U.S. Senate hopeful Ken Paxton still hasn’t accepted invitation to debate rival James Talarico

Despite telling reporters he’s willing to debate Democrat James Talarico, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton has blown past the confirmation deadline for the first of those contests, the Austin-American Statesman reports.

Three debates between Paxton and Talarico were scheduled last month. The deadline to accept the invitation to the first, sponsored by Hearst Newspapers and Spanish-language broadcaster NBC/Telemundo, passed on Wednesday.

Although Talarico’s camp accepted the invite, Paxton’s campaign has remained silent.

“His handlers claim he’s willing, but every time a reporter asks a question about it, he literally runs away,” Talarico’s campaign said in a Thursday statement. “He hasn’t set foot on a debate stage in over a decade and refuses to answer the public’s questions because he doesn’t answer to the public — he answers to his billionaire mega-donors.”

The two other debates are scheduled for Oct. 8 in Dallas and Oct. 13 in Austin. Paxton’s campaign told the Statesman it’s now “close to terms” on accepting the invite to at least one of those.

“What we won’t do is negotiate through Talarico’s press shop or let him handpick moderators whose politics match his own, nor would we expect him to enter a debate with us where a moderator matches our own politics,” Paxton’s campaign told the daily.

The last time Paxton participated in a debate was before he won statewide office in 2014.

The race between Paxton and Talarico remains among the most watched this election cycle. Recent polling has shown Talarico ahead, meaning the former San Antonio public school teacher could become the first Democrat to win statewide office in Texas in more than three decades.

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