What does Hillary Clinton think of the Ken Paxton versus James Talarico Texas Senate race?

Hillary Clinton calls Democrat James Talarico a generational talent and Republican Ken Paxton a deeply flawed candidate, citing the case John Cornyn made against Paxton in the primary. She warns that Elon Musk's roughly $190 million for Paxton and Texas's right-wing media machine could still pull out a win, and says the race shows why the Roberts court's campaign finance rulings should be undone by constitutional amendment.

• Emerson polling cited on the show had the race in a dead heat.
• Clinton says many Republicans are quietly backing Talarico or skipping the race because they know Paxton.
• Higher turnout among young, Black and brown eligible voters would already make Texas trend blue, in Clinton's view.

▸In their words

“Paxton will be representing the great state of Musk, not the great state of Texas if he's elected.” Hillary Clinton · at 26:38 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on On with Kara Swisher (2026-10-28). Read the whole episode summary →

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