{"id":1977,"date":"2026-08-06T09:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T09:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=1977"},"modified":"2026-08-06T09:00:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T09:00:49","slug":"james-talaricos-voter-registration-is-raising-questions-as-he-hits-at-ken-paxton-propublica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=1977","title":{"rendered":"James Talarico\u2019s Voter Registration Is Raising Questions as He Hits at Ken Paxton \u2014 ProPublica"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Texas state Rep. James Talarico<\/a> voted in five elections using his parents\u2019 address after purchasing a home for himself nearby, a practice that may have violated state voting laws, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found.<\/p>\n

This comes weeks after Talarico accused<\/a> Attorney General Ken Paxton<\/a>, his opponent in the race for U.S. Senate, of voter fraud for similar actions. The news organizations reported in July<\/a> that Paxton voted using an address where his estranged wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton<\/a>, said he hasn\u2019t lived for two years.<\/p>\n

Paxton has made eradicating voter fraud a cornerstone of his time in office by advocating strict enforcement of the law, including in cases against voters who allegedly used false addresses when casting ballots. Paxton\u2019s campaign has said he is a \u201clawful, registered Texas voter\u201d but has repeatedly declined to answer detailed questions about his residency and voting history.<\/p>\n

Piecing together Talarico\u2019s voting history is more difficult than it is for Paxton. Talarico, unlike the attorney general, redacts his address on the Travis County voter rolls under a state law that allows some public officials to shield personal information for safety reasons. But unredacted records Talarico\u2019s campaign provided the newsrooms show that he listed his parents\u2019 address on his voter registration in November 2021.<\/p>\n

He purchased a home in June 2022 but did not change his voter registration address until September 2024, the news organizations\u2019 review of Travis County records shows. The new address is redacted, but Talarico\u2019s campaign previously told the newsrooms that he currently lives and is registered to vote at the north Austin home he owns.<\/p>\n

Talarico\u2019s campaign declined to answer questions about his residency and voting history, including when he began living at the home he owns. Campaign spokesperson JT Ennis said \u201cright-wing actors\u201d had made \u201ccredible threats\u201d about trying to locate Talarico and his family.<\/p>\n

Texas law requires that residents register to vote where they live. This ensures they are voting for those who actually represent them. The provisions of the law, however, are \u201cbroad and vague,\u201d said Andrew Cates, a Texas ethics attorney.<\/p>\n

Courts have previously ruled that there is no single way to determine a voter\u2019s residence, and prosecuting such cases requires proof that a voter \u201cknowingly\u201d or \u201cintentionally\u201d broke the law.<\/p>\n

Given this, Cates said he doubts that either Talarico or Paxton committed voter fraud, but he said Paxton should be held to a higher standard. As the state\u2019s top lawyer, Paxton is responsible for enforcing election laws and has aggressively pursued alleged violators.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the top officials go looking for people to skewer for it, and then do it themselves, it really smacks of hypocrisy,\u201d Cates said.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Paxton helped oust<\/a> judges on Texas\u2019 highest criminal court who prevented him from unilaterally prosecuting election crimes. And, two weeks before this year\u2019s primary election, Paxton announced the creation of an election fraud tip line. His office warned Texans that \u201cit is illegal to misrepresent your residence on election records or to establish a residence for the purpose of influencing the outcome of an election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paxton\u2019s unyielding stance on election crimes fueled charges from Talarico and other critics that he considers himself above the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Republican secretary of state here in Texas has already said that our elections are safe and secure,\u201d Talarico said at a Houston campaign event<\/a> last month. \u201cBut as our state\u2019s attorney general, Ken Paxton has gone on a voter fraud witch hunt. Turns out, he was committing voter fraud the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, Paxton hit back.<\/p>\n

In a news release and on social media<\/a>, Paxton said Talarico broke state law, citing reports from conservative news<\/a> outlets<\/a> suggesting the Democrat had not lived in the district for at least a year when he was elected to the Texas House in 2022. Talarico, Paxton said, \u201cblatantly committed election fraud showing a complete disregard for Texas residency requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Records provided by Talarico\u2019s campaign appear to show that he did comply with residency requirements during the period scrutinized by the conservative outlets.<\/p>\n

In October 2021, Talarico announced<\/a> he would move to the area where he grew up after Republicans redrew his Texas House district to favor their party.<\/p>\n

Talarico updated his address to his parents\u2019 home in the new House district on his voter registration, on his driver\u2019s license and with the U.S. Postal Service on Nov. 5, 2021, according to records his campaign provided. Those include a photo of his voter registration application and screenshots of receipts from the Texas Department of Public Safety and USPS. Talarico also rented a 10-foot U-Haul moving truck for six hours that day, according to a screenshot of a receipt.<\/p>\n

The changes happened three days before the one-year cutoff, making him eligible to run for that seat.<\/p>\n

The records also contradict a claim by one of the conservative outlets that there was no evidence Talarico moved to his parents\u2019 house when he registered to vote there. Paxton seized on that report to accuse Talarico of voter fraud during the 2022 election.<\/p>\n

The newsrooms\u2019 findings about Talarico are different because they analyzed the period after the lawmaker purchased a home and found that he continued to vote using his parents\u2019 address. Talarico\u2019s house is in the same county as his parents\u2019 home, which is about 6 miles away. It is in the state House district he represents but in different jurisdictions for some local elections.<\/p>\n

Asked about the apparent discrepancy in Talarico\u2019s voter registration and residency, his campaign shifted blame onto the attorney general.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a lame attempt by Ken Paxton to deflect from his own hypocrisy and career of corruption,\u201d Ennis said in a statement, nodding to Paxton\u2019s legal troubles.<\/p>\n

Paxton was impeached by the Texas House in 2023 and investigated by the Department of Justice over corruption charges. The state Senate acquitted him, and the federal government dropped its case<\/a>. Paxton also spent nearly nine years under indictment for felony securities fraud charges that were dropped in 2024.<\/p>\n

For his part, Paxton and his campaign on Monday again did not answer questions<\/a> about the news organizations\u2019 finding that he voted six times over a two-year period while registered at a Collin County home where he appeared to no longer live<\/a>. It is unclear where Paxton lived during that time, but the publications\u2019 reporting has linked him, and a woman believed to be his girlfriend, to a home in neighboring Denton County since February. As the home is in a different county, voters there select an entirely different slate of local officials than in Collin County.<\/p>\n

Paxton spokesperson Madison Cercy doubled down on accusations that Talarico was ineligible to be elected to his seat and also committed voter fraud.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only person who has committed voter fraud in the Texas Senate race is James Talarico,\u201d she said. She did not provide evidence of Talarico\u2019s alleged lawbreaking beyond the reports from the conservative outlets.<\/p>\n

Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, argued Paxton\u2019s and Talarico\u2019s cases highlight how easy it can be to \u201crun afoul of the letter of the law,\u201d even as Republican lawmakers push for more stringent enforcement of voting restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it could be reasonably used as a charge of hypocrisy against either of them because both of them have condemned the other for an action quite similar to what they themselves appear to have done,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n