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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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Texas Democrat James Talarico on Thursday attacked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, his Republican opponent for U.S. Senate, over a plea deal for a local lawyer accused of sexually abusing a boy for years.
Prosecutors in Paxton’s office cut a deal with the lawyer, Adam Hoffman, in April that ultimately allowed him to serve just a month in jail. The deal sparked an outcry and protests, and Senator John Cornyn used it to hammer Paxton in the lead-up to the Republican primary runoff, which Paxton won after being endorsed by President Donald Trump.
Now, Talarico has seized on the case to attack Paxton as he seeks to frame his opponent as part of a corrupt political establishment.
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It comes as Talarico, a state lawmaker from Austin, has given Democrats their best chance in years of winning a Senate race in reliably red Texas, boosting their chances of retaking control of the Senate in November’s midterm elections.
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Talarico Calls for Release of ‘Hoffman Files’
During a campaign event on Thursday, Talarico said Paxton had given Hoffman an "Epstein-style sweetheart deal," referencing the nonprosecution agreement that federal prosecutors reached with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2008.
Standing in front of a lectern that said: "Release the Hoffman files," another reference to the Epstein scandal, Talarico called on Paxton to release "all text messages, all emails, all documents, all internal memos relating to the Adam Hoffman case."
"If there’s anything that all Texans can agree on, it’s that no one, not even the attorney general of Texas, should be able to cover up crimes against children," Talarico said. "Ken Paxton had the chance to protect a child. Instead, he protected a predator. I find that unconscionable and I think most Texans do."
Paxton’s campaign spokesperson, Madison Cercy, said in a statement to Newsweek that Talarico was using the victim in the case as a "political pawn."
"Every time James Talarico chooses to bring this case up he is intentionally re-traumatizing the child victim for personal gain," Cercy said.
"OAG prosecutors have already released information on this, but Talarico cares more about turning a child victim into a political pawn than the truth. The bottom line is that we stand with the child victim, who in this case did not wish to testify again and be forced into the same room as his abuser."
The victim’s mother had agreed to an early version of the plea deal but has since said she disagrees with the outcome and that she believes prosecutors in Paxton’s office were too lenient.
"We were put in an impossible situation," she said in an interview with The Texas Tribune and The Texas Newsroom. "How do you trust the prosecution to go back to a case that they want to plead out when they’re the ones that are supposed to fight for it, and they don’t want to do it?"
In a statement released through Republican state Representative Jeff Leach last month, she said that Child Protective Services, police, Paxton's office and the judge all "bent the system to protect [Hoffman] instead of protecting my son."
Lawyers on Both Sides Defend Case
Prosecutors in Paxton’s office who oversaw the case said in a May 15 letter to Leach that they sought a plea deal because "following his experience in the first trial, the child made clear that he would not voluntarily testify at a second trial."
They wrote: "In this case, the child emphasized that he preferred to move on with his life and prioritize his mental and emotional health over subjection to the unimaginably difficult position of once again testifying against the man who abused him."
The only way forward for a second prosecution, they wrote, would have been "subpoenaing the child, forcing him to reface his abuse, and subjecting him to a second grueling cross-examination."
That would have "further retraumatized the child and was against his wishes."
They said that although their office "had no pathway to prove the elements necessary to secure a felony conviction without the child’s testimony, we did secure jail time for his abuse and admission to a lesser offense."
The decision was made "entirely in the best interest of the child involved," they added.
Hoffman’s defense lawyer, Gerry Morris, told Newsweek that Paxton 'had nothing to do" with the outcome of the case.
"At no time did I communicate with Ken Paxton about the Hoffman case. Nor did I ever see any indication that he was in any respect involved with it," Morris, who described himself as a lifelong Democrat, said.
"Any other case I’ve handled had nothing to do with the outcome of the Hoffman case. I have never met Ken Paxton or had any dealings with him on any matter."
Morris said he had been planning to vote for Talarico but was "very distressed" by Talarico's comments about the case.
"I certainly won't vote for Paxton. So I guess I'll stay home," he said.
Who Is Adam Hoffman?
Hoffman is a former Waco attorney who was arrested in June 2022 and indicted on a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a young child, a first-degree felony punishable by 25 to 99 years or life in prison.
According to KWTX in Waco, Hoffman was accused of abusing his son’s friend from April 2019 to April 2022, beginning when the boy was 7.
Paxton’s office handled the case because McLennan County District Attorney Josh Tetens recused himself as Hoffman had sought legal advice about his case from Tetens before he took office.
Hoffman’s trial ended in a mistrial last June after jurors voted 7-5 in favor of conviction, KWTX reported.
The Plea Agreement
After the mistrial, prosecutors in Paxton’s office sought to reach a plea deal because the victim didn't want to testify a second time.
Under the deal, Hoffman pleaded guilty in April to misdemeanor charges of indecent assault and display of harmful material to a minor. As part of the deal, Hoffman agreed to admit to abusing an individual whose age is not specified, which allowed him to avoid registering as a sex offender. Prosecutors proposed one day of jail time, but the judge lengthened the sentence to 30 days and the temporary loss of Hoffman's license to practice law. Following an outcry, the judge increased the sentence to 60 days.
But Hoffman ultimately spent only 30 days in jail and was released early under the county’s good behavior policy, his attorney told The New York Times.
As of Friday, the Texas Bar website shows Hoffman as eligible to practice law in the state.
What Polls Show
Polls show a close race between Talarico and Paxton.
A poll released this month by Reconnaissance Market Research and the Siena Research Institute found that 47 percent of respondents plan to vote for Talarico in November, compared to 44 percent for Paxton.
Among independents, a critical voting bloc, 52 percent plan to vote for Talarico and 34 percent for Paxton. The Democratic candidate also held a 10-point lead among Latino voters, winning 51 percent of them to Paxton’s 41 percent.
The survey polled 807 likely voters June 1-4, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
A May poll from Texas Public Opinion Research found Talarico leading Paxton 47 percent to 44 percent. The survey noted that 7 percent remained undecided, and 2 percent said they would not vote. The survey polled 1,670 likely voters May 27-28, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
Update, 06/19/26 10:59 a.m. ET: the article was updated with comments from Gerry Morris.
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