Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is weirdly 'obsessed' with Alyssa Edwards

"Ken Paxton seems to be obsessed with my client, Alyssa Edwards," declared Dallas publicist Waylon Tate in social media posts on Tuesday, referring to the Texas attorney general who is running to replace Republican Sen. John Cornyn. Edwards, of course, is the RuPaul's Drag Race season 5 and All Stars 2 alum from Mesquite, Texas, aka 46-year-old drag artist Justin Dwayne Lee Johnson.

Paxton's "obsession" is evident in his recent social media posts, in which he's been dragging his Democratic opponent, front-runner James Talarico for daring to name his favorite drag queen.

"What normal person can name their favorite drag queen this quickly?" is the caption on Paxton's post on X on Sept. 14, accompanied by a video of Talarico answering that question at a campaign event. "When James Talarico isn’t advocating for children to dress in drag, he’s watching drag performances and saying that Texas produces the best drag queens. James Talarico is too weird and too radical for Texas."

On Tuesday, Paxton doubled-down with a new post, targeting Edwards herself topped with a "VIEWER WARNING:" "Meet Alyssa Edwards: James Talarico’s favorite sick and twisted drag queen."

The video mixes Talarico's answer with clips of Edwards performing, including in front of and with young children whose faces are blurred. It ends with an ominous full-screen message in black and red, all-caps: "James Talarico: Too Weird, Too Radical for Texas."

This was enough for Tate, Edwards' rep, to step in.

"Alyssa's name is being used as political ammunition in a U.S.-centered race she isn't running in," he said in Tuesday's post on Instagram and Threads. Tate goes on to explain his responsibility as a public relations agent, and what he called "the part of PR nobody really sees."

"Sometimes I write a statement and sometimes I make the phone call, sometimes I tell a client we're not touching this," said Tate. "And sometimes I watch the same politician repeatedly use my client's name to get attention, and there's really only one word for it. Desperate. Stay tuned."

After Paxton's original post, Edwards shared it and claimed the label of "Your favorite politician’s favorite Drag Queen." She also thanked Talarico for recognizing that the arts have a purpose and a home in Texas, ending her post with the biblical quote from Matthew 7:1, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged."

All this comes a month after a judge in Texas cited the late Dolly Parton’s bosom in a ruling that blocked the state's drag ban, as Out reported. Lawyers for the Lone Star State argued that a drag queen’s impersonation of the late country music and queer icon could be criminal. The court suggested offended audiences “just don’t go.”

U.S. District Judge David Hittner ruled that a 2023 state law criminalizing “sexually oriented” performances in public or in the presence of minors violated Texans’ constitutional rights.

The focus on Edwards comes as Paxton is trailing Talarico in the latest poll, whose campaign reportedly accepted $40,000 from donors whose companies facilitate Chinese investments, a tactic he himself has criticized, and has been abandoned by both Texas Republicans and former President George W. Bush's midterm fundraising efforts.

But there is hope Paxton will get a huge cash infusion, according to NBC News, which says Elon Musk has already invested $5.2 million in races across Texas and is being urged to do so quietly. The world's richest man was very public in campaigning for a conservative Wisconsin State Supreme Court candidate last year, and after Musk's "in your face" efforts, that GOP nominee lost by 10 points.

Musk may also be attracted to the race because of Paxton's anti-trans positions, especially given that he has denied the identity of his out trans daughter, Vivian Wilson, who disowned him. Talarico, whose own position on trans issues has shifted during the campaign, is running on the narrative that the real American divide isn’t left versus right but “top versus bottom,” with elites and billionaires exerting control over the working class, as observers told NBC News.

"James is running largely on costs and corruption," said Luke Warford, a Texas-based Democratic strategist. "The idea of the richest man in the world coming in late to try to buy the election and save Ken Paxton really plays into James Talarico’s argument."

Meantime, as we wait to see what else Edwards says about the Paxton-Talarico race, she's released a country music collab with America's Got Talent finalist Kameron Ross of Dallas.