Texas Democrats Talarico and Hinojosa Campaign Against Paxton and Abbott Before Midterms

Democrats James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa are campaigning for U.S. Senate and governor in Texas ahead of the midterms, in a state where Democrats have not won statewide office in 30 years. Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian, faces Republican Ken Paxton, and Hinojosa faces Greg Abbott. On MS NOW's "The Weeknight" on Thursday, co-host Luke Russert said Hinojosa is neck and neck with Abbott. She said Republicans use culture wars as a distraction, after Russert noted attacks calling Talarico gay and a vegan. She also said Abbott has given $1 billion in no-bid contracts to his donors. Talarico told a Dallas megachurch congregation he tries to love his neighbor through public policy. Elon Musk has put millions into the Texas race. In a New York Times interview with Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Hinojosa called herself a populist and said the central fight is over economic power.

Breitbart, the right-leaning outlet, covers only Hinojosa's MS NOW interview. Its headline gives her claim that Republicans use culture wars as a distraction, and it quotes Russert's question and her Abbott "sleight of hand" and $1 billion contracts answer at length. It leaves out Paxton, Musk and Talarico's campaign events. The Guardian US, on the left, leads with a video asking whether Democrats can beat Musk's millions. It follows Talarico and Paxton in San Antonio and asks whether the Senate race is winnable and whether voters have changed their minds on Trump. Both sides cover Texas Democrats testing the state's Republican dominance, but the right foregrounds Hinojosa's words about Abbott while the left foregrounds money and national politics. Alternative outlets differ in angle: The Intercept profiles a faith-based left around Talarico and Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes III, and The Lever presents Hinojosa's anti-oligarchy populism as a challenge to corporate Democrats.