James Talarico addresses supporters at an election night watch party on March 3, 2026 in Austin, Texas. Credit: Shunya Carroll

In 2014, an attorney at the Collin County Courthouse accused Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of stealing his $1,000 Montblanc pen after he took it out and placed it near a metal detector.

Security camera footage appeared to show Paxton leaving with the pen, and police identified him as a suspect. However, Paxton returned the property, and his camp has said he picked it up by mistake.

Whatever the case, Democratic Texas Rep. James Talarico, who’s running against Paxton for one of the state’s U.S. Senate seats, on Friday trumpeted an endorsement from Joe Joplin, the attorney who made the theft accusation against Paxton.

Talarico’s social media promo — which seems intended to further play up the scandals that have swirled around Paxton during his time in office — even includes the security footage from the Collin County Courthouse.

“He could have pressed charges, but decided against it because Joe is a nice guy. He’d never take someone else’s pen,” the ad says. “But he also hasn’t forgotten who took his.”

Adding insult to injury, Talarico’s campaign is now also selling pens with the phrase “Not Ken Paxton’s pen” printed on them. They’re available on Talarico’s website for $6.

A photo of the promotional pen now available on James Talarico’s campaign website. Credit: Courtesy : Team Talarico

“Ken Paxton is the kind of guy who steals your pen. James Talarico is the kind of guy who’d let you borrow his,” Talarico campaign spokesperson JT Ennis said in a statement supplied to the Current.

The creative exercise in campaign advertising and merchandising comes fewer than three months out from Election Day.

As of press time, polling shows Talarico narrowly leading Paxton in the race. Election prognosticator Nate Silver, in his latest election forecast model, described Texas as “leaning blue” in the U.S. Senate race.

If Talarico wins, he would be the first Democrat to win statewide office in Texas in more than three decades.

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Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...