Obese DNC influencer skewered for trying to target Ken Paxton's physical appearance

Portly social-media influencer Olivia Julianna, the DNC’s former young male voter outreach coordinator, got pushback online after a post attempting to ridicule the physical appearance of Texas GOP senatorial candidate Ken Paxton.

“If I looked like Ken Paxton I’d do everything I could to stay off TV too,” Julianna wrote.

The body-positivity activist claimed in February to have lost 50 pounds since the start of the Trump administration.

Nonetheless, she is regularly dragged for her hefty physique and has sometimes leaned into it, such as calling for a hunger strike to protest the brief cancellation of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.

Julianna’s apparent engagement-farming drew several whale comparisons and others suggesting that she would not fit on the screen if she tried to appear on television — or even on an IMAX.

Some asked “Who wants to tell Olivia?” while others simply posted pictures of her to make their point.

Julianna’s comment came in response to an article from Dallas ABC syndicate WFAA that accused Paxton, the state’s current attorney general, of going silent over a promise to debate his campaign opponent, state Rep. James Talarico, on the station.

It said Paxton’s campaign had cut off communication since Aug. 24.

“Neither Nick Maddux, Paxton’s senior campaign adviser, nor Madison Cercy, the campaign’s deputy director of communications, responded to requests for comment on this story,” WFAA said.

Talarico also recently challenged Paxton to a Fox News debate moderated by Bret Baier.

According to his X account, Paxton has been on the road in his “Protecting the Promise” tour, including a planned stop Wednesday in El Paso.

The polling average at RealClearPolitics showed Talarico closing the gap on Paxton in late July and continuing, since then, to open up a 3-point polling lead over Paxton, who handily beat out Republican incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the GOP primary.

Polymarket’s betting pool puts Talarico’s current advantage over Paxton at 20 percent.

Newsweek noted that the narrow margin between Paxton and Talarico resembled former Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 challenge to Sen. Ted Cruz.

“Democrats have been hoping to win in Texas for years and have come up short in every race, but this year, ratings have the Senate race as a toss-up,” it said.

Although RealClear polling estimates consistently showed Cruz with a safe lead over O’Rourke in the lead-up to President Donald Trump’s first midterm election, O’Rourke narrowly lost by a margin of roughly 2.5 percent.

Cruz himself cautioned in an appearance on Sean Hannity’s radio show that the race would be very tight.

“So look, unfortunately, I do think he has a chance,” Cruz said. “I think this is a real race. I think it's going to be close. I think we're going to win. I think we're going to keep Texas red. But the polling right now shows this is a one or two point race.”