Libertarian Texas Senate candidate says he’s not taking votes away from Paxton, Talarico
The oddest part is that both Paxton's team and the Democrat's team are making the exact same accusation, just pointing at each other. If they both fear Brown is stealing their votes, that suggests he's pulling from both sides, which actually makes him less of a spoiler and more of a genuine alternative. I'd want to see polling breakdowns by party identification to know if that's true, but it's rare for third-party candidates to get this kind of attention from both camps.
The race is close enough that every vote matters, and Brown's argument that choosing him is a real choice for limited government has some appeal. But I also wonder how many of his supporters are just Republicans who won't vote for Paxton for other reasons. If that's the case, the spoiler narrative has some truth. Either way, having a Libertarian force both major parties to worry is a sign the two-party lock is weaker than usual in Texas.