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Texas Democrat James Talarico May Be on Track to Turn the Lone Star State Blue
(www.vanityfair.com)
this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2026
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A lot of shitting on the possibility here. People have a right to be skeptical, but it's also hard to overstate how many moderate Republicans Ken Paxton has already alienated in Texas. Paxton has impeached by the Republican-led Texas House for his criminal activity. There are large swathes of suburban voters who may typically vote Republican but who would skip right over Paxton on that ballot.
At the same time, Talarico's ability to speak confidently and comfortably about religion and in churches is giving him a huge leg-up in making inroads with those same disaffected suburbanites.
The calculus is not the same as it was with Cruz vs O'Rourke in 2018. Talarico's prospects today are solidly better than O'Rourke's were at any point during his campaign.
For good reason, this claim is made constantly.
I wrote more beyond those first 8 words
I always felt like O’Rourke was mostly propped up by the party. I never really thought he had a serious shot at winning a statewide election.
Talarico is a genuine Christian. Try as they might, the Christian-ist Christians of Christian-By-God-Texas can’t make a dent in his actual real Christian love, and members of their flocks are noticing that. I see countless posts saying Jesus was a progressive, but precious few politicians that embody that. I hope he does well. That said, this is Texas. They may hate Paxton, but to they hate him enough to vote for gulp A DEMOCRAT!?
It was over when he said hell yah he would take their ARs.
Beto was doing great, right up until he went on a big Texas radio show and announced intended to take away their guns. You could almost hear the air hissing out of the balloon.
He lost by a tiny margin. I strongly believe that dumb statement cost him the seat. If he had taken Cruz's seat, and Talarico took Cornyn's seat, we'd have two Dem senators from Texas.
But Beto couldn't keep his mouth shut about guns in Texas.
I didn’t hear about the radio show, but I recall him saying it during, I think, the Democratic Presidential Debate in 2016?
There was one particular radio appearance that he was particular enthusiastic and confrontational, like he could get. That kind of attitude was taking him far, until he applied it to guns. In Texas.
Previous Dems had lost by double digits, but Beto got within a couple of percentage points. It seems onvious that gun statement made the difference.
In true democrat fashion, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Don't underestimate how stupid Republican voters are either.