Democrat U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico is taking his General Election opponent to task over his record of supporting data centers in Texas.
The latest ad from Talarico's camp, entitled "Data Centers," was released Monday, Oct. 12, as a 30-second television spot highlighting Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton's record of providing billions in tax breaks for the data center industry and taking nearly half a million dollars in donations from data center companies.
Talarico and Paxton are set to face off in the Nov. 3 General Election, now only three weeks away.
Part of Talarico's massive eight-figure ad buy, the latest ad expands the Democrat's reach into new markets in Texas, including the Abilene, Midland-Odessa, San Angelo, Sherman,
Shreveport, Victoria and Wichita Falls media markets.
"Ken Paxton is selling off Texas, our land, our water, our communities — anything to make a buck," Talarico says in the ad. "He gave data centers billions in special tax breaks, and they gave him nearly half a million in campaign contributions.
"Now Texans are paying the price with skyrocketing utility bills. That's corruption."
In a direct attack aimed at Paxton's use of deep-fake AI video ads, Talarico's ad closes with the words, "Made By Humans, Not AI."
"Data centers bankroll Paxton, they get tax breaks, and you get stuck with the bill," Talarico says as the ad ends. "I'm James Talarico, and I approve this message because we can't afford Ken Paxton's corruption."
Paxton has so far not responded to the ad.
Adam Powell covers government and politics for the El Paso Times and can be reached via email at apowell@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Data centers fuel Talarico attack on Paxton in Texas US Senate race
