The Texas Senate Race Is Becoming a Debt Debacle

Abby McCloskey, Bloomberg Opinion, August 31, 2026

Republicans don’t tend to run for office promising to rack up new federal debts. Especially in Texas. But that’s what state Attorney General Ken Paxton is doing in his campaign for the US Senate.

Affordability tops the list of concerns for Texans this midterm cycle. A recent Fox News poll found Texas voters care most about inflation and high prices. Immigration and border security came in a distant second. The same poll shows Paxton slightly trailing Democratic nominee James Talarico (48% to 51%), as has been the case for months.

So Paxton’s pulling out all the affordability stops. The single largest cost-of-living measure Paxton has proposed is doubling the federal Child Tax Credit, a partially refundable tax credit that parents can claim annually per child ages 0 to 17, from $2,200 to $4,400. For context, the US spent $128 billion on the CTC in 2025. Paxton’s proposal would mean the US spends roughly $250 billion a year on the CTC alone. For perspective, that is roughly the annual spend on the US Navy.