Paxton Pitches Work Permits, Gas Tax Repeal in Texas Senate Race

United States Senate candidate and Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-TX) spoke at a forum in Fort Worth, Texas, earlier this week on how he plans to address several policies on voters' minds.

In a conversation with Javier Palomarez, the president and CEO of the United States Hispanic Business Council, Paxton addressed several key policy areas ahead of the November election. As of this week, polls show opponent James Talarico (D-TX) is leading by 6 points and 33 points among Hispanic voters. The Senate race is now considered a toss-up in the battleground state.

Paxton, who has been an avid supporter of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, said he would support a federal work authorization program if the border is secured first.

"Look, we should have an America First policy here,” Paxton said. “We need to have a policy that benefits the Americans that are here. That likely means we have to let people in who can fulfill some of these jobs we don't have enough people for."

Immigration is one of the top issues on voters’ minds, as well as affordability and high gas prices. To combat this, Paxton said he supports permanently repealing the federal gas tax.

"I know people need money in their pockets," he said. "I think gas prices are high. Let's give them the opportunity to, at least for the time being, to have a better deal."

Paxton also addressed a major stain on his record.

In 2025, Adam Hoffman was tried on charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child, but the jury deadlocked. Paxton said his office wanted to retry the case, but ultimately decided “we need to protect this kid” by not putting him through another trial.

"It's more important to make sure this kid is protected than to get the verdict we actually want,” Paxton said. “This kid's already gone through the process once and saw how it turned out. I don't blame the kid for not wanting to do it again."