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Talarico supports a Medicare public option (\"Medicare for Y'all\") allowing all Americans to buy into Medicare regardless of age, rather than single-payer Medicare for All. He advocates protecting and improving the ACA, lowering prescription drug costs (he capped insulin copays at $25/month in Texas), restoring reproductive healthcare access by codifying Roe v.

Ken Paxton opposes the Affordable Care Act and led a 20-state lawsuit to overturn it as Texas Attorney General. In his 2026 Senate campaign, he aligns with the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, pledging to "take on Big Pharma and Big Food," increase transparency in food and healthcare systems, and investigate corporate practices — including vaccine recommendations, food ingredients, and toxic chemicals in consumer products — that he argues put profits ahead of Americans' health.

James Talarico campaigns on an economic populist message, arguing the economy is "rigged" for billionaires against working people. His platform includes raising the federal minimum wage to at least $15/hour (suggesting even that may not be enough), making corporations and the wealthiest Americans pay higher taxes, repealing Trump tariffs, lowering costs for housing, healthcare, groceries, and energy, protecting Social Security and Medicare (including eliminating the Social Security tax cap on income over $400,000), expanding the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, and passing the PRO Act to strengthen workers' right to unionize.

Ken Paxton positions himself as a fiscal conservative who supports cutting taxes, reducing wasteful federal spending, and deregulation — particularly of the energy sector. He is a staunch ally of President Trump's economic agenda and pledges to revitalize American manufacturing, create American jobs, and restore the American Dream, though he has not released a detailed economic plan.

Supports an "all-of-the-above" energy strategy that maintains Texas's oil and gas leadership while expanding renewables (wind, solar, geothermal, hydrogen). Advocates for strengthening the Texas grid, streamlining permitting, expanding LIHEAP, enforcing the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, and better preparing for climate disasters.

Ken Paxton is a staunch defender of Texas's oil and gas industry who opposes federal climate regulations as harmful to the state's economy. As Attorney General, he sued to block EPA rules he called "Biden's extremist climate agenda," and in June 2026 issued an opinion blocking Austin's electric-ready building code as discriminatory against natural gas, arguing it violated state law protecting consumer energy choice.

James Talarico supports abortion rights and reproductive freedom, framing his position through his Christian faith. He argues that "the Bible is silent on abortion" and that the government should not control personal medical decisions.

Ken Paxton is strongly pro-life and has enforced Texas's near-total abortion ban (no exceptions for rape or incest), celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade, sued out-of-state abortion pill providers, and fought federal efforts to require emergency abortion care.

Talarico advocates a "pro-immigrant, pro-security" approach, describing the border as "a front porch with a welcome mat out front and a lock on the door." He calls for comprehensive immigration reform that secures the border while making legal migration easier, focusing ICE on public safety and national security, holding ICE accountable for abuses, creating pathways to legalization for DREAMers, modernizing ports of entry, reforming the asylum system, and improving guest worker visa standards.

Ken Paxton supports finishing the border wall, securing the border, and deporting "criminal illegal aliens." As Texas Attorney General, he sued the Biden administration over 100 times to end "open borders policies," defended Texas's SB 4 law allowing state police to arrest individuals for illegal entry, and became the first Texas law enforcement official to sign a 287(g) agreement with the Trump administration to assist with mass deportations.

Talarico says he believes in the Second Amendment but that it is "not absolute." His 2026 Senate campaign platform includes: universal background checks, mandatory secure firearm storage around children, raising the age to purchase semi-automatic rifles with military-style features and high-capacity magazines, and prioritizing prosecution of firearms traffickers.

Ken Paxton is an uncompromising defender of the Second Amendment, holding A+ ratings from both the NRA and Gun Owners of America. As Texas Attorney General, he led lawsuits against the ATF's pistol brace ban, universal registration rule, and other federal gun control measures.

Talarico frames foreign policy through a moral lens, arguing that a corrupt system serves billionaire interests rather than ordinary Americans. He supports defending Ukraine against Russian aggression, deepening NATO and allied cooperation, restoring diplomacy and USAID funding, and using U.S. leverage to secure a two-state solution in Israel/Palestine — backing Israel's right to self-defense while opposing offensive weapons sales to the Netanyahu government and any U.S. funds harming civilians.

Ken Paxton advocates an "America First" foreign policy that prioritizes U.S. sovereignty and border security over foreign entanglements. He opposes sending billions in foreign aid without first securing America's borders, supports peace through strength, views China as a serious threat, and affirms the U.S.-Israel relationship as crucial to national security.

Talarico supports robust civil rights protections across multiple fronts: he defends the Voting Rights Act against efforts to dilute Black and brown voting power; advocates for LGBTQ+ equality including marriage rights and protections against discrimination; supports the Do No Harm Act to prevent religious discrimination; and calls for vigorous action against antisemitism, Islamophobia, and faith-based hate crimes.

Ken Paxton opposes DEI and affirmative action programs as unconstitutional racial discrimination, advocating for a colorblind, merit-based framework. He has taken extensive legal action to restrict transgender rights — including banning gender-affirming care for minors and sex-marker changes on state IDs — while championing religious liberty protections and aggressive election integrity enforcement.

James Talarico, a former public school teacher, is a staunch defender of public education who opposes private school vouchers as a "scam" that defunds neighborhood schools to subsidize private education for the wealthy. He advocates for universal Pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds, boosting teacher pay and training, expanding school meal programs, investing in evidence-based literacy and math strategies, protecting special education funding, and establishing federal AI-in-classroom guidelines.

Ken Paxton is a strong advocate for universal school choice, celebrating Texas's school choice legislation as a historic step toward educational freedom and vowing to defend it against legal challenges. As AG, he has enforced Texas's ban on critical race theory in public schools, calling CRT anti-American propaganda, and has sued multiple school districts to require display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms and to stop illegal electioneering using school resources.

Talarico supports regulating social media platforms to protect children (parental controls, banning algorithmic targeting of minors, requiring impact assessments for bias and fairness) without infringing free speech. He advocates for AI that works for working people — protecting workers from invasive AI surveillance, ensuring human review of automated employment decisions, and requiring AI companies to follow copyright laws.

Ken Paxton has built a record as one of the most aggressive state-level litigators against Big Tech, filing over two dozen lawsuits against companies like Meta, Google, TikTok, Netflix, WhatsApp, and Discord for privacy violations and harm to minors — securing multi-billion-dollar settlements including $1.4 billion from Meta and $1.4 billion from Google.

James Talarico supports a comprehensive democracy reform agenda: banning super PACs and corporate PACs to reverse Citizens United, establishing independent redistricting commissions to end partisan gerrymandering, passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to remove barriers to voting, banning congressional stock trading, and implementing congressional term limits.

Ken Paxton has made "election integrity" a signature issue as Texas Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate. He successfully defended Texas's ban on paid ballot harvesting (SB 1) at the Fifth Circuit, upheld voter ID requirements for mail-in ballots, launched an illegal voting tipline in February 2026, and issued a legal opinion protecting poll watchers' and state inspectors' authority at polling locations.

Talarico's local issues platform focuses on federal investment in Texas communities, especially rural areas: expanding high-speed internet and water infrastructure, saving rural hospitals from closure, opposing private school vouchers that defund rural public schools, supporting farmers and ranchers (including H-2A visa reform and opposing harmful tariffs), and creating economic opportunities so young Texans can stay in their hometowns.

Ken Paxton has consistently used state authority to preempt and override local government policies, suing cities over sanctuary policies, marijuana enforcement, police funding, and blocking 130+ cities from raising property taxes for non-compliance with state audit requirements.