Talarico courts moderates while energizing Democrats in Senate race
James Talarico is running for the U.S. Senate in Texas while seeking what no Democrat has achieved in more than 30 years: statewide office. The Wall Street Journal calls Texas “the ruby-red beating heart of the modern Republican Party” and describes his matchup with Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as “one of the country’s most important Senate races.” Talarico, a 37-year-old Democrat and seminarian, must persuade some voters that viral clips of his previous statements do not place him too far left to represent the state.
Talarico has consistently held a narrow lead in polls, courting moderate swing voters and disaffected Republicans while energizing Democrats. The Wall Street Journal says Democrats think his temperate, inclusive style, set against Paxton’s weaknesses, could propel him to victory. The outlet says moderate swing voters turned off by what it calls the “scandal-plagued Paxton” are among those Talarico is courting, along with disaffected Republican supporters of Sen. John Cornyn, whom Paxton defeated in “an ugly GOP primary.” Some Texas voters are not sure what to think.
In 2021, after flipping a Republican state House district, Talarico spoke of himself as “one of the most progressive members of the Texas House.” He said being progressive and appealing to moderates were not mutually exclusive. Talarico now rejects the label, saying his beliefs have not changed, only his views on political labels. “I’ve kind of rejected the left versus right spectrum for one that is more vertically oriented,” Talarico said. “I’m very open to learning new information and changing my mind. I’d be completely comfortable admitting if I changed my mind. I just haven’t,” he said. “But I understand that when you’re losing in a campaign, the only thing you can do is accuse your opponent of flip-flopping, and I think that’s what’s happening now.”
Paxton and Republicans have pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the state with ads featuring previous “woke” comments by Talarico. Talarico first gained notoriety through viral social-media moments taking on Republicans in the state Capitol. Republicans are using his earlier statements on transgender athletes and criticizing capitalism to attack him.
In 2021, during a hearing on a bill to ban trans athletes from interscholastic sports, Talarico said, “Some things are more important than perfectly fair competition in sports.” On the campaign trail in September, he told Fox News he would oppose trans athletes playing in girls sports “if it risks health or fairness.” The difference drew social-media outcry from both right-wing and left-wing voices. Talarico said he had long believed the matter should depend on particular sports and school boards. At a recent CNN town hall, host Erin Burnett pressed him about his past description of capitalism as an “oppressive system” and his references to dismantling it. Talarico said he was referring to a current state of “crony capitalism.”
Some Texas voters remain uncertain about Talarico. “It feels like you can’t trust either one of these folks,” said South Texas lawyer Rick Salinas, who is running in a nonpartisan race for mayor of the city of Mission, Texas. Salinas voted for Talarico in the primary but is now unsure whether to back him in the general election. He voted for President Trump in 2024 but has been disappointed with the economy and immigration enforcement in Trump’s second term. Salinas said Talarico’s messaging impressed him and seemed to embody “faith-based values.” The Republican attacks on Talarico’s past statements and his own responses, Salinas said, left him unsure what the candidate actually believes.
Talarico says four terms in the Texas legislature, which he describes as a broken system, brought him to his repeated campaign slogan that political divides run from top to bottom rather than left to right. “It’s all of us—whether you’re a little more progressive, a little more conservative—getting screwed by the billionaires who run this country, by puppet politicians like Ken Paxton who cater to those wealthy special interests,” Talarico said.
Trump has referred to Talarico as “Radical Left Lunatic” and “TalaFREAKO,” while Talarico has regularly emphasized on the campaign trail that Trump’s voters—and Trump himself—are welcome in his campaign. In an advertising campaign launched earlier this month, Talarico vowed to “always put Texas before any political party.” “I called out Joe Biden for failing us on the border,” Talarico said in the straight-to-camera spot. “I worked with Republicans to pass the largest property tax cut in Texas history, and I’ll fight for the good-paying oil and gas jobs that power our economy.”
An Austin-area native, Talarico has been involved in politics since his undergraduate days at the University of Texas, where he was a leader of the college Democrats. He taught middle-school language arts in San Antonio for two years through Teach for America and then worked for an education nonprofit. In 2018, he was elected to the state House, flipping a formerly Republican district north of Austin. At 29, he was the session’s youngest lawmaker. He is unmarried and has a girlfriend.
Mark Littlefield, an Austin Democratic political consultant who became Talarico’s first major donor, recalled being surprised by the professionalism of Talarico’s first campaign in its early stages. He was even more stunned when he later mentioned Talarico’s name at home and his then-teenage daughter said she had been watching his content on Instagram.
Dade Phelan, a GOP state representative and former speaker of the House, said Talarico regularly confronted Republican bill sponsors at the back microphone. Talarico often used biblical passages to argue a progressive case, which supporters regarded as a subversive strategy. Phelan first encountered Talarico through a social-media clip and immediately thought, “He’s not just running for state rep—he’s very good at this.” During every legislative session Talarico has been part of, he has sided with the Democratic majority more than 95% of the time, according to data compiled by civic tech database Decode Texas. He also wrote or sponsored dozens of bills that passed the Republican-dominated legislature.
Talarico gained some of his first major recognition during a 2021 quorum break, when Democrats fled to Washington, D.C., in an effort to prevent passage of a bill placing restrictions on voting. He tangled with then-Fox News host Pete Hegseth during an interview that went viral. Talarico was among the earliest Democrats to defect from the effort and return to Texas, writing in an opinion column that it was time to “begin the work of rebuilding relationships, negotiating policy, and reducing harm.” That year, the legislature banned nearly all abortions, passed redistricting maps that cut Talarico out of his district and tried to pass limitations on transgender athletes. By the fall, Talarico said his faith in cooperation with the GOP had faded. “The Republican Party in Texas is out of control, and I’ve regrettably come to the conclusion that I don’t think there is a way to work with them anymore,” he told a Progress Texas podcast. He won his next term in a new, bluer Austin district.
James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, described Talarico as “somebody with progressive impulses who can speak to moderate Democrats and nonpartisan voters.” Henson said moderating a message in a general election is typical of candidates, although that is usually in tension with efforts to excite the base. He thinks Talarico has been more effective at qualifying his earlier comments, in part because many voters are tired of partisanship and are most interested in kitchen-table issues, and because of Talarico’s disposition. “The messaging comes off more plausibly, in part because Talarico can rely on his Christianity,” Henson said. “It’s harder to pigeonhole him as a progressive, secular, Godless, socialist Democrat.”
The Wall Street Journal describes Talarico’s church, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian, as “an open-minded Presbyterian congregation” best known for housing a Guatemalan mother and son to protect them from immigration raids. At a recent Sunday service, the congregation affirmed differences, sang a guitar song for children called “You Can’t Love God and Hate Your Neighbor” and criticized the MAGA movement. The Wall Street Journal reports that many conservative Christians consider Talarico and his church’s teachings blasphemous. Among them is former GOP Texas Gov. Rick Perry. In April, Perry called Paxton “corrupt morally, ethically and legally,” a level he said he had rarely encountered in his four decades in politics. This month, Perry told the Journal he had already voted for Paxton by mail, largely because he considers Talarico’s religious and political messaging dangerous. “Talarico is, from my perspective, a cockroach,” Perry said. “Anyone who gets up and states about the Bible what he does is in the demonic category.”
At a recent rally in San Marcos, Texas, south of Austin, enthusiastic Talarico fans took part in filming a final campaign ad. Under bright lights on a youth football field, they circled around the candidate as he repeated a line about working with both parties to lower costs, joking with the crowd between takes. MariLisa Niebuhr, a local musician, said, “I feel like he’s progressive even though he might seem moderate.” “But he’s a listener who wants to hear from everyone. Even if he doesn’t agree, he’ll listen,” Niebuhr said.