Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico took questions from Republican and independent voters at the CNN & Jubilee town hall in Texas on Wednesday night — while Republican Ken Paxton, who says CNN's moderators would be biased, stayed away and kept refusing to debate him.
The town hall, hosted by CNN and Jubilee, aired live from Fort Worth at 8 p.m. ET, with CNN's Erin Burnett moderating. Talarico, a state representative and Presbyterian seminarian, took questions on abortion, faith, Ukraine, voter ID and Israel.
"I'm a proud Texas Democrat, but I already have a religion and I already have a sports team," he said. "So I have no problem sharing hard truths with my party if it's what's best for Texas."
His populist frame was blunt: "The only minority destroying America is the billionaires."
Abortion brought the night's sharpest exchange. Talarico told a Catholic voter the Bible is "silent on the issue of abortion." She answered that it is not silent, pointing to the Ten Commandments — "Thou shalt not kill." He said it was fine to reach different conclusions.
He also dismissed the conspiracy theories from his week off the trail — he had been home with the flu — saying: "Conspiracy theories don't put food on the table."
He broke with his party's left — backing Texas oil and gas, calling himself a border security Democrat, and saying he does not support abolishing ICE — while accusing Trump of running the agency as a "secret police force."
Burnett noted that Paxton had been invited too. Paxton has refused to debate him and declined CNN's invitation, saying the outlet's moderators would be biased. Talarico's campaign says he agreed to five debates that Paxton turned down. The NRSC answered: "James Talarico can tell all the tall tales he wants, but Texans won't believe him."
Texas is one of the biggest Senate races of the November 3 midterms. Paxton won the Republican nomination over incumbent Senator John Cornyn with Trump's backing. Democrats, who have not won statewide in Texas in three decades, need a net gain of four seats for the Senate majority — and flipping Texas would be a significant boost.
His only direct attack came at the end: "We have an opportunity in this race not just to defeat the most corrupt politician in Texas; we have an opportunity to defeat this entire corrupt system."
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