Saturday’s episode of The Weekend: Primetime on MS NOW pretended to current a balanced dialogue between a Republican and a Democrat strategist in cowboy hats in regards to the Texas Senate race between James Talarico and Ken Paxton.
Co-host Elise Jordan launched one of many friends this fashion:
“Becoming a member of us now could be Mark McKinnon, former advisor to George W. Bush and John McCain… Mark, you’ve a protracted profession advising Republicans in Texas.”
In actuality, McKinnon’s Republican credentials are extraordinarily skinny and dated. His final important Republican work was on John McCain’s 2008 presidential marketing campaign, which he stop as a result of he wished Barack Obama to win, saying Obama’s election “would ship a terrific message to the nation and the world.”
Somewhat than a “lengthy profession” advising Republicans, McKinnon has a far longer historical past working for Democrats, together with Ann Richards, Lloyd Doggett, and others.
Through the section, McKinnon made some extent of claiming he and [fellow] Democrat strategist Chuck Rocha “labored for the final Democratic governor, Ann Richards,” earlier than he “crossed the bridge with George W.” McKinnon clearly enunciated “Democratic governor Ann Richards,” however then noticeably stumbled and failed to finish “Bush” in any respect, trailing off after “George W.”
Each McKinnon and Rocha proceeded to bash Ken Paxton and specific robust optimism about Democrat James Talarico’s possibilities, with McKinnon declaring it a “good storm” for Democrats in Texas.
Rocha claimed that whereas the Republican technique is to divide individuals, “James Talarico’s entire marketing campaign is about bringing individuals collectively.”
Ya imply, like all six genders?
Passing off McKinnon as a Republican was as phony as his cowboy hat. MS NOW offered viewers with what was primarily a dialog between two left-leaning voices whereas dressing it up as a balanced “Republican vs. Democrat” dialogue.
Here is the transcript.
MS NOW
The Weekend: Primetime
5/30/26
7:00 pm EDTELISE JORDAN: Welcome again to The Weekend: Primetime. It is a hundred and fifty-seven days to the midterms, and one of the vital carefully watched races of this cycle is for certain to be the high-stakes face-off between James Talarico and Ken Paxton, which might decide management of the Senate. And that Texas showdown is the topic of tonight’s Primetime focus.
Republican Ken Paxton survived nearly every little thing politics can throw at an individual, from his personal doing, however now his personal occasion is asking, can he survive a normal election? The scandal-plagued Texas Lawyer Normal defeated four-term incumbent John Cornyn within the Republican Senate main, knocking out one of the vital highly effective Republicans in Washington with the assistance of a important endorsement from President Trump.
Here is every little thing Paxton has survived to get thus far. First, felony safety fraud fees indicted in 2015, fees have been later dropped. An FBI investigation into bribery and abuse of workplace, no fees have been introduced. His personal senior aides reporting him to federal investigators, impeached by his personal occasion within the Texas Home, however later acquitted by the Senate. His spouse submitting for divorce on, quote, “biblical grounds,” and a settlement requiring him to pay almost 300 thousand {dollars} in restitution.
Now Republicans need to resolve that they maintain spending closely to defend Texas, a state that hasn’t despatched a Democrat to the Senate in thirty years, and concede different battleground states like North Carolina, perhaps Georgia.
Becoming a member of us now could be Mark McKinnon, former advisor to George W. Bush and John McCain, and Chuck Rocha, Democratic strategist and senior advisor to the James Talarico marketing campaign.
So, Mark, you’ve a protracted profession advising Republicans in Texas, and whenever you noticed Paxton — his win and the margin on Tuesday night time, what was your first response about how that is going to play out?
MARK MCKINNON: Nicely, my first response is that it is the worst doable end result for Republicans. John Cornyn was a long-standing, revered, Republican senator who had been legal professional normal, on the Supreme Courtroom, and he was proper out of central casting if he’d been nominated, Republicans might have spent cash on races which are far more wanted.
I imply, the truth that a Republican Senate race is aggressive in Texas in any respect is — it tells you numerous as a result of the final time a Democrat gained the Senate seat was 1988. Chuck and I labored for the final Democratic governor, Ann Richards, earlier than I crossed the bridge with George W. –.
However there’s simply no query that that is gonna be a really powerful race for Paxton, and given what we noticed in 2018, I am normally one who faucets the brakes, however that Beto race was shut, three factors. I believe that now Talarico’s already polling higher than Paxton, so, once more, I’ve at all times been the one to faucet the brakes, however I am saying it is a good storm lining up for Democrats.
CATHERINE RAMPELL: Chuck, earlier than I ask you my precise query, I might be remiss if I didn’t level out that the 2 of you’ve positively raised the bar for headwear on our present.
PABLO TORRE: Yeah, I really feel bare proper now.
RAMPELL: All of us ought to have worn our matching hats. We’ll coordinate for the subsequent present.[laughter and brief banter about But the actual question for you is about how you think the Republican party is going to potentially message around this, let’s say, flawed candidate?
CHUCK ROCHA: There’s gonna be a real big contrast, and thank you for the compliment on the brand-new straw cowboy hat I got at Cavender’s today. I’m in Austin, doing some work. But there’s two big differences. One is, the Republicans are gonna run on division. You have a party saying they want to separate people, and not talk about the economy. They want to talk about this social issue. They want to take a comment out of context. They want to splice things together. They want to make James Talarico be non-Texan.
While James Talarico wants to bring people together. To my good friend Mark’s point: even Republicans, independents, Latinos, who are normally drop-off voters in an off year. James Talarico’s whole campaign is about bringing people together.
