Texas
Don’t believe Democrats. James Talarico isn’t a moderate. | Opinion
While James Talarico has a better chance than most to win the U.S. Senate race, I still don’t think he is the chosen one for Democrats dreaming of a blue Texas.
Stephen Colbert slams CBS for canceling James Talarico interview
After CBS lawyers advised “The Late Show” not to air an interview with Rep. James Talarico, host Stephen Colbert called out the network.
Texas Rep. James Talarico is the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. While we will wait a couple of months to see who his Republican opponent will be, Democratic leaders have already started strategizing.
Talarico’s brand is that he is a White religious man. The emphasis on religion is central to his campaign, in which the state lawmaker uses it to justify all sorts of radical policy positions.
Democrats are making the same mistakes they have made for years in Texas. While Talarico has a better chance than most to win the U.S. Senate race, I still don’t think he is the chosen one for Democrats dreaming of a blue Texas.
Talarico is a radical whom Democrats expect to launder as a moderate. Texas voters will see through such efforts.
Democrats think being a White guy makes you moderate
We saw this approach when Vice President Kamala Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her 2024 presidential running mate. In the case of Walz, the impression party leaders wanted to give off was that of a typical Midwest suburban dad.
In the case of Talarico, it’s a young Texan Christian man.
This also isn’t the first time Democrats have tried this in Texas. The last time they seriously deluded themselves into thinking they could win statewide in Texas, they ran former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who, at the time, was crowned the savior of Texas Democrats for very similar superficial reasons, despite being rather uninspiring politically.
He came close to defeating Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018. O’Rourke was more forthcoming about his radical nature, particularly on guns.
Talarico is not O’Rourke. He has used religion to justify his pro-abortion positions.
Referring to racism, Talarico has proclaimed on social media, “White skin gives me and every white American immunity from the virus. But we spread it wherever we go ‒ through our words, our actions, and our systems. We don’t have to be showing symptoms ‒ like a white hood or a Confederate flag ‒ to be contagious.”
He supports Medicare for all and eliminating the filibuster. He has said that there are six biological sexes. None of this is moderate.
Democrats let race and gender influence their strategy poorly
Talarico may be closer to moderates within the Democratic Party, but none of them have the appeal needed to win statewide in a place like Texas or many other Republican-leaning states, for that matter. Democrats think that traits that they have superficially associated with being right wing, such as being White, a male, being religious, or a nuclear family structure, are enough to appeal to moderate voters.
Democrats’ view of race, gender and other superficial characteristics has led to seriously flawed decision-making. We saw this with the narrative around Harris, the first African American and South Asian American woman to become vice president. Democrats thought for some reason that in order for her to appeal to voters, they needed to “balance” the presidential ticket by adding a White man.
That assumption is rooted in an incorrect thinking that Harris’ unpopularity was because Americans were somehow biased against her because she is a Black woman ‒ rather than that her record was horrible, that she wasn’t an interesting candidate, and that she was the incumbent from a deeply unpopular Biden administration.
Democrats did a similar thing in explaining away former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. There has been all sorts of punditry about how America just wasn’t ready for a woman president. However, anyone seriously analyzing that loss can see that Clinton’s defects as a candidate go far deeper than something as superficial as gender.
Democrats are making the same mistakes they have made for years by viewing race and gender as key components of a candidate. The reality is that voters aren’t going to vote against their policy interests just because someone shares their skin color or chromosomes. Such losses are easily avoided, but it requires Democrats to stop viewing these traits as important and start pursuing the candidates with the most merit.
Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.
What a win, and what a series for No. 10 Texas A&M (39-13, 18-11 SEC) on Saturday afternoon, as the Aggies clinched their final home series vs. Mississippi State, a 7-6 victory behind an impressive rally, scoring four runs in the final two frames after the Bulldogs took back the lead late in the game.
After using up nearly every pitching option over the first two games, second-year coach Michael Earley had to rely on Clemson transfer Ethan Darden, who started Game 1 but threw only 30-plus pitches. While this decision was questionable, Darden lasted three innings and allowed just one run, prompting Gavin Lyons to make his second appearance in the series.
However, Lyons allowed three runs, leading to Cooper Powell’s likely game-saving scoreless innings, including three strikeouts, while reliable closer Clayton Freshcorn, who earned his 12th save on Friday night, provided Aggie fans another shaky, but exciting end to one of the more important series of the season.
After allowing freshman Jacob Parker to hit a 2-run home run in the top of the 8th to take a 6-5 lead, Freshcorn locked in, especially after senior Bear Harrision’s double scored Caden Sorrell and Chris Hacopian to re-take the lead. Ending the game with two strikeouts and a pop-up, Texas A&M has secured a double-bye in the SEC Tournament and finished no lower than third in the SEC standings.
If Texas loses to Missouri in Game 3, Texas A&M will earn the No. 2 seed. If the Longhorns win, the Aggies will be the 3-seed heading into the SEC Tournament next week.
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Cameron on X: @CameronOhnysty.
The winning numbers in Friday evening’s drawing of the “Texas All or Nothing Night” game were:
4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 15, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24
(four, seven, eight, ten, eleven, fifteen, eightteen, nineteen, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four)
For more lottery results, go to Jackpot.com | Order Lottery Tickets
SAN ANTONIO – Texas voters will settle unfinished business from the March Primary on May 26, when they decide either who will be on the ballot for the November general election or who will take office next year.
Those contests in which no candidate received 50% plus one of the vote will be on the Tuesday, May 26 runoff election ballot.
The marquee matchup on that ballot is the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate between incumbent John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Cornyn received 42% of the vote to Paxton’s 41%. The two were the top vote-getters in a field of nine candidates seeking the seat on the November ballot.
Cornyn and Paxton were both hoping to get the endorsement of President Donald Trump, but that didn’t happen before the March vote and hasn’t happened since.
One day after the primary, the president said that he would endorse one of them but expected the other to drop out of the race. Neither candidate was inclined to do that. There still hasn’t been an endorsement.
Whoever wins will face Democratic nominee James Talarico, an Austin-area state representative and former San Antonio teacher who won his primary bid against U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
Another seat both parties have their eyes on in the newly-drawn Congressional District 35. Republicans and Democrats both want this seat formerly held by Greg Casar, who was drawn out of the district in last year’s redistricting. Casar will seek re-election in District 37.
Both the red and blue parties have runoff contests for voters to settle. On the Republican side, Carlos De La Cruz and John Lujan are the two candidates who came out with the most votes from a field of 11 candidates. Lujan, who had 33% of the vote, is giving up his seat in the Texas House to run for the job in Washington. De La Cruz, an Air Force Veteran and brother to U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz (District 15), received 27% of the vote. Trump endorsed De La Cruz early in the campaign.
On the Democratic side, the race was close between Maureen Galindo with 29% of the vote and Johnny Garcia (27%). The pair outlasted two other candidates to qualify for the runoff. Garcia is a now-former spokesperson with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. Galindo is a housing advocate who also works as a marriage and family therapist.
In Bexar County, the race for the Democratic spot on the ballot for District Attorney is down from eight to two: Luz Elena Chapa and Jane Davis. Chapa, a former appellate judge, received 27% of the vote. Davis, the chief of the juvenile section of the Bexar County DA’s Office, earned 18%.
The winner of this runoff will face Republican Ashley Foster in November, along with any independent candidate who makes it onto the ballot. The winner of that contest will take over from outgoing District Attorney Joe Gonzales, who is not seeking re-election after two tumultuous terms in office. Gonzales has endorsed Jane Davis as his successor.
Voters, depending on their party and address, will also be deciding the lieutenant governor, attorney general, state representative, state senator, county clerk and district clerk races.
The Bexar County Democratic sample ballot can be seen below:
The Bexar County Republican sample ballot can be seen below:
Early voting begins on Monday, May 18, and runs through Friday, May 22.
Election day is Tuesday, May 26.
Read also:
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