George W. Bush’s brother Neil Bush has revealed that he voted for James Talarico instead of Ken Paxton. The news surprised Texas voters, and some criticized the Republican’s decision to support Paxton in the race, considering him a much inferior candidate to Talarico.
As reported by The Washington Sun, Neil said it was a hard decision to vote for Talarico, but that he was “deeply concerned” about Paxton’s record and admired Talarico’s integrity, civility, and humility.
Another reported reason Neil voted for the Democrat instead of a Republican, as expected, is that he said he was worried about a political culture that “pledges loyalty to an individual” instead of holding people accountable. However, he said he was not permanently breaking away from the GOP.
Texans React to Neil Bush Supporting Talarico
Texans on r/Texas had some strong opinions about Neil Bush’s support for the Democratic Senate candidate. One of them criticized Paxton, writing: “Why was it a difficult decision? Paxton is slime but you still had a hard time voting for the better candidate?”
Others highlighted that “it was Paxton’s support for January 6th that he says was over the line” as part of why some people in the party don’t support the Trump-aligned candidate.
To some, the decision was not entirely surprising, however. As someone put it, “Him and Cornyn just held a big fundraiser last month for 6 Senate candidates in battleground close elections. Somehow Paxton was not invited or endorsed during that fundraiser.” One Texan added: “Every decent republican will vote for Talarico.”
Some people also praised Talarico’s campaign: “I love that this kind of reaching back across the aisle is inevitable with Talarico’s campaign. MAGA has built their platform on who they can exclude and vilify while James builds ‘a big tent’ that includes as many as possible.”
Episodes like this show that even generally loyal Republicans aren’t entirely convinced by Paxton, which could challenge the candidate as he seeks to defeat the Democrat. It remains to be seen who will ultimately win, though.
