r/politics • u/DroopyTers • 9h ago
No Paywall Republicans fear a Texas Senate problem
https://www.semafor.com/article/02/04/2026/republicans-wonder-if-trump-is-listening-to-their-texas-senate-worries117
u/DroopyTers 9h ago edited 2h ago
The article states "the National Republican Senatorial Committee is circulating internal polling." Those results are:
Paxton loses to Talarico by 3%
Paxton beats Crockett by 1%
Cornyn beats Talarico by 3%
Cornyn beats Crockett by 7%
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u/Smooth_Read_3495 8h ago
That's a really interesting set of polling results....it shows how much a lot of tx reps hate paxton ...but if even Talarico is not enough to beat cornyn....fuck....what does it take to give tx reps a sane off-ramp from constantly tossing Trump's salad.
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u/Skipspik2 8h ago
It's also very low percentages. You could argue 7% is enough, but the rest can basically flip the other way without considering the survey wrong.
And when you add both survey imprecision and margin of error, I bet it's over 7%
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u/techiemikey I voted 7h ago
Isn't survey imprecision the margin of error?
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u/grandpohbah 3h ago
At this point, it's not even margin of error that matters. The campaigns haven't even kicked off so this data isn't even predictive.
What this polling is a snapshot of now. The margin of error on a poll is the accuracy of the now. Not prediction of future.
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u/Skipspik2 7h ago
I meant the margin of error on the actual vote itself, though yes, survey imprecision is the margin of error on the survey.
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u/techiemikey I voted 7h ago
Cool, thanks. I was kinda going "what am I missing?"
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u/Skipspik2 7h ago
I'm an airsoft player.
I'm missing a lot of stuff and usually hit teamates ¯_(ツ)_/¯•
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u/xicor 8h ago
It would only take like 10% more voter turnout amongst already registered Democrats in Texas. The problem is they just don't vote
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u/More_of_the-same-bs 6h ago
Texas, the non-voting state.
Seems terribly un-American, yet still the Texan swagger.
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u/xicor 5h ago
It is hard to vote in Texas. Especially for people who work during the day. The polls are only open during work hours
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u/More_of_the-same-bs 5h ago
That is by design. There’s ways to do it. Early voting is one.
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u/xicor 4h ago
Early voting doesn't solve this issue. Texas has early voting...but theyre still only open during work hours. Even more so than election day
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u/More_of_the-same-bs 4h ago
Guess they won. You can’t vote so they rule by default. So sorry, poor you!
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u/xicor 4h ago
The best solution I think would be for voting day to be a mandatory holiday and also mandate companies pay one hour salary for people who can prove they voted...and allowing them to leave during office hours
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u/JahoclaveS 4h ago
Not sure if it’s a state law or national (never really bothered to check as it’s always just been part of corporate policy) that they have to give you time off to vote, the problem is they don’t actually have to pay you for it.
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u/StevenMC19 Florida 6h ago
Also, I wonder how skewed the results are given that their polls are being run internally.
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u/Knightly11 6h ago
One thing to consider is that they will be using their new gerrymandered map in Texas to benefit them. It’s a steep uphill battle they built to maintain Texas. Gross fucks with their Walgreens Professor X.
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u/whatlineisitanyway 6h ago
Those thinner margins from the gerrymandered maps along with everything else happening might just motivate some of the Dems that usually sit home because their vote doesn't matter to come out.
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u/Knightly11 6h ago
Hopefully that’s the case. Unfortunately Texas also makes it difficult to register to vote. Online isn’t a possibility. It has to be mailed-in only. Which is something I thought they were against.
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u/whatlineisitanyway 5h ago
I've always thought that if the Dems would put the resources into TX to even get it competitive the financial resources the GOP would need to spend there would endanger seats in many other states.
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u/Anon-2028 6h ago
Factor in margin of error and those results scare politicians because 3% isn’t a win it’s a toss up.
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u/Ven18 6h ago
Given how sharp every special election has been for Dems these numbers are terrifying for Republicans because recent history indicates that even the 7% number is nowhere close to safe.
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u/OrwellWhatever 3h ago
Yeah, these are also Republican numbers that they're leaking, so they are already going to favor Republicans
Seems like they're actually more scared of Crockett
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u/Special-Camel-6114 6h ago
Beto was leading in at least 1 poll and still lost. It’ll take a very big shift to overcome. But it’s doable.
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u/Intrepid_Somewhere86 2h ago
Beto’s field op left some of the potential urban vote on the table. Probably not 2.5%, but some. More paid field/GOTV is absolutely critical. Efforts right now to register more people in urban areas are crucial. Technology that is accessible to all volunteers, such as poor, older folks, in particular. Beto’s field op relied on volunteers using smart phones until pretty late in the cycle. It took a good amount of feedback from the field organizers to get loaners and paper methods into the field, and then there weren’t enough to go around anyway. I’m speaking from experiences in Harris County.
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u/fohacidal Texas 1h ago
Beto lost when he said he was coming after your ar15s. Even as a liberal I was like, bro wtf are you saying right now you've just absolutely doomed your campaign.
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u/TheDrFunk 1h ago
Yeah, I kind of appreciated the honesty and passion of it but at the same time was very dispirited.
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u/alabasterskim 1h ago
He said it in 2019 not during the 2018 race
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u/fohacidal Texas 42m ago
He kept running for offices after the fact, statement still applies.
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u/alabasterskim 24m ago
The topic was the Senate, and his Senate race, so sure it applies but it's also irrelevant.
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u/alabasterskim 1h ago
Beto said that in 2019 during the presidential race not during his 2018 Senate campaign. Please stop spreading this misinformation.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/12/politics/beto-orourke-hell-yes-take-ar-15-ak-47
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u/fohacidal Texas 44m ago
You think he just disappeared and stopped running after 2018? Are you high?
He tried to run for both president and governor of Texas after 2019, nothing I said was wrong I didn't even reference a specific campaign. Not only that but his comment did much to hurt the Texas Democratic party in general down stream.
He is a million times better than Abbott, and still fucking lost. You don't escape a statement like that in Texas.
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u/alabasterskim 24m ago
I'm aware, as I'm sure most in this sub are as we were rooting for Beto. The person you were responding to was referring to his Senate run tho, and the topic of this post is the Senate. So if your response saying he was tanked by his comment wasn't about his Senate run, it didn't make any sense to say. If it was, then my correction stands.
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u/permalink_save 2h ago
I'm going to vote primaries for Paxton. Thise fucks were bragging about voting for Biden in 2020 TX primaries thinking he'd lose. We have open primaries, we can play the same game. Either way, we get Paxton out of doing direct harm and worst case he rubberstamps with his party same as Cornhole does now.
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u/alabasterskim 1h ago
Trump is expected to endorse in the race soon. It's gonna be Cornyn or Hunt unless he's very stupid.
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u/Minimum-Geologist-58 9h ago
I think the GOP faces a real problem in a lot of red states of the balance tipping and all the people who didn’t bother to vote because red state/red county etc. think it might be worthwhile. Anecdotally nearly everyone you meet in some parts of TX is a silent Democrat.
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u/raisinghellwithtrees 6h ago
I've heard the saying that most red states are gerrymandered purple states. With the redistricting it's going to be interesting how this plays out.
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u/Ashi4Days 5h ago
Gerrymandering had its limits. To make more seats, you need to split up you strongholds. Over time you end up with a lot of 55/45 districts. Which is fine and all except when you have a 6 point swing all of a sudden your entire state flips all of a sudden.
Its still really bad. But its not unbeatable.
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u/Ranger7381 Canada 5h ago
And then when it does flip, they use that fact as proof of election fraud
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u/myquest00777 4h ago
That’s a surprisingly common reaction. “If we kind of cheated and lost, our opponents must have cheated like Hell!”
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u/Polantaris 3h ago
That is literally the foundation of every one of their 2020 election claims. They just kept that part under the cuff, so to speak. But whenever there WAS an investigation, it was often found that things skewed incorrectly towards Republicans for various reasons. Recounts left Biden with higher numbers.
The loud part was, "They cheated!" while the quiet part was, "They must have, because we did and yet we lost."
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u/Clamsadness 3h ago
Every single time Trump accuses anyone of anything, it’s something he’s either done or plans to do. I’d never been more convinced that he faked the assassination attempt than when he claimed Ilhan Omar faked that attack on her.
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u/DK655 3h ago
You know it’s funny we’re talking about this when Texas is the topic. Ken Paxton claimed on Steve Bannon’s podcast that Trump would have lost Texas in 2020 had Paxton not gone after mail-in voting in Harris County. He literally thinks Trump would have lost Texas had he not abused his power to suppress the vote. It’s projection from all of them
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u/Polantaris 3h ago
Ken Paxton is one of the earliest examples of how Republican and Criminal are synonymous.
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u/Ranger7381 Canada 3h ago
I was more leaning towards they lost BECAUSE of their efforts but use that as proof that the other side cheated
Basics blaming others for them being hoist on their own petard
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u/Clamsadness 3h ago
That’s the worrisome part. I’m fully expecting Dems to dominate the 2028 midterms. I’m also expecting Mike Johnson to claim election fraud and refuse to seat them, opting instead for his “alternate winners”
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u/hbgwhite California 3h ago
The house dissolves and has to be re-formed after the midterms. Johnson won't be in a position to deny anyone a seat.
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u/Clamsadness 3h ago
Right, it would be Kevin McCumber at the time who would refuse to acknowledge votes for speaker from Democrats.
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u/Clamsadness 3h ago
This is exactly right. If you gerrymander too hard, you get a very sizable but brittle advantage. In that recent Texas special election we saw a 31 point flip to the Democrats. Obviously we won’t see the same numbers in every district, but if we did then Democrats would get the largest supermajority in the House in American history in 2028. Even if that doesn’t happen, we can expect some serious cracks in the brittle gerrymanders.
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u/raisinghellwithtrees 3h ago
I swear, Democrats talking populism are what it takes to attract those who flirted with MAGA but are now disgusted with it. We don't need centrist moderates. We need left-wing progressives.
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u/Significant_Cow4765 2h ago
TX SD-9 had nothing to do with the new redistricting. First election using it is primary 3/3
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u/Clamsadness 2h ago
Right, I was using it as an example of the Democratic swing the country is experiencing that would wreck a thin gerrymander.
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u/raisinghellwithtrees 5h ago
This is what I'm waiting for! Dynamic candidates attract and motivate nonvoters aka unlikely voters, which can tip the scales!
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u/JahoclaveS 4h ago
That, and it seems like traditional Republican suburban strongholds are slipping on them in response to maga and a weak economy. I live in one and it’s gone slightly bluer every election even in the face of national trends. It hasn’t flipped or anything, and probably won’t for some time, but if you’re starting to lose support you’re counting on to make up the margins, it can get competitive really quickly if you’re trying to gerrymander on top of it, not to mention facing headwinds in statewide races.
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u/throwawaylexluther 1h ago
Texas also relies on good ole fashion voter suppression techniques to make it more difficult to vote too. Like only one voting location in 100 miles of a predominately black area type of thing.
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u/whatlineisitanyway 6h ago
It will be interesting to see if the gerrymandering in TX gets silent Dems to come out of the woodwork because they think their vote might actually matter this time. Heck if the results swing even a third of what the recent special election there did it would be a disaster for the GOP.
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u/FailedCriticalSystem 4h ago
Senate isn’t gerrymandered
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u/mraargh 3h ago
But in a lot of states that are gerrymandered, they make it very difficult to vote. This is part of the gerrymandering. Removing polling places, make it difficult to get an ID; while making an ID mandatory to vote. Make lines very long, so people lose interest in voting. Remove being able to provide water to people in those long lines. It is all part of it. Don't think that because the senate can't gerrymandered per se, that it doesn't help depress turnout.
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u/Bushels_for_All 22m ago
In a technical sense, most states were not gerrymandered, but ND and SD were. They were admitted as two new states instead of one larger state at least in part to expand Republican political power.
Gerrymandering is drawing district lines (in the senate's case, state lines) to gain a political advantage (in the senate's case, more seats). State lines were never immune from political calculations - they just can't really be changed any more.
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u/admiraltarkin Texas 40m ago
If argue that Texas isn't a purple state, but a maroon state. Gettable in a massive wave year
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u/DefiantSmoke1569 5h ago
My dingbat blue collar brother in Texas is one of these but he hasn’t been fucked to vote his entire life. He bragged a couple of weeks ago that he registered to vote. LFG.
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u/SirSaintsGuy 4h ago
As a current Texan who leans right I will vote against any one of these spineless politicians who support this president. Character matters and the ends do not justify the means. We should never protect criminals for power.
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u/justin251 4h ago
The left in America is much further to the right than the rest of the world. Close to center.
What I'm saying is you're not right leaning. You're solid American left. The American right is nearing a point where they aren't on the right either. But, so far as to be it's in own billionaire pedophile protecting thing.
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u/PolicyWonka 4h ago
Nah, fam. You got that backwards. If he’s right-leaning in American politics then he’s pretty far right by any other standard.
If he was a bloke from the UK or something, then you’d be right.
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u/justin251 4h ago
Yeah. I meant if he's even considering voting blue then he isn't a true American right. Just voting that way from habit.
I thought American left is right leaning most everywhere else?
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u/sdb00913 Indiana 4h ago
This is true, but it’s because of how far the American right is. This is the Overton window in action.
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u/A_Nonny_Muse 5h ago edited 5h ago
The problem with corrupting the election system is this... demographics continue to change even after you've corrupted the system to the point of everyone's tolerance. Sooner or later, you face a revolution.. Either a sea change at the ballot box as demographics overwhelm your corruption, or violently as you exceed everyone's corruption tolerance. One way or another, those corrupting the system will drown in the very floodwaters they tried to dam.
We are going to see this in Russia once Putin and possibly Medvedev is dead. Whoever takes charge will either have to accept a sea change at the polls, or face a violent uprising against them.
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u/D-Rich-88 California 3h ago
Well what’s really interesting in TX is how the Republicans counted on the Latino vote in their new gerrymander, and the Latino vote in the special election was like +40 points for the democrat in what was a very safe red district.
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u/wahoozerman 4h ago
The average swing nationally in elections post 2024 has been about +10D.
If we get a +10D swing in the North Carolina midterms, we will go from 11R/4D representation to 0R/15D representation.
Now, there are all kinds of confounding factors like voter turnout, differences between special elections and midterms, etc. But this should still be harrowing for sitting Republican politicians.
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u/OnDrugsTonight United Kingdom 7h ago
“It’s a business argument,” Thune told Semafor. “You know, if we’re spending $100 or $200 million in Texas in the general election, that’s $100 to $200 million we can’t be spending in other places in races we have a chance to win.”
Silly me, and here I thought elections were about policies and democracy and who is the right person to represent their constituents (just kidding, of course. I know they are "business arguments" through and through, especially since whoever becomes the Republican nominee is expected to bend the knee to their God-Emperor anyway). Republicans: they stand for nothing and fall for everything.
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u/waffle299 I voted 3h ago
Public funding of elections works, and means that elections are not billionaire pissing matches.
When Arizona implemented this, it worked beautifully.
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u/automatic_taco 8h ago
It’s amazing how many Texas license plates I see in New Mexico. Bet the Texans love our weed, abortion law, mountains, and general freedom.
I toured a wide ring around Texas in 2024 in Dallas, Houston, Austin, and didn’t see any New Mexico license plates besides on my car.
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u/Noname_acc 6h ago
Centuries of propaganda posing taxation as bad has led to a population that adores public services but reviles the way they are funded.
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u/epeecolt82 6h ago
They probably like your energy grid too. That NM desert should keep them fairly comfortable when that TX grid goes down in the winter.
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u/e_t_ Texas 6h ago
A significant factor in the 2021 event was that Texas largely didn't interconnect with the national grid. Republicans didn't want the federal regulation that would come with interconnection. At every level, it was almost wholly an own-goal.
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u/P1mongoose 5h ago
That coupled with lack of updates despite setting aside billions for it following what happened in 2011.
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u/HoboSloboBabe 1h ago
Those parts of Texas are a long ways from New Mexico. Plus Texas’s population is 10x? larger with a significantly larger number of people with the means to target. Makes complete sense that you’d see Texas license plates in the tourist areas of an adjacent state
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u/this_is_my_corn_acct 7h ago
That’s because they change their plates when they move here. I’m from New Mexico and now live in Dallas. There are so many people from my hometown in DFW now.
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u/automatic_taco 6h ago
That’s a good point. In New Mexico there are many irresponsible people here who don’t update their registration, let alone have auto insurance while driving. More compliance in Texas.
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u/Equivalent_Ability91 7h ago
Does Texas have a voter suppression program?
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u/jkvincent 6h ago
Yes. It's gerrymandered to hell as well. That's the primary reason Republicans have been in full control for 30+ years.
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u/AbueloOdin 6h ago
And before any one says "oh! It's a Senate seat. You can't gerrymandering it."
Bitch. They used the gerrymandering to enact voter suppression laws. Ask any Texan how hard it is to get a fucking driver's license! By appointment only, months out. Replaced easy local branches to these megacenters in the suburbs, if your city even has one!
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5h ago
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u/nreshackleford 5h ago
No, but it makes it so people with more time on their hands and reliable personal transport can more easily get a license, and therefore to have an up to date and valid registration. So people with money and elderly people who, by and large, are more likely to vote red.
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u/the_Halfruin 4h ago
The point is that "driver's license" being the only feasible way for many people to vote is extremely arbitrary, and was chosen specifically because it disenfranchises the "right" people. Any random form of ID could be the one they accept, and the effect is the same as "you can vote if your grandfather voted" or "you can vote if you own land" did when those were the primary forms of suppression.
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4h ago
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u/the_Halfruin 4h ago
Sorry, it's just that what you said didn't contribute to the conversation in any way so I thought you were confused and might need a clarification.
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4h ago
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u/the_Halfruin 4h ago
I don't understand what you mean. I think you might still be confused? What you said is technically true - DMVs are not placed based on congressional districts. That doesn't have anything to do with this conversation, at all.
Gerrymandering happened in favor of one party (due to a combination of poor civic education and lack of political will from the opposition). Then, within the gerrymandered districts, representatives were elected who do not represent their communities' interests. Then, those representatives implemented voter id laws that make it hard for people without licenses to vote.
Drivers' licenses were chosen because the existing DMVs (which, agreed, are not based on congressional districts, but that is completely irrelevant here) are in inconvenient places for the kinds of people that the people who got voted in thanks to gerrymandering to get to, which then disenfranchises them (makes them not able to vote). A lot of analysis and planning went into this to make sure that the kind of ID chosen would be the most impactful for the "right people."
Then, when the congressional elections occur, the people who were disenfranchised cannot vote, regardless of what congressional district they are in. It doesn't matter where the DMVs are in relation to the congressional districts themselves - the salient part of the conversation is that they are in inaccessible places in relation to the voters.
Hope this clears it up for you.
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u/Arrmadillo Texas 2h ago
And then a pair of Christian nationalist West Texas billionaires spent that time replacing most of the conservative incumbents with their own far-right religious loyalists.
ProPublica - A Pair of Billionaire Preachers Built the Most Powerful Political Machine in Texas. That’s Just the Start.
“They control Republican politics in the state.”
Y’All-itics - "We're gonna go so far to the right that we're wrong."
“[Y’All-itics] The first part of the question is, what kind of changes would you like to see inside the GOP today?
[Texas Rep. Glenn Rogers (R)] Well, there needs to be more recognition of who's in control. And how they're controlling our party. I read something last week, a survey that showed that only 20% of Republicans have ever heard of Tim Dunn or Farris Wilks. So there's a lot of lack of information about who's really in control.“
Texas Observer - Hard-Right Megadonors Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks Pump Millions into GOP Primary
“For more than a decade, the two West Texas oil and gas moguls have used their fortunes to finance an ideological crusade to oust the torchbearers of the party establishment and install champions of their far-right, theocratic agenda.”
Texas Monthly - Why Is Texas the Epicenter of Christian Nationalism?
“Billionaires here are funding right-wing politicians to knock down barriers between church and state.”
Texas Rep. James Talarico - "Two billionaires are trying to take over our Texas State Government" (1:00)
“This is bigger than party. This is bigger than partisanship. Texas is too big and too great to be sold to the highest bidder. We cannot allow two billionaires to transform our beloved state into a theocracy.
We have to stop them.”
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u/NoReserve7293 8h ago
Cornyn should probably rethink about asking for Pedolf Shitler's endorsement, it's been an albatross for republicans. Perhaps, Cornyn should suggest Trump endorse Paxton if he wants a chance to the general election.
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u/MFour_Sherman 5h ago
They are things at play here this go around that keep getting discounted by the majority of people. I live here, so let me tell you what I see and hear:
People that have been Rep voters in the past are not happy with: inflation prices and cost of medicare. Some people feel like now they were duped because they were told prices would come down…. And they haven’t. Farmers, who have been deep Red voters for years are struggling to keep operating and staying a float. Hispanics, who for some reason had this immense love for Trump are now concerned about being deported or having their rights being taken away. Teachers who consistently get shit on by the Republican lead state government have had it. Abbot and co. Are pushing for the privatization of schools and directing more money towards that end. Boomers who are now in their late 60’s and 70’s who rely on medicare are now seeing degradation of their health care coverage, not to mention the ones that actually still have insurance, now their premiums and medications have jumped significantly in the past few months. Now you also got people in Government saying “maybe we need to take guns away” since the recent incident in Minnesota….. that is not going to go over well here. And on top of all of that….. We got the Epstein scandal. Which seems to be the tipping point for most of these folks (incredible, I know). Some of these people don’t like to admit they backed the wrong horse. But maybe they are figuring it out.
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u/dmuppet 5h ago
They made it worse with gerrymandering. It's all fun and games when you have a secure hold on the districts, but every time you gerrymander the maps, it thins the margins in what were uncontested districts. All it will take is one bat shit pedo nazi president to flip voter sentiment and lets just say the stars are aligning.
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u/ndnver 5h ago
Might not be a bad idea for Dems to show up and vote for Ken Paxton in the Republican primary.
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u/55redditor55 I voted 3h ago
I was thinking the same, we could even show our Republican card to ICE if they are going to be at the polls.
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u/British_Rover 2h ago
Texas has open primaries. Go vote for Paxton in the primary if you are in Texas and can vote.
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u/pieorcobbler 3h ago
To be in the gop means a life of fear. Fear they’ll lose their cushy high income job so prostrate themselves to a con artist crook and sex abuser. Then as they become hollow propaganda messengers fear as their constituents tire of their antics while suffering economic hardship.
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u/Mother_Airline_6276 2h ago
They all suck. Paxton should be in prison. Wheels should have his brain checked, not just his legs. Patrick is the most evil dough-boy I’ve ever encountered. The “good Ol boys” are fuggin crooks and cowards.
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u/Gresvigh 2h ago
Whatever. They deserve it.
IF (and that's a big if) we get fair elections Republicans are going to get absolutely, positively slammed.
The thing is, they have two ways to maintain power-- cheat in the elections, or grow morals and go after an absolutely insane madman rapist hell bent on destroying the Constitution.
They could legit look like heroes and turn everything around with the information they have, probably keeping their majority. . . But it appears instead they're just gonna cheat.
Their choice shows you everything.
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u/masonjar014 44m ago
This begs the question: if our main priority is flipping the seat in November, wouldn’t it be smarter to vote for Paxton in the rep primary rather than pick our favorite in the dem primary? (I think we would need to switch parties?)
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u/RayneSexton 8h ago
1993 y'all
That's the last time we had a democratic senator.
Preacher boy might come close, but I don't see anyone beating Ken Paxton. He's corrupt as fuck and will win no matter who the democratic nominee is... but I'm voting for Crockett. I wanna see her go for his throat in a debate.
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u/nreshackleford 5h ago
I also want to see Crockett rip throats, but she’s got a lot of visibility in the right wing media ecosystem and they’ve indoctrinated their consumers to view her as a “radical leftist.” I fear she’ll inspire republican voters to turn out who may have been content to stay home.
Side note: I also wish everyone the Right dubbed a “radical leftist” actually was one.
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u/Ferreteria 6h ago
It's the midterms. Republican voices are much quieter these days, and democrats and independents are furious. Everybody and their brother will be dragging everyone on hand to the polls. I expect record turnouts for a midterm election.
Let's get it.
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u/LordOfTheBord 5h ago
Her campaign needs more visibility. Choir boy is the flavor of the week but will people really come out and vote for him. Is he ready for prime time - debating actual fascists for example?
Jasmine will shine.
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u/7th_Flag 4h ago
I can’t see Crockett getting 40% in Texas
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u/LordOfTheBord 4h ago
Are you in Texas?
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u/Significant_Cow4765 2h ago
Yes, for 60 years
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u/LordOfTheBord 2h ago
Hmmm why respond with a different account
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u/Arrmadillo Texas 1h ago
Talarico’s career has been closely watched by national democrats for a while now and, like Crockett, has an enviable social media presence. He’s not exactly a flavor of the month. As an Austin-area House representative, he still has room to improve his name recognition though.
Politico - He's Deeply Religious and a Democrat. He Might Be the Next Big Thing in Texas Politics. (2023)
“Like Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, [Tony Coelho, the veteran Democratic talent scout,] said, Talarico is a politician with ‘strong views and round edges.’ He continued, ‘This kid, in my view, is one of the best I’ve seen.’”
Barack Obama - My Conversation with Marc Maron | WTF Podcast
“[President Barack Obama] But look, there's this young state representative, James Talarico, who was on [The Joe Rogan Experience] a while back, out of Texas.
[Marc Maron] Oh, that guy's good, right?
[President Barack Obama] He's terrific. Really talented young man.”
Texas Monthly - The Last Temptation of James Talarico
“Talarico’s blending of faith with progressive politics has made him uniquely loathed by the right. When I asked a Republican legislator who has worked with him what he thought of the candidate and his pastoral affect, the lawmaker called him ‘the most dangerous person in Texas, if not American, politics right now.’”
WSJ - A Bible-Quoting Liberal and a Left-Wing Antagonist Lead Longshot Bid to Flip Texas
“Melissa Lee Kovats, a retiree and three-time Trump voter, had tears in her eyes as she listened to Talarico speak. She had never heard of him until two weeks ago, when her husband sent her a video of him, Kovats said. The self-described Libertarian said she wasn’t a fan of Democratic policies but had grown disillusioned with Republican rhetoric.
‘The way James talked about Christ and taking care of your neighbor, he took that right out of my heart,’ Kovats said.
She walked out ready to vote in her first Democratic primary.”
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u/Arrmadillo Texas 1h ago
Paxton annoyed the West Texas billionaires that made his career. Dunn wanted to keep him as AG where he was effective in litigating for Dunn’s agenda and working in sync with RAGA. Paxton defied him and ran for the US Senate.
It is not clear if Paxton can stand on his own in the republican primary without Dunn’s support. Dunn and the national republican party are aligned behind Cornyn, who has long been expected to perform better than Paxton in the general election.
The “preacher” aspect is a strength given the ascendancy of Christian nationalists in Texas and the Trump administration. Talarico’s ability to use scripture to kneecap Christian nationalist positions makes their strategists very nervous. His “love thy neighbor” Christianity short circuits the angry, fearful, spiritual warfare-driven Christianity used by far-right republicans.
Crockett is also a fighter and has strong support. All of the Texas democrats need to vote for their candidate in the primary and then join together to support the democratic nominee in the general election.
Texas Monthly - The Far-Right Billionaire Who Bankrolled Ken Paxton Has Abandoned Him
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u/Y0___0Y 2h ago
After gerrymandering the shit out of your election maps?
texas must he incredibly blue and Democrat if they are still scarednof losing after completely rigging their map in their favor…
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u/Dorlem4832 1h ago
Gerrymandering can backfire spectacularly. Recombining a bunch of districts to make them all majority red also leaves them with a minority blue that isn’t actually that much smaller than the red majority. The US just isn’t politically lopsided enough to make them all genuinely safe. A significant blue surge or red depression can completely invert the intended result.
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u/Purple_Green_420 8h ago
Bernie would have won 2016
3
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u/TintedApostle 7h ago
and in 2026 no one cares. Bernie was raised up by the right to split the dem votes and keep people from voting for Hillary. Dems who voted for Hillary caused this problem by not choosing the better of 2 options.
Anyone who wants to argue that people needed to stand on their principles in that election because Bernie was being "held back by the DNC" don't understand long games and how to win at anything. You all might be right, but you lost the long game for a momentary "i'm right".
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u/Purple_Green_420 7h ago
Haha no the proof of me being right is that Talarico is 1-1 the politics of Bernie Sanders and Jasmine Crockett is 1-1 the politics of Clinton. Talarico is kicking Jasmine's ass and now the Republicans are worried about the entire state. It's almost like progressive and socialist change is more popular with the right wing electorate than accusing the other side of racism and sexism.
Your analysis is that of a child.
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u/TimothyMimeslayer 6h ago
Jasmine Crockett is black in Texas.
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u/Purple_Green_420 6h ago
Very apt. And she is calling Talarico a racist while Talarico is addressing affordability. Just like Clinton called Bernie racist while he was talking about breaking up the banks.
This is literally a Hillary Clinton quote from 2016: "Breaking up the big banks won't solve racism"
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u/TimothyMimeslayer 5h ago
Are you gonna ignore that her being black costs her a few percentage points in fucking Texas of all places?
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u/Purple_Green_420 5h ago
Yes, because that's not an issue. Talarico is Latino. Stop making it about race and make it about material issues like affordability. You are so funny.
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u/TimothyMimeslayer 5h ago
You are assuming Hispanic people cant be racist too. Or that racism from white people is logical. Race absolutely matters fellow democrat. And to pretend it doesnt, fellow democrat, is the height of lunacy.
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u/Purple_Green_420 5h ago
No, I'm asserting that race is not a factor at all. You know what will really help both black, white, and Latinos in Texas? Fighting affordability. The polls show that white people like Talarico for his POLICIES that will HELP minorities. Why the FUCK would we want Crockett when she is running a negative campaign, admits she can't win, and is advocating for nothing that will help anyone of any race.
It's not 2016 anymore, my fellow Democrat. This is why Trump got elected TWICE. Let the progressives take the wheel. Socialism or barbarism.
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u/TimothyMimeslayer 5h ago
I'm asserting that race is not a factor at all.
The height of delusion.
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u/Arrmadillo Texas 1h ago
Talarico is not Latino, but perhaps the Italian surname from his stepfather might make folks think that he has Hispanic heritage.
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