HOUSTON, Oct 19 — One preaches love and reconciliation. The other champions confrontation and unyielding conservatism. Both invoke Christianity as they battle for a US Senate seat in Texas that could help determine control of Congress.

Democrat James Talarico, a 37-year-old former teacher and aspiring Presbyterian minister, faces Republican Ken Paxton, a 63-year-old political survivor whose loyalty to President Donald Trump has helped him overcome years of scandal.

Their contest on November 3 has become unexpectedly competitive in a state where no Democrat has won statewide office since 1994, presenting voters with two sharply contrasting political figures.

As a child at his church’s daycare centre, James Talarico would intervene to break up fights, according to the pastor who has known him since infancy.