By EMILY MEDEIROS, The Daily Signal | September 10, 2026
On the first night of the Republican National Midterm Convention, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton shared with attendees his plans to help make Texans’ lives more affordable if he makes it to the U.S. Senate.
Paxton’s speech centered around helping Texans with the affordability crisis plaguing the state and the country.
In introducing his “Protecting the Texas Promise” plan, Paxton said it would help put “thousands of dollars back into your pockets.”
Paxton emphasized that under his plan, Texans would be able to own a home with a “landmark $50,000 down payment tax-deduction.”
“It means that $25,000 tax deduction for medical expenses, because no family should go bankrupt just for getting sick,” Paxton said. “And it means that healthy living tax deduction for gym memberships, nutrition plans, and yes, even doctor-prescribed GLP-1s.”
Paxton’s plan would also double the child tax credit and make the Trump savings accounts permanent.
The conservative attorney general also emphasized his victories against the Biden administration, saying that “even CNN admitted that Texas was a legal graveyard for [former President Joe] Biden’s policies.”
“I am standing up for Texas like I’ve done my entire career,” said Paxton. “When the corrupt Biden administration came for us, I took them to court 107 times. And I won.”
Paxton also took aim at his Democrat opponent James Talarico, saying that Talarico was “running to destroy” the American dream.
“He is a democratic socialist who never met a tax increase he didn’t love,” said Paxton. “As a matter of fact, he voted to tax your income in Texas.”
In addition to Talarico’s voting record, Paxton cited his opponent’s long string of controversial quotes, including where Talarico has said he’s a Christian who hates Christianity, God is nonbinary, and his claim that there are six genders.
“This guy is really obsessed with transitions. He wants to transition your kids. He wants to transition Texas off of oil and gas,” said Paxton. “How about we transition him and his crazy ideas right out of Texas?”
Paxton ended his speech, telling attendees that “if we lose Texas, we lose the commonsense revolution.”
He added that “if we lose the commonsense revolution, we lose America,” emphasizing that America needs to send President Donald Trump reinforcements to change Washington.
“We can restore the American dream across this country,” Paxton concluded.
The Daily Signal is on the ground at the convention through Thursday.
Emily Medeiros is the Texas Correspondent for the Daily Signal.
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