James Talarico is asking Texas to do something it hasn't done in nearly 40 years: elect a Democrat to the U.S. Senate. The task is steep. Texas is a deep red state that President Trump won by about 14 percentage points in 2024, and Republicans have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into defeating Talarico. Still, poll after poll shows he could defeat his Republican rival, Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general and a Trump ally.
In a conversation with Michael Barbaro, host of "The Daily," Talarico described the race he is running and why it has drawn support from some Republicans. Disillusioned Republican voters, frustrated with Trump, have shown unusual openness to Democrats in this midterm cycle, and Texas offers a vivid example of that shift.
Talarico said the campaign remains an underdog effort against what he called the most corrupt politician in Texas, backed by Elon Musk and the president. He said the two have already spent $200 million on attack ads meant to portray him as frightening, which he argued reflects Musk's effort to buy his own senator.
Talarico also described a campaign filled with personal attacks. Republicans have claimed he was checked into an Ohio mental institution, and Vice President JD Vance has pushed a claim about his online search history. Talarico said such attacks have always existed in politics but called this version extreme, which he attributed to what he calls the rage economy, where conspiracy theorists and politicians can post anything online.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing