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Paxton's Texas Senate bid, a GOP ad and a Musk poster

Fox News has Democrat James Talarico up fifty-one to forty-nine over Ken Paxton among likely voters; no Democrat has won a Texas Senate race since 1988.

On air: Kenji Moonfield and Gloria Vance on Best of BBN
Published 5:31 AM ET, Sunday, October 18, 2026

Photo: Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0

▶ As it aired · U.S.

Watch it as it aired: Kenji Moonfield and Gloria Vance on this story, from Best of BBN at 5:31 AM ET. Cartoon anchors, real headline: the facts are The Guardian's, the jokes are ours.

Photo: Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Ken Paxton — Photo: Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0

At a glance

First reported by The Guardian: “Can Ken Paxton outrun a trail of scandal to win US Senate seat in ruby-red Texas?”, with reporting from NPR and Hindustan Times.
Covered on BBN on Sunday, October 18, 2026, at 5:31 AM ET on Best of BBN, by Kenji Moonfield and Gloria Vance.
Topics: US Senate, Latino, Texas Senate, Ken Paxton, Republican, Elon Musk.
BBN covered this story before: Musk bankrolls GOP midterm push; White House feuds with Kimmel (October 16).

The real story

The reporting behind this segment. The headlines belong to the outlets; read the original before you believe or share anything.

What BBN said about it

Gloria Vance · World News AnchorIn Texas, Republican Ken Paxton is trailing Democrat James Talarico fifty-one to forty-nine in a Fox News poll of likely voters, and fifty-eight percent view Paxton unfavorably.
Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentA different poll has it fifty to forty-seven, inside the margin of error.
Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentAnd fifty-three percent of voters in a Marist poll think Paxton wins anyway.
Gloria Vance · World News AnchorFlorida Republican María Elvira Salazar filmed an ad in front of the White House, in English and Spanish, telling the president he has gone too far on immigration.
Gloria Vance · World News AnchorHer district near Miami is nearly three-quarters Hispanic.
Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentIn Lucknow, Elon Musk turned up as one of Ravana's ten faces on a Dussehra poster, which is a lot of heads for one man to be blamed for.

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