News or Ad? Texan Ken Paxton Gets Barbecued by Broadcast News

Tim Graham on Oct 9, 2026

Our elitist media love spreading the buzz when First Lady Melania Trump goes "missing" for a few weeks, but they haven't noticed Texas Democrat James Talarico vanishing for 12 days in the closing weeks of his Senate campaign. As of this writing, Talarico has no campaign events scheduled before Election Day (save a CNN town hall).

To be fair, the network newscasts have largely ignored all the candidates, but over the last few weeks, they've repeatedly pounded away at Talarico's Republican opponent, Ken Paxton. On Sept. 17, "CBS Mornings" hammered Paxton for a woman's death due to the "very restrictive" abortion laws in Texas. CBS reporter Jericka Duncan turned to the dead woman's aunt and asked what she would say to Paxton, and she said, "Go to Hell. He killed my niece!"

Was this a news story, or a mudslinging campaign commercial? It's hard to tell during a fall campaign.

Then the networks started touting leaked audio of Paxton complaining about President Donald Trump. On Sept. 30, ABC's "World News Tonight" featured the complaint that the midterm convention in Dallas hurt his numbers. ABC reporter Mary Bruce tilted it: "Paxton, the Texas attorney general, has weathered personal scandals and corruption allegations. Talarico, a former middle school teacher and student minister, making inroads into even some of the reddest parts of the state."

On the Oct. 1 "Good Morning America," Bruce repeated her spin, and "CBS Mornings" picked up the leaked audio report. Vladimir Duthiers warned Paxton "is locked in a very tight race, but new leaked audio reveals Paxton is worried about the Republicans' poll numbers." That evening, ABC repeated the Paxton-doom spin again, with the leaked audio.

On Oct. 3, "PBS News Hour" co-anchor Geoff Bennett accentuated the negative: "It gets at a larger tension for Republicans right now. How do you run with Trump and away from Trump at the same time?"

On Oct. 4, NPR "Weekend Edition" reporter Claudia Grisales touted Cook Political Report analyst Jessica Taylor: "Ken Paxton is dragging down the entire ticket" in Texas. "She says voters could give Paxton enough of a scandal penalty to create a perfect storm. It has put a state President Trump won by 14 points in play, which could have reverberations beyond Texas," like giving Democrats control of the Senate.

On the Oct. 5 "NBC Nightly News," reporter Ryan Nobles touted a new story from Politico. "Two people" at an event said, "Ken Paxton privately told donors last month his campaign is being run from D.C. instead of the Lone Star State." He was apparently referring to super PACs, lamenting, "I don't control the message or what we're doing."

That night, ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel said Talarico led Paxton by 6 points. He uncorked this laughable take: "James Talarico is one of the strongest candidates we've seen in a long time. They have nothing to hit the guy with."

On Oct. 7, ABC's "World News Tonight" was on the Leaked Audio thing again, this time from Axios. Paxton blamed his struggles on "The war. It's gas prices. It's diesel. We have a lot of trucks who use a lot -- who are feeling the pinch. So that's probably the biggest problem. And then that pushes up the food prices and everything else." On Oct. 8, ABC and NBC played the Axios audio for more doom notes.

Leakers inside Paxton's campaign seriously want him to lose. He's becoming the Todd Akin of this cycle. This is the biggest candidate story on the networks this fall. Democrats have long lusted to get a statewide victory in Texas, and that obviously includes the Democrats at ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR and PBS.

Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org. To find out more about Tim Graham and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.