A recent University of Houston Hobby School poll found Talarico leading Paxton 48 percent to 46 percent, while Brown drew 3 percent of the vote. Talarico, a Democratic state representative from Austin, is attempting to become the first Democrat elected statewide in more than three decades. Paxton, the state's attorney general, won the Republican nomination after defeating longtime U.S.
Senator John Cornyn in a bitter primary campaign. However, he entered the general election carrying years of political baggage, including an impeachment by the Texas House and previous securities fraud charges that were later resolved. "Brown will be a refuge for Texas Republicans who cannot bring themselves to vote for Ken Paxton or for James Talarico, and don't want to leave the first spot on the ballot blank," Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University, told Newsweek.
Jones said recent polling found that roughly half of Brown's supporters were independents and half were Republicans, while "virtually none of them are Democrats." Brown, a 66-year-old retired insurance adjuster from Austin, has spent nearly five decades advocating for core Libertarian principles: limited government, individual liberty and a non-interventionist foreign policy. While Brown rejects the label, political observers say he could play a spoiler role if his vote share exceeds the eventual margin between Talarico and Paxton. "I don't think you can spoil something that's already rotten and putrid to begin with, and that's our two-party system that gets some of the worst candidates nominated," he said in a recent interview with East Texas Now on KLTV.
"Ken Paxton's a good example of that. I mean, he's a terrible candidate. He has a history of being indicted, impeached, accused of official misconduct." Newsweek reached out to both the Paxton and Talarico campaigns by email for comment.
Brown said he is getting pressure from both Republicans and Democrats. "I have as many Talarico supporters and Paxton supporters each saying that I'm taking votes from their guy and urging me to drop out," Brown told Newsweek. "But I think Paxton's side does have a little bit more to worry about…I know a lot of those folks.
They're considering voting for James Talarico, but come on. They're lifelong Republicans. Are they really going to vote for him?" He cautions against oversimplifying Libertarian voters.
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