James Talarico is completely unbothered that Ken Paxton, his November opponent for a U.S. Senate seat, is referring to him as “Talafreako.” His team made T-shirts with the new moniker. He also doesn’t mind that Paxton has referred to him as a vegan, as if that’s an insult that somehow, even if it were true, makes him less of a man.
“I’m an eighth-generation Texan,” the 37-year-old state representative told a packed house at Rich’s Houston on Wednesday. “I’ve been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton’s first indictment.”
Talarico, a former middle school teacher who is studying to become a Presbyterian minister, won the Democratic primary in March, defeating U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett. Following a heated battle with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Paxton was chosen as the GOP nominee in a landslide victory Tuesday night.
Paxton, who currently serves as attorney general, won’t be easy to beat. Texas voters haven’t elected a Democrat to statewide office in 32 years. While Paxton is plagued with scandals of adultery, fraud and abuse of power — and was impeached by the Texas House of Representatives in 2023 — some Republican voters still think he’s the best guy for the job. Paxton was acquitted by the state Senate on the impeachable charges of corruption and abuse of office.
After Tuesday’s runoffs made clear who will appear on the November ballot, Talarico launched “The People vs. Ken Paxton Tour” and released a video referring to Paxton as the most corrupt politician in America. The messaging appears to be working; Talarico’s campaign raised $3 million in the 24 hours after the GOP runoff was decided.
“For 50 years, megadonors and their puppet politicians like Ken Paxton have stolen from us, with their bribes, bailouts and billionaire tax breaks. Ken Paxton has gotten away with it — they’ve all gotten away with it. But that ends this year, in this state, in this race,” Talarico said.
Paxton’s camp is already lashing back, calling Talarico a “woke freak who thinks there are six genders.”
“Texas is Trump country,” said Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters in a statement. “Talarico will regret running for Senate by the time Republicans are done with him.”
Paxton’s victory was a big deal. Cornyn held the Senate seat for 23 years, so he was not only the incumbent; he was a senior member with more than $100 million to spend attacking Paxton. Cornyn got the most votes in March but because a third candidate, Wesley Hunt, entered the race, neither of the top two vote-getters reached 50 percent and a runoff was forced. Many Texas government watchdogs believe that a highly sought-after endorsement from President Donald Trump fueled voters to cast ballots for Paxton.
On Wednesday, Talarico’s campaign released a memo outlining the candidate’s “path to victory” by highlighting the passage of 60 bipartisan bills while Talarico was serving in the Texas House of Representatives.
“He has a track record of winning crossover voters,” the memo states. “He’s running against one of the most scandal-plagued statewide nominees in American political history. To those who say we can’t win in Texas, let us introduce you to James Talarico.”
At Wednesday’s rally, Talarico seized the opportunity to take a few jabs at Paxton but he mostly spoke of what led him to a career in public service. His great-grandfather, a barber who served in World War II, was part of a generation that asked what it could do for its country, the candidate said.
“Whether he was cutting his neighbor’s hair or fighting facism on the other side of the world, Poppy was always serving others,” Talarico said. “He was a faithful man. He tried to live like Jesus, who in the words of scripture, came not to be served but to serve.”
Talarico referenced a Bible story from Matthew in which Jesus tells his disciples, “The greatest among you will be a servant.”
The candidate spoke of being raised by a single mother and how the greatest day of his life was when he and his mom met his adoptive father. “In a time when there is so much debate about what it means to be a man, my dad showed me,” Talarico said. “Every Saturday morning he would mow our lawn and then without telling anyone, without anyone asking him, he would go next door and mow our neighbor’s lawn. He just did it. That’s what a man does. He serves those around him. He does what is right even when no one is watching.”
State Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, and Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis pledged their support of the Democratic candidate and encouraged the crowd to stay vigilant over the next six months before the November election. Ellis noted that he supported Crockett during the primary but said, “That was then; this is now.”
“Make no mistake about it, Talarico can win this race,” Ellis said. “The eyes of the nation are on Texas. Let’s show them what we can do. They’re going to come at Talarico with everything they can dream up. You know why they’re gonna dream it up? Because they don’t have anything.”
Talarico said he expects Paxton’s supporters will attack his campaign as un-American, un-Texan and a threat. “The only truth out of all of those lies is that we are a threat,” he said.
Johnson, a former Harris County prosecutor who helped lead the impeachment proceedings against Paxton, said that while Paxton was fighting against workers getting paid leave, Talarico was working to ensure that insulin prices were capped to lower healthcare costs.
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them,” Johnson said. “Ken Paxton has shown us who he is, not once, not twice, but over and over again. Ken Paxton sees government as a weapon for the powerful. James Talarico sees government as a tool and a responsibility for all of us, as a community to help others. We are exhausted by Republican corruption.”
Republicans have attacked Talarico for saying, “God is nonbinary” during a House debate over legislation requiring students to play on K-12 sports teams based on the gender they were assigned at birth. While Talarico acknowledged he used “provocative” wording, he claims that the statement wasn’t controversial theologically and that “most Christians believe God is beyond gender.” He further noted that the comment was rooted in his Christian beliefs and his support for transgender Texans.
The nonbinary statement and others — including a comment that there are six biological sexes and a reference to wanting to reduce meat consumption — have been shared repeatedly by Paxton and GOP leaders in an effort, Talarico says, to make him sound crazy. Paxton said in his victory speech Tuesday that Talarico is “the most extreme radical the Democrats have ever nominated.”
Talarico encouraged the crowd at Rich’s Houston, a popular Midtown LGBTQ+ nightclub, to consider Paxton’s history when they hear those attacks.
“I have a legislative record; Ken Paxton has a criminal record,” he said. “He belongs nowhere close to the United States Senate. Three years ago today, Ken Paxton was impeached by his own party for using his public office to enrich himself and his donors at our expense. Ken Paxton is morally unfit for office. He has failed the character test. Since taking office, Ken Paxton’s net worth has increased 7,000 percent while our wages have remained stagnant.”
In the days before the GOP primary runoff, Cornyn’s campaign began running ads about a plea deal Paxton’s office offered to a Waco attorney who admitted to repeatedly sexually abusing a child. The deal allowed the man to serve one day in jail and avoid registering as a sex offender. Talarico didn’t bring it up at Wednesday’s rally but a day prior he said in a CBS News interview, “If Ken Paxton is worried about freaks, he should stop giving Epstein-style sweetheart deals to pedophiles.”
Talarico’s People vs. Ken Paxton tour continues this week with stops in Nacogdoches on Thursday, San Antonio on Friday, Leander on Sunday and Plano on Monday, June 1. Talarico said Wednesday his team has recruited more than 45,000 volunteers committed to taking on “this broken, corrupt political system.”
“On November 3, we’re going to do something extraordinary,” he said. “We’re going to end 30 years of one-party rule in Texas. We have forgotten that’s what politics is supposed to be about: service. Elected officials are not supposed to serve themselves or their donors. They’re supposed to serve us. I think after five decades of corruption, we are on the cusp of a return to those old-fashioned values of my great-grandfather, of the greatest generation.”
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Source: Houston Press
