELECTION • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3 • OFFICIAL BALLOT VERIFIED
FLORES365 / STATEWIDE RACE CENTEROne Texas seat.
One Texas seat.
Three candidates.
The U.S. Senate race, explained. Explore the candidates, published polls, federal campaign-finance records and reliable reporting—all with original sources attached.
Independent civic information · No endorsements, calculated win odds or implied forecasts
01 / THE CERTIFIED BALLOT
Verify the certified ballot ↗Meet the candidates.
Listed in the order appearing in the Texas Secretary of State’s certified sample ballot. The race center covers every certified U.S. Senate ballot candidate.
James Talarico
Texas state representative from Central Texas and former public-school teacher.
Ted Brown
Former insurance adjuster and longtime Libertarian Party organizer based in the Austin area.
Certified write-in candidates (listed separately): Avery Ayers, Bradford “Brad” Hall, Zul Mohamed, and Jade Simmons. These names do not appear among the three printed ballot choices. Official Texas SOS certification ↗
POLICY EXPLORER
Read the full candidate questionnaire ↗Where do they stand?
The Texas Tribune compared candidates on tariffs, taxes, THC products, surveillance technology and artificial intelligence. Talarico and Brown answered its questionnaire; for Paxton, reporters used documented public statements. That sourcing distinction matters.
SOURCE-DOCUMENTED POSITIONS · OCTOBER 13
Explore the issues.
Tap an issue to compare paraphrased responses and documented statements. “No direct response found” is not the same as opposition or support.
Tariffs & international trade Explore →
Ken PaxtonPrevious public statementSupported President Trump's tariffs in April 2025, according to the Tribune's reporting; no direct questionnaire response.
James TalaricoQuestionnaire responseCalled for repealing the tariffs, citing costs for families and businesses.
Ted BrownQuestionnaire responseOpposed unilateral presidential tariffs and expressed support for free trade.
Data centers, water & electricity Explore →
Ken PaxtonDocumented policy statementsBacked requirements addressing water efficiency and infrastructure costs, and opposed certain data-center tax breaks.
James TalaricoQuestionnaire responseSupported requirements for developers to pay infrastructure costs and protections for utilities, communities and the grid.
Ted BrownQuestionnaire responseSupported planning for water and power needs while opposing taxpayer subsidies and use of eminent domain for data centers.
License plate readers & surveillance Explore →
Ken PaxtonNo direct position foundThe Tribune could not identify a public statement directly answering its Flock camera questions.
James TalaricoQuestionnaire responseOpposed pervasive, warrantless government surveillance and raised privacy and security concerns.
Ted BrownQuestionnaire responseSupported prohibiting federal funds for automated plate readers and requiring warrants for police access to private data.
Federal gasoline tax Explore →
Ken PaxtonDocumented positionSupports permanently repealing the federal gasoline tax.
James TalaricoQuestionnaire responseSupported suspending the federal gasoline tax during the conflict discussed in the questionnaire.
Ted BrownQuestionnaire responseSupports repealing the federal gasoline tax entirely.
AI development & national security Explore →
Ken PaxtonNo direct position foundThe Tribune did not find a direct answer to its question about a proposed emergency AI shutdown authority.
James TalaricoQuestionnaire responseSupported the proposed safeguard and argued for additional AI safety and data protections.
Ted BrownQuestionnaire responseExpressed doubts that such an emergency shutdown mechanism could work effectively.
Paraphrased from the Texas Tribune's October 13 candidate questionnaire and sourcing. For complete context and subsequent updates, read the original reporting.
02 / PUBLISHED RESEARCH
UT polling tracker ↗The polls, with their methods.
Every row is an individual poll. Different samples and question wording can produce different readings; these bars are not an aggregate or a prediction.
Loading verified polls…
Paxton (R) Talarico (D)Published share of surveyed voters · %
Polls do not determine an election outcome. Margins of error describe sampling uncertainty, not every source of error. Libertarian Ted Brown is not included in every poll; see each poll's Other field. Data from the University of Texas / Texas Politics Project.
03 / CONTINUOUS PUBLISHER COVERAGE
Explore all election news ↗The latest Senate headlines.
New, original-source article links automatically filtered from the Flores365 news feed. Publisher reporting does not change the candidate or polling data above.
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04 / FOLLOW THE MONEY
FEC election data ↗Federal campaign finance.
Receipts, spending and cash-on-hand come from each candidate's FEC committee summary. Filing dates—not page-visit dates—determine what these figures cover.
Checking FEC candidate summaries…
Campaign committees
Figures above represent candidate campaign committees. They do not include money spent independently by other political committees.
Outside spending is separate
For independent expenditures, review the FEC's separately reported support and opposition spending. Do not add outside spending to a candidate's reported fundraising.
Explore FEC independent expenditures ↗05 / COUNTIES, NOT PREDICTIONS
Compare the five featured counties ↗Texas by the numbers.
Explore official voter registration, early-voting participation, and historical results. These are different measurements and should not be treated as evidence of how someone voted.
Official historical results
Review past election returns with election-year labels and original county canvasses.
Open Election Time Machine ↗Official early-voting participation
Ballots cast or turnout percentages describe participation, not candidate preference.
View early-voting sources ↗Election Night headquarters.
When the state begins publishing official returns, use the Flores365 Command Center to follow source-labeled reporting. The numbers shown here are not live vote totals, and no results are inferred from polls or turnout.
Results not yet reportedOfficial results are unavailable ahead of Election Day. Verified sources and timestamps will be displayed when available.