James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, wants to reveal depositions involving Ken Paxton, his Republican opponent, as part of an ongoing effort to keep the focus on Paxton's history of scandals.
The depositions involve a civil case where Unity Resources, a mineral assets company, was accused of fraud. Paxton was connected to Unity but not a defendant, and the case was settled.
Talarico's campaign confirmed it asked a court on Wednesday to release the documents.
The Democratic state representative is counting on voters recoiling from past accusations against Paxton, the Texas attorney general, even though similar tactics have failed in previous campaigns.
In addition to seeking the depositions, Talarico recently resurfaced video of Paxton pocketing an expensive pen at a courthouse security checkpoint. Talarico also has talked about how Paxton was impeached, although Paxton was later acquitted, and how he faced criminal charges for securities fraud, which ended with an agreement with prosecutors involving restitution payments but no admission of guilt.
Paxton has repeatedly denied allegations against him and, much like his supporter President Donald Trump, calls them politically motivated smears. It is an approach that has worked over the years, including when Paxton defeated incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in this year's Republican primary.
A spokesperson for Paxton's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported the contents of one deposition, including that Paxton had possibly violated attorney-client privilege. That was disputed by those involved. The Journal also reported that Paxton said he could not recall the answer to a question about 90 times during the deposition.
In a draft of the court filing, lawyers for Talarico's campaign argued there is “no basis under Texas law or procedure to withhold them from the public. Keeping them secret violates Texas’s constitutional guarantee that judicial proceedings be free and open to public scrutiny.”
FILE - At left, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks in McKinney, Texas, May 19, 2026, and at right, Texas state Rep. James Talarico, after voting, in Austin, Texas, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero and Eric Gay,File)
A federal judge on Wednesday lifted a major obstacle to President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting, but the decision will only clear the path for more legal challenges.
Additional court rulings, like one filed Wednesday by Democratic state officials, could still stop the directive from taking effect before the rapidly approaching midterm elections.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston, an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama, agreed to remove her previous injunction that prohibited the U.S. Postal Service from carrying out Trump’s order for November’s elections. She did so after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled that a similar injunction Talwani had placed on the federal government in a separate case against the mail voting order was premature.
Talwani said the Supreme Court’s Monday decision “compelled” her to toss out the injunction.
The administration can now move forward and implement a Postal Service rule published late Friday that election officials warn could sow chaos during the midterms. It would require states to follow a uniform style for the envelopes used for mail ballots and give the Postal Service a list of voters eligible to receive them. Talwani found on Tuesday that the issuance of the rule technically violated her injunction, but she declined to penalize the administration over it.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Democratic-controlled states on Wednesday filed another lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to limit mail voting in this year's midterm elections.
The action, filed by about two dozen states against the U.S. Postal Service, marked a new phase in the high-stakes litigation just two days after the Supreme Court ruled against them in a separate case, but did not say Trump’s order was legal.
The high court majority found the Democratic lawsuit was premature, but that was before the Republican administration issued a rule governing Postal Service delivery of mail ballots. Election officials warn it will be impossible to implement in the days before the first wave of mail ballots are sent out next week.
“Across the country, states are already deep into preparations for the 2026 elections. Now, at the last moment, the federal government is attempting to meddle in those preparations and potentially threaten countless Americans’ right to vote,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of 25 Democratic attorneys general filing the lawsuit, said in a statement. “USPS has no authority to decide who can and cannot vote by mail.”
Trump’s executive order remains barred from taking effect under a separate injunction that the administration argues needs to be immediately rescinded in light of the high court’s ruling in the previous Democratic state lawsuit. It also had succeeded in a third case filed in May in the District of Columbia, convincing a judge that it was too early to prevent its implementation of the executive order.
All previous challenges were filed before the administration published its mail ballot rule Friday night. The rule says that if states want their mail ballots delivered, they will need federal approval of the design of their envelopes and must give the Postal Service a list of voters eligible to receive them.
White House spokesperson Lauren Bis on Wednesday said the Postal Service’s proposals were “commonsense measures that protect the security of mail-in ballots” and that the administration would continue to work to implement them to boost “the safety and security of our elections.”
The Postal Service said it would not comment because of the pending lawsuit.
National Democrats on Tuesday cited the rule in asking the federal judge in the Washington case to block Trump’s order after he declined to do so last spring, saying the administration at the time had not taken concrete action. In Boston, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani also found that the administration moving forward with the mail ballot rule had violated a separate injunction she had placed on the Postal Service prohibiting it from enacting Trump’s order, although she did not take any action against the government.
Talwani, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, had issued the injunction against Trump’s executive order in the prior Democratic state case, which is the one the Supreme Court overturned on Monday. She has yet to act on the administration’s urging her to revoke her second injunction. It was issued Aug. 11 in a case against the executive order and was filed by the League of Women Voters and other voting rights groups while the Supreme Court was considering the administration’s appeal of the judge's first order.
Trump has long targeted mail voting, which he falsely blames for his 2020 election loss and is disproportionately used by Democrats as a result of Trump’s condemnations. Since returning to power, Trump has tried to claim authority over election rules, saying he thinks Republicans should “take over” vote counting in Democratic areas.
He issued his first election executive order just months after retaking office, attempting to require documentary proof of citizenship to vote, among other changes. He has also been pushing a sweeping election bill that has stalled in the Senate amid opposition from Democrats and even some within his own party.
FILE - A worker sorts ballots at the L.A. County Ballot Processing Center during the California primary election, June 2, 2026, in City of Industry, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang, File)
President Donald Trump listens during a back to school event in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
An election worker sorts vote-by-mail ballots at the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Office for the Florida primary election in Doral, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
An election worker places a vote-by-mail ballot into a secure bin at the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Office during the Florida primary election in Doral, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
