|
October 14, 2026 9:25 AM
If Talarico or Hinojosa win, it gives Democrats a foothold in a state that Republicans absolutely must control if they have any hope of keeping the presidency. That’s why up to a half billion is being spent now to keep a Democrat out of statewide office
DALLAS – Taking
the temperature of members and the lobby during Texas-OU weekend is always a
revealing exercise, but this year presented a uniquely difficult political
landscape to interpret. Amid competing crosscurrents, one overarching reality
stands out: this election cycle is not a battle of the bands; it is a battle of
the brands.
Nobody
needs a reminder of how broken the Democratic brand is—that is a given.
Instead, as hard as it may be to believe, it is the Republican brand that finds
itself on trial.
With a
30%-approval president dominating the national conversation and throwing
obstacles in the path of candidates down-ballot, the entire Republican strategy
seems to rely on inflaming low-propensity, low-information voters just enough
to stampede them to the polls.
Symptomatic
of a tumultuous cycle, the chatter this past weekend exposed a party on the
defensive. Consider the absurdity of rumors pushed by political bottom-feeders
claiming that Democrat James Talarico had suffered a nervous breakdown
and was in a mental hospital all because he stepped off the campaign trail for
eight or nine days with the flu.
In
retrospect, the flurry and velocity of the rumors this weekend were perversely
funny. The Talarico Campaign has run nonstop for months, especially when
contrasted to a largely invisible Ken Paxton. Even Fox News
has chastised Paxton for being largely invisible. These smears reeked of
desperation and were about as believable as the Senate Republican Leadership
Committee’s ads against Talarico or Governor Greg Abbott’s mailers
warning that Gina Hinojosa wants to put parents in jail over a child's
gender.
But now,
on to the real battlefield, the Texas House.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Harvey Kronberg
|
|
Top of Page
Copyright October 14, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
|
|
|
|
|
|
October 14, 2026 9:03 AM
Reporter
Nikki McCann Ramirez got
the scoop:
Texas
Senate candidate Ken Paxton warned that Governor Greg Abbott is struggling in
his bid for reelection, made excuses for his own campaign issues, and conceded
that Republicans will likely lose seats in the state legislature, according to
audio of a private donor event obtained by Rolling Stone. “Yes, Abbott is
struggling,” Paxton tells an attendee at a small, Washington, D.C., fundraiser
on September 24, noting that despite the governor’s name ID and monetary
advantage over Democrat Gina Hinojosa, the race is “still close.”
Later in
the recording, Paxton says Republicans are on track to lose seats in the Texas
House and Senate as well
“Whereas
the rest of the ticket — who knows the Democrats? There’s not a single — like,
if I said, ‘Who’s running for Texas AG as a Democrat?’ OK, moving down. ‘Who’s
running as lieutenant governor?’ I don’t know. I can’t even name her name.” Still,
Paxton ultimately predicts that Republicans are “going to probably lose some
seats” in the Texas legislature.
|
|
Top of Page
Copyright October 14, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
|
|
|
|
|
|
October 14, 2026 8:53 AM
Via Jim
Henson at the University of Texas Politics Project
“We just
released the latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll, which
provides yet more evidence that we’re watching a historically close election in
Texas. The poll found several Democratic candidates enjoying razor-thin polling
leads over their more well-funded Republican opponents amidst a clear partisan
enthusiasm gap favoring Democrats. The poll was conducted September 25 -
October 5, 2026 among 1200 registered voters, with
trial ballot results presented among a sub-sample of 861 likely voters (LV),
producing a margin of error of +/- 3.34 percentage points. The margin of error
for results in the overall sample is +/- 2.83% (n=1200).”
Full poll
here.
|
|
Top of Page
Copyright October 14, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
|
|
|
|
|
|
October 12, 2026 8:05 PM
On Spectrum News in Austin, QR Publisher Harvey Kronberg and Texas Capital Tonight James Barragan got into that and more
|
|
Top of Page
Copyright October 12, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
|
|
|
|
|
|
October 11, 2026 6:56 PM
The Paxton campaign did not weigh in on an unverified recording; Talarico’s campaign called it all “a lie” that’s “designed to promote a pathetic conspiracy theory.” Now the facility at the center of the story says it's all made up
MAGA
social media influencers on Sunday released what they claimed were recordings that
somehow prove Rep. James Talarico recently received treatment for a mental
health breakdown – it’s a claim that Talarico’s campaign immediately blasted as
“a lie” that’s “designed to promote a pathetic conspiracy theory.” Later in the evening, the mental health hospital at the center of the story released this one line statement: "Representative James Talarico has never received treatment from Lindner Center of Hope."
For the
last few days, right-wing social media has been abuzz with questions about where
exactly Rep. Talarico was when he didn’t appear on the campaign trail for at
least 8 days or so in his bid for US Senate against Attorney
General Ken Paxton.
Talarico’s
campaign has maintained throughout that he’s been recovering from an illness at
home. JT Ennis, spokesman for Talarico, responded to the release of the
recordings by repeating that “Last week James Talarico was home in Austin,
Texas recovering from the flu.”
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
|
|
Top of Page
Copyright October 11, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
|
|
|
|
|
|
October 9, 2026 3:42 PM
Talarico spotted, association news, a big Houston promotion, and more
It seems
that the mystery of “Where In the World is James
Talarico” has been solved – he’s been spotted at ACL this
afternoon, according to the social media. That won’t keep the conspiracy theorists
from tweeting about it all day and night, though.
On the Quorum
Report Radio podcast coming out tonight, I did place a call to the Ken
Paxton “tip line” to let the campaign know that as a Central Texas resident,
I have not seen Talarico in person lately and that I’ll update the situation as
appropriate.
Also on
the show: Harvey reports that some GOP women got up and walked out when Sen.
Angela Paxton urged them to vote for her estranged husband. Seems that
message wasn’t going over well even before Sen. Paxton starred in a TV
commercial offering the same argument about the “Elephant in the Room.” Speaking
of Harvey, he’s hanging out in Dallas for Texas-OU events this
afternoon. Make sure to say “hi” if you see him.
The show
will drop on your favorite podcast app this evening. Links to follow it on Apple
and Spotify are on the QR homepage.
Meantime,
some serious career news crossed my desk this week. To share your news – or someone
else’s – just send it to ksbraddock@gmail.com
anytime and use POTM in the subject line.
Here’s the
latest edition.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
|
|
Top of Page
Copyright October 09, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
|
|
|
|
|
|
October 9, 2026 1:00 PM
Former Rep.
Dan Huberty and Dr. Buck Gilcrease penned this wonderful tribute
to Lynn Moak, who passed away yesterday.
|
|
Top of Page
Copyright October 09, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
|
|
|
|
|
|
October 7, 2026 8:55 AM
QR Publisher Harvey Kronberg reports that some "women actually got up and walked out" when Sen. Paxton originally made the case to them that her estranged husband should get their votes. He and James Barragan talked about that and more on Texas Capital Tonight on Spectrum News
|
|
Top of Page
Copyright October 07, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
|
|
|
|
|
|
October 7, 2026 8:31 AM
They’re now asking DGA for $3 million before the start of early vote
Latino
leaders had the following reaction to Pritzker’s $1.2 million contribution:
The rest of the story, subscribers only
|
|
Top of Page
Copyright October 07, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
