{"id":1556,"date":"2026-08-18T09:39:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T09:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=1556"},"modified":"2026-08-18T09:39:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T09:39:43","slug":"longtime-cornyn-aide-joins-democrat-talaricos-campaign-against-ken-paxton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=1556","title":{"rendered":"Longtime Cornyn Aide Joins Democrat Talarico\u2019s Campaign Against Ken Paxton"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>A longtime Republican congressional aide who spent five years working for Sen. John Cornyn has joined Democrat James Talarico\u2019s campaign as the Texas Senate race against Republican nominee Ken Paxton takes shape.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=1554\">Morning Greatness: Trump Doubles Down on Declaring Strait of Hormuz U.S. Territory<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jacob Smith, who served as Cornyn\u2019s deputy legislative director and policy adviser, is now Talarico\u2019s deputy policy director, according to NOTUS.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve worked for Republicans like Senator Cornyn my entire career, but this year I\u2019m proud to be joining James Talarico\u2019s campaign,\u201d Smith said in a statement released by the campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Smith portrayed Talarico as focused on economic issues affecting Texans regardless of political affiliation. He also sharply criticized Paxton and encouraged other Republicans to oppose their party\u2019s nominee.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKen Paxton is the most corrupt, self-dealing politician in Texas who would sell their futures to the highest contributor just to hold onto power,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI\u2019m encouraging all my fellow Republicans who know Ken Paxton is unfit to serve in the Senate to finally hold him accountable at the ballot box.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=1552\">Diversity Fair<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Smith has spent much of his career working for Republican lawmakers. Before joining Cornyn\u2019s staff, he worked for Republican Rep. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma on the House Science Committee and served as a legislative aide to Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi.<\/p>\n<p>His defection comes after Paxton defeated Cornyn in a contentious Republican primary runoff, ending the longtime senator\u2019s bid for another term.<\/p>\n<p>Paxton, who received President Donald Trump\u2019s endorsement, now faces Talarico in a race for a seat Republicans have traditionally been favored to hold.<\/p>\n<p>Some Republicans have expressed concern that controversies surrounding Paxton could make the race more competitive. Paxton was impeached by the Republican-controlled Texas House in 2023 but was acquitted by the state Senate.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=1550\">A Chinese in Havana<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A longtime Republican congressional aide who spent five years working for Sen. John Cornyn has joined Democrat James Talarico\u2019s campaign as the Texas Senate\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Longtime Cornyn Aide Joins Democrat Talarico\u2019s Campaign Against Ken Paxton - Urban Economy news<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=1556\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Longtime Cornyn Aide Joins Democrat Talarico\u2019s Campaign Against Ken Paxton - Urban Economy news\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A longtime Republican congressional aide who spent five years working for Sen. 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