Ken Paxton's attorney in his impeachment trial endorses James Talarico in US Senate race
Talarico’s campaign highlighted its endorsement from the attorney who represented Ken Paxton.
SOURCE CHECK
TAP FOR WHYCredibility rates KSAT, where this article appeared. The other scores rate the article itself.
The reporting is credited to The Associated Press, a major wire service with established editorial standards and a corrections process. The article identifies its reporter and includes direct interviews and responses from the campaigns.
- Source type — The story is credited to The Associated Press, a major wire service.
- Author attribution — A named reporter is credited, and the text identifies the AP as the source of an interview.
- Editorial standards — The wire service has established newsroom standards and a public corrections process.
- Transparency — The article includes AP copyright and attribution information.
The article offers direct quotes from Cogdell and responses from Paxton’s campaign and another member of his defense team. It provides relevant campaign context, though the account relies mainly on a small number of sources and does not include a response from Talarico.
HOW WE SCORE ↗The story includes the endorser’s reasoning as well as responses from Paxton’s campaign and another former defense attorney. It does not include a response from Talarico or additional perspectives on Cogdell’s criticism.
- Counterarguments presented — Paxton’s campaign dismisses the endorsement, and his former lead defense attorney says he supports Paxton.
- Source diversity — The account includes the endorser and two voices aligned with Paxton, but no comment from Talarico.
- Loaded language — Strong criticism is quoted and attributed to Cogdell rather than stated as the article’s own judgment.
The article reports the endorsement, Cogdell’s criticism and the responses without adopting an overtly partisan position or using markedly loaded language in its own narration.
- Language tone — The narration is largely matter-of-fact; pointed language appears in attributed quotations.
- Source selection — The article includes Cogdell’s explanation and responses from Paxton’s campaign and defense team.
- Framing — The endorsement is presented as a development in the Senate race, with campaign context.
Original publisher not identified
This article credits another publisher, which ChamberLight has not identified, so the scores are KSAT's own.
Dan Cogdell, who represented Ken Paxton in his impeachment trial, endorsed James Talarico in the Texas U.S. Senate race and criticized Paxton’s alignment with Donald Trump. Paxton’s campaign dismissed the endorsement as unsurprising, while another member of his defense team said he supports Paxton.
Cogdell said he was backing Democrat James Talarico, despite having represented Republican Ken Paxton for nearly a decade and serving on Paxton’s defense team in the 2023 impeachment trial. Cogdell said his work for Paxton ended at the courthouse and that, as a citizen, he wanted to do what he thought was right. He said Paxton was too focused on appeasing Trump and pointed to education and health care as areas Texas needs to address.
A Paxton campaign aide called the endorsement unsurprising and said Cogdell is a Democrat. Tony Buzbee, Paxton’s lead defense attorney in the trial, also called it unsurprising and said he supports Paxton. The article notes that Talarico’s campaign has highlighted Paxton’s legal troubles and that Paxton won the Republican Senate primary runoff against Sen. John Cornyn with Trump’s endorsement.
Community verdict
VOTING CLOSED
No good or bad look here
This story reports what happened without casting Talarico in a good or bad light, so readers don’t rate it and it doesn’t count toward Talarico’s record.
People in this story
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President whose endorsement helped Paxton in the Republican primary runoff
Republican Senate candidate and Cogdell’s former client
Senator defeated by Paxton in the Republican Senate primary runoff
Part of a bigger story
30 OUTLETSOutlets agree that Dan Cogdell, Ken Paxton’s former attorney, endorsed James Talarico in the Texas U.S. Senate race. Left-leaning outlets connect the endorsement to Talarico’s cross-party coalition and, in some coverage, present it as a rebuke to Paxton. Center outlets mostly report the endorsement, Cogdell’s criticism of Paxton and the response from Paxton’s camp, with some noting Talarico’s coalition appeal. Right-leaning outlets range from straightforward endorsement coverage to questioning its significance, while one article instead focuses on photos of Talarico eating meat.
- ARTICLES
- 31
- OUTLETS
- 30
- AVG CRED
- 72
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