Caught between a scandal-plagued Republican nominee and a young Democrat who tacks further left on Israel than many are comfortable with, Jews in the Lone Star State find themselves in a Texas-sized bind when it comes to the pivotal Senate race between state Attorney General Ken Paxton and state Rep. James Talarico.

“I think Texas Jews are between a rock and a hard place in this race,” Norri Leder, a co-founder of Houston Jewish Women Vote and a board member of the local Jewish Federation, told Jewish Insider. “On one hand, you have Ken Paxton, who has a lot of ethical issues that trouble a lot of voters across party lines. With Talarico, you’ve got someone who, like many Democrats, is just afraid to discuss this subject [Israel] with the Jewish community too much. That’s been hard.”

Leder added: “I don’t think he’s in the same camp as [Michigan Democratic Senate nominee] Abdul El-Sayed, but he hasn’t robustly engaged with the Jewish community so we can fully understand his positions.”

In fact, Jewish leaders in Texas say, neither candidate has done much in the way of outreach to their community, which has left them seeking more engagement in what is a neck-and-neck race.

Art Pronin, who leads the Meyerland Area Democrats Club, a largely Jewish Democratic group in the Houston area, said that while he could not “remember a statewide race in Texas that had a heavy focus on reaching Jewish voters, because there are not a lot of us,” he believed that the state’s Jewish community was “seeking a little more open courting of our voices and our vote given the national climate.”

“I think this is a moment where our voices and our votes as Jewish Americans matter in this country and in this state,” Pronin told JI. “Let’s say the polling that calls this race a 50-50 split is correct. There’s more than 200,000 of us. Neither candidate can afford to alienate or dismiss any minority group, including Jews.”

Talarico, despite running in a reliably Republican state, has not moderated his rhetoric around Israel, calling for reductions in military aid to the Jewish state though not going as far as to label Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza as a genocide, as many progressive Democrats have done. He has also vowed not to take any money from AIPAC in the campaign, despite having no such qualms about support from the pro-Israel group during his time in the state legislature. 

“He really wants to maximize turnout and enthusiasm among the Democratic activist base, and we know the reality is that all of the energy in the Democratic Party right now is anti-Israel,” Southern Methodist University political scientist Matthew Wilson told JI.

Wilson added that Talarico’s positions on cultural issues are so progressive that he has little ability to make inroads with the socially conservative evangelical constituencies that are also strongly supportive of Israel. 

Despite his critical rhetoric towards Israel, many Jewish voters in Texas view Talarico’s overall record on Jewish issues as acceptable, noting his support of legislation in the Texas Legislature that would require all state schools to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. 

While his Jewish outreach has been limited, he did attend a Rosh Hashanah service at Congregation Emanu El in Houston and took part in a roundtable with Jewish community leaders at the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum last month. Neither event was promoted publicly by the campaign. He also participated in a virtual event hosted by the Jewish Democratic Council of America in May.

As one Texas Jewish leader put it while noting Talarico’s limitations: “This is Texas, not Manhattan. He needs to have these conversations with the Jewish community, and I don’t just mean the most liberal elements of it, because most of us dislike Ken Paxton in this state. I mean people in the center and the center-right.”

Seth Krasne, Talarico’s campaign manager, said in a statement to JI, “James has a record of standing up for Texas’ Jewish community and Jewish safety — combating antisemitism, defending Jewish students on the floor of the Texas House, and supporting Israel’s right to exist.”

Paxton, meanwhile, has not made Jewish outreach a focus of his campaign during the campaign, though he has discussed his support for Israel and touted his record on combating antisemitism when asked. His campaign has not promoted any Jewish community events or meetings with Jewish leaders, though he made appearances at churches across the state throughout the month of August. 

During the primary campaign, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who built up strong relationships with the state’s Jewish community, attacked Paxton for associating with far-right, anti-Israel podcast host Steve Bannon and not speaking out against the rise in antisemitism on the far right. 

While Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) spoke out against the University of Texas College Democrats’ recent decision to invite antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker to speak on campus, Paxton’s campaign attacked Piker but didn’t address whether the school should rescind the invitation. (Talarico’s campaign declined to respond to questions about Piker.) 

Jewish Democratic leaders in the state believe Cornyn would have had a chance at winning the state’s Jewish vote against Talarico, but that Talarico is likely to comfortably prevail against Paxton. 

“Paxton doesn’t [show up]. Never has,” Pronin said. “He’s never been on our side as attorney general. He doesn’t have that communal relationship with us at all. He may try to say in your story he’s a friend now, but he’s not been a friend.”

Reached by JI, Paxton campaign spokeswoman Madison Cercy said in a statement, “James Talarico is a part of the antisemitic radical left that wants to see Israel destroyed. He is a part of the Democratic Socialist Movement and is no different from Hasan Piker, Zohran Mamdani, and AOC.”