James Talarico Insults Military Families With 'California Transplant' Attack, Ken Paxton Says
James Talarico Insults Military Families With ‘California Transplant’ Attack, Ken Paxton Says
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Emily Kopp
Senior Investigative Reporter
June 30, 2026
4:57 PM ET
June 30, 2026 4:57 PM ET
Emily Kopp
Senior Investigative Reporter
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“Don’t California my Texas” is a popular saying that captures the wariness that many in the Lone Star State feel toward the coastal liberal bastion — and in its mudslinging Senate race both candidates are using “Californian” as a pejorative.
“[Republican Texas Attorney General] Ken Paxton clearly misses his old home in California,” an account linked to Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico’s campaign claimed in a Friday post to Facebook. However, the GOP upper chamber candidate is responding by casting his opponent’s attack on his childhood residence as an insult to his father’s military service.
The post features a clip of Paxton saying “I like places in California, even though I don’t like to admit that I go to California.”
The Austin Democrat also labeled Paxton a “California transplant” in his Texas Democratic National Convention speech on Saturday. (RELATED: James Talarico Conveniently Comes Out Against Child Sex Changes After Singing Very Different Tune)
Paxton’s father, Warren Kenneth Paxton Sr., served in the United States Air Force as a B-52 pilot, Paxton shared in a Facebook post on Monday. The Paxtons, like many military families, moved often.
Their journey took them from an Air Force base in Minot, North Dakota, where Warren Kenneth “Ken” Paxton, Jr. was born, to Florida, to New York, to North Carolina, to California and to Oklahoma, according to a 2016 profile in the Houston Chronicle. The family’s temporary home and mode of transportation was a white and gold trailer that lacked air conditioning.
Talarico’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
This is my father, Warren, B52 Air Force pilot, who served our nation with honor. I couldn’t be prouder to have grown up in a military family, traveling the nation. I will always fight to ensure our 1.7 million military families and veterans have the support they deserve and that… https://t.co/aasSm4FozL pic.twitter.com/5OG1U3betD
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) June 29, 2026
Talarico also staunchly opposes President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans’ sweeping 2025 tax and spending bill, which in part contained quality of life upgrades for military families, Paxton’s campaign pointed out.
“It is outrageous that Talarico is attacking the Attorney General for growing up in a military family, claiming that if you weren’t born in Texas you aren’t a Texan,” Paxton campaign spokesperson Madison Cercy told the DCNF.
“I would like Talarico to tell the 1.7 million military families and veterans that Texas is home to that statement or better yet, tell them about the $9 billion in funding for troop/military family quality of life and the $2.9 billion to boost the basic housing allowance that he wanted to deny them,” Cercy added.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act — which Trump signed last July 4 — included $9 billion for troop and military family quality-of-life initiatives like improvements to public schools serving large numbers of military children, more spending on child care, and upgrades to barracks, according to the National Military Family Association. The legislation also included $2.9 billion more for the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) that helps service members with rent or mortgage payments.
U.S. President Donald Trump, joined by Republican lawmakers, signs the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act into law during an Independence Day military family picnic on the South Lawn of the White House on July 04, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
“The Attorney General’s father served this country with honor, and it’s outrageous that anyone seeking public office in the United States could use a father’s military service as a political attack,” Cercy told the DCNF.
Talarico’s campaign website describes the Democrat as an “eighth-generation Texan,” and he has frequently used this term throughout his Senate run.
Meanwhile, Paxton has portrayed Talarico as out of touch with Texas values, pointing to a series of fundraisers in San Francisco. POLITICO reported earlier in June that Talarico attended at least four Bay Area fundraisers with prominent Democratic Party donors in the technology industry in mid-April. (EXCLUSIVE: Ken Paxton Wants Texas To Know James Talarico Is ‘Weird’)
Talarico has sought to shed his past enthusiastic embrace of identity politics — including his statement that “God is nonbinary” and admitting to love “trans children” — and adopt a more moderate image. Paxton told the DCNF that he is not buying his opponent’s rebrand.
“He went to San Francisco to raise money. In my opinion, those are his people. They’re not in Texas,” Paxton told the DCNF in a Saturday interview in Washington D.C.
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Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
