Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat, used a rally at the White Oak Music Hall in north Houston on Wednesday evening to promote the four-part economic plan he hopes to advance if elected in November.
Paxton said the cornerstone of his plan would be to provide a tax deduction of $25,000 per taxpayer and their dependents for all medical expenses, including health insurance premiums.
"Obviously, medical expenses have gone up, and they’ve gotten out of control, and so we need to help Texans with those," Paxton said.
Paxton next turned to the idea of promoting healthy behavior with an additional $5,000 "healthy-living tax deduction" that could be used to cover gym memberships, better nutrition, youth sports and even physician-prescribed GLP-1 drugs for weight loss.
"I also am offering up a $50,000 tax deduction for first-time homebuyers and second-time homebuyers if they’re buying for their primary residence, which will help with the ... increased cost of building homes, which occurred under [President] Joe Biden."
Lastly, Paxton pledged support for President Donald Trump's tax-deferred investment accounts for children under age 18 and called for doubling the child tax credit to $4,400 per child, up from $2,200 now.
“Now I can tell you this, my opponent wouldn’t vote for any of that stuff,” Paxton said, taking aim at Democratic state Rep. James Talarico. “And how do I know? Because my opponent voted for a state income tax.”
Talarico will be making his own campaign swing through the Houston area this weekend. At a campaign stop in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on Wednesday, Talarico proposed his own economic agenda for combatting an “affordability crisis,” saying he wanted to repeal Republican-led tax cuts for the wealthy and provide universal childcare for families.
"We have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis," Talarico said during his rally in Arlington. "The billionaires buying the system — buying politicians like Ken Paxton — they don't care who you are. They don't care about your politics. They only care about their profits."
Paxton devoted much of his speech to attacking Talarico, but he also acknowledged the strong fundraising lead Talarico had built up.
"He had a three-month head start because I had a runoff, and he raised almost $30 million," Paxton said. "Guess which state I think gave him the most money ... California."
Speaking to reporters after the rally, Paxton expressed confidence that he would be able to close the fundraising gap with Talarico as well as the polling gap that has recently opened up. Three recently released polls have known Talarico with a lead in the race as he tries to become the first Democrat in more than 30 years to win a statewide election in Texas.
"I think the voters of Texas, once they’re educated, there’s no way we’re going to elect a socialist Democrat in Texas," Paxton said. "They might do that in New York with [Mayor Zohran] Mamdani. They might do it in Michigan, but it’s not going to happen in Texas."
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