# From Ken Paxton to 'The AK Guy' – The wild state of Texas explained

An episode of [American Friction](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1744345702), 16 Mar 2026, 36 min.

Audio: https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR5047199374.mp3?updated=1773412135

Texas has been Republican for a long time. But with the emergence of a shiny new Democratic Party candidate in James Talarico and the GOP undecided on who should face him, could things be about to change? Christopher Hooks is a real-life Texan and journalist whose work has appeared in publications like Texas Monthly and The New York Times, and joins Chris and Nikki to talk Texan politics. Back us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/AmericanFriction Follow us on social media: Bluesky : https://bsky.app/profile/americanfric.bsky.social Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/americanfric TikTok : https://www.tiktok.com/@americanfric Written and presented by Chris Jones and Nikki McCann Ramirez Audio/ video editor: Simon Williams. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Executive producer: Martin Bojtos. Artwork by James Parrett. Music: Orange Factory Music. AMERICAN FRICTION is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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