All posts tagged: Talarico

Talarico super PAC wants to give GOP voters “permission to defect”

Talarico super PAC wants to give GOP voters “permission to defect”

Published by Sam Flores

A bipartisan group of federal campaign operatives is launching a new super PAC in support of state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, with plans to hammer Republicans’ standard-bearer, Ken Paxton, on his legal and ethical scandals. Moment of Truth PAC, according to the group’s pitch to donors, plans to deploy “rapid, large-scale advertising” that “gives Republicans permission to defect” to Talarico and that makes the Austin Democrat “safe for moderates.” The goal of the ad blitz will be to center the Senate race around “affordability, corruption and character.” “Every major Republican PAC in the world is going to be out there trying to protect and save Paxton,” Dane Waters, the group’s treasurer and senior adviser, said in an interview. “We’re going to be involved in making sure voters remember who Ken Paxton is — the fact that he is the most scandal-ridden politician in recent history.” Moment of Truth is looking to spend up to $62 million on advertising, polling, research and more through November, per the PAC’s donor pitch, to take …

Christian right calls James Talarico “demonic” — for quoting Jesus

Christian right calls James Talarico “demonic” — for quoting Jesus

Published by Sam Flores

James Talarico has been found guilty of quoting Jesus. The sentence he uttered, according to right-wing media, was “demonic” and “blasphemous,” exposing him as a “fake Christian.” Talarico is running for the U.S. Senate in Texas on a platform The New Yorker recently described as basically the New Testament. One Newsmax host accused him of using fake Bible passages. The passages in question are familiar ones, found in Matthew 22 and Matthew 25. Love God and love your neighbor. Feed the hungry, heal the sick, welcome the stranger. They are, in fact, in the Bible. The right’s attacks on Talarico aren’t about him, or at least not entirely. They’re about a much older argument — one progressive Christianity has been losing in public for 50 years — about whose version of the faith gets to count as real. The answer to that question has consequences far beyond any Senate race. When Christianity becomes a tool of power rather than a challenge to it, it doesn’t just damage the church. It destabilizes democracy. We are watching that happen …

Texas Democrat James Talarico May Be on Track to Turn the Lone Star State Blue

Texas Democrat James Talarico May Be on Track to Turn the Lone Star State Blue

Published by Sam Flores

Yes, Virginia, there may in fact be a blue wave in Texas this year. I’ve been in Texas politics for most of my adult life. I worked for Governor Ann Richards, a Democrat. And I worked for Republican George W. Bush when he ran for the governor’s mansion—and the White House. I’ve witnessed the best of times and the worst of times for both parties. Which is to say: I’ve seen a lot of changes. From Blue Dog Democrats to the Tea Party to MAGA. From LBJ to Dubya to Greg Abbott. For years now, with every political cycle, members of the media, as well as interested parties of every stripe, have asked me the same question: “Is this the year a blue wave hits Texas?” And I’ve always been the guy tapping the brakes. Because even when Texas was a Democratic state, most of the elected officials were very conservative. Senator Lloyd Bentsen almost certainly would have run as a Republican today. And even though Richards was progressive in many ways, she got elected …

With Texas Senate face off set, Paxton attacks Talarico on manhood : NPR

With Texas Senate face off set, Paxton attacks Talarico on manhood : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Democratic senate candidate James Talarico speaks at a rally on May 27 in Houston. Danielle Villasana/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Danielle Villasana/Getty Images After Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won the state’s Republican Senate primary this week, he delivered a run of insults directed at his general election opponent, Democratic Texas state Rep. James Talarico. “He goes by a few names that you all may have heard of. Some people know him as tofu Talarico. Some people call him six-gender Jimmy. I’ve even heard some people call him James Talafreako,” he said to laughter and cheers. “And others refer to him simply as Low-T Talarico.” Paxton also quickly released an ad that ends with an image of Talarico next to the words: “Radical Talarico: too low-T for Texas.” What followed was an immediate, widespread barrage of attacks on Talarico’s manhood from the right. This tactic — the explicit, sometimes vulgar emphasis on masculinity as an electoral argument — is one highly visible way that President Trump has changed the Republican Party, and American politics …

The GOP’s Attacks on James Talarico Are Straight Out of the Incel Handbook

The GOP’s Attacks on James Talarico Are Straight Out of the Incel Handbook

Published by skeptic

On Tuesday, with Donald Trump’s endorsement and the backing of the MAGA faithful, scandal-ridden Texas attorney general Ken Paxton defeated incumbent US senator John Cornyn in a runoff primary to claim the Republican nomination for that seat. He then quickly set about painting his general-election opponent, Democratic Texas state representative James Talarico, as insufficiently masculine. “My opponent is the most extreme radical that Democrats have ever nominated,” Paxton said in his victory speech. “He’s even running a vegan campaign, whatever that is. He goes by a few names that you may all have heard of. Some people know him as Tofu Talarico. Some people call him Six-Gender Jimmy. I’ve even heard some people call him James Talafreako. And others refer to him simply as Low-T Talarico.” The spattering of derogatory nicknames was a not entirely successful Trumpian flourish. (The Talarico campaign, already a fundraising juggernaut, started selling “I’m a Talafreako” T-shirts right away). But Paxton’s attacks also seemed to emanate from the manosphere and incel culture, overlapping internet communities obsessed with their own unscientific theories …

2026 Midterms: Races to Watch Featuring Jon Ossoff, Spencer Pratt, Abdul El-Sayed, James Talarico, Ken Paxton

2026 Midterms: Races to Watch Featuring Jon Ossoff, Spencer Pratt, Abdul El-Sayed, James Talarico, Ken Paxton

Published by Sam Flores

Talarico, meanwhile, is a 36-year-old seminarian with the bedside manner of a Sunday school teacher. Republicans have sought to cast him as an effete extremist. Trump keeps saying “he wants six genders” and that he’s a vegan, a crime punishable by political death in the Lone Star state. Talarico, who is not a vegan, has cooked up a pithy riposte to this attack: “I’m an eighth-generation Texan. I’ve been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton’s first indictment.” The midterm elections are upon us. Democrats are looking to win back the House and just maybe the Senate, promising to use that power to stop Trump. For Republicans, despite victories in a bare-knuckle redistricting war, the House already looks lost. They’re just hoping to hold on to the upper chamber of Congress. A year ago it would have been unthinkable for Republicans to lose the Senate, but as Trump wages an unpopular war with Iran while gas prices climb (“peanuts,” Trump says) and economic anxieties mount (“hoax,” Trump explains), his polls keep sinking. Republicans are panicking. Trump …

New poll: Democrat James Talarico leads both Republicans in Texas US Senate race

New poll: Democrat James Talarico leads both Republicans in Texas US Senate race

Published by Sam Flores

Democratic state Rep. James Talarico is leading both of his prospective Republican opponents in a new poll of Texas’ U.S. Senate race — though the result is within the margin of error in either scenario, suggesting a close contest in November. The poll, conducted by Texas Public Opinion Research from April 17 to 20, found Talarico leading Sen. John Cornyn by three percentage points, 44% to 41%. The Austin Democrat leads Attorney General Ken Paxton by a margin of five percentage points, 46% to 41%. The survey included 1,018 likely general election voters and had a margin of error of +/-3.3 percentage points. TPOR is a nonpartisan public opinion research group directed by Democratic strategist Luke Warford. No Democrat has won a statewide race in Texas since 1994, and in recent cycles, polls have routinely offered rosy projections for the minority party that are not borne out in November. Still, Democrats are hopeful that President Donald Trump’s flagging approval ratings, paired with backlash from Latino voters over the economy and the White House’s immigration policies, …

Which James speaks for you: Carville or Talarico?

Which James speaks for you: Carville or Talarico?

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — On Sunday (March 8), veteran Democratic political operative James Carville took to his Politicon YouTube channel to deliver an obscenity-laced sermon on the topic of Trump Derangement Syndrome, a condition that results from hating President Donald Trump so much that sufferers “are unable to see the good qualities he has and some of the good things he’s been doing,” Carville said. Carville admits he has TDS, but adds that he doesn’t want to recover. To the contrary: “I pray to God in Heaven. God! Rain the righteous rain of Trump Derangement Syndrome on me. Pray for me, Lord. I’m your vessel on this earth. Pray for the people that listen to this. We want more. We wanna hate the son-of-a-bitch so much that we can’t see straight!” Call this the flip side of Donald Trump’s ad-libbed comment on the gospel of love at last year’s memorial service for Charlie Kirk: “That’s where I disagreed with Charlie,” said the president. “I hate my opponents and I don’t want the best for them.”  Carville said …

New poll: Democrat James Talarico leads both Republicans in Texas US Senate race

Democrats should go all-in on Texas — and Talarico

Published by Sam Flores

If faith is indeed “the substance of things hoped for,” as St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Hebrews, then James Talarico’s win on Tuesday in the Texas Senate primary was surely, at least for the Lone Star State’s Democrats, “the evidence of things not seen.” What has not been seen for nearly 40 years is a Senate victory for the party, and the 36-year-old Talarico, a state representative and Presbyterian seminarian, has gotten Democrats excited. After his decisive six-point primary victory over Rep. Jasmine Crockett, they are hoping, as they have for at least 10 election cycles — that the massive state, with its 31 million residents, of which at least 40% are Latino, will turn finally blue. That Republicans are staring down a lengthy, costly and nasty runoff between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, the scandal-ridden MAGA firebrand, has only increased excitement on the left. But as stoked as some rank-and-file Democrats are, national party leaders and many high-dollar donors, according to POLITICO, are hesitating to go all-in …

Latino vote boosted James Talarico in Texas Democratic Senate primary

Latino vote boosted James Talarico in Texas Democratic Senate primary

Published by Sam Flores

The Texas primary elections took place on Tuesday, kicking off the 2026 midterm election season and giving us an early look at how national policies will influence local and statewide races. At the center of it all in the Lone Star State were the always-enigmatic Latinx voters — whose voting patterns have long flummoxed pollsters. The general consensus was that the ever-growing electorate was shifting to the right. The 2024 general election was viewed as a turning point: former Vice President Kamala Harris barely won the Latinx vote. Donald Trump, meanwhile made historic gains, nabbing 48% of the Latinx vote, the highest share by any Republican presidential candidate. Additionally, Trump made double-digit gains with Latinx men under the age of 50. Tuesday night’s elections further showed the swaying power that Latinx voters can have. In the most scrutinized race of the night, state representative James Talarico and U.S. congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-Dallas) squared off for the Democratic nomination in Texas’ U.S. Senate race. Talarico, who has served in the Texas House of Representatives since 2018, …