James Talarico won the Democratic nomination for a US Senate seat in Texas on Tuesday, capping a remarkable rise from state lawmaker and seminary student to the party’s standard-bearer in one of the key races of the 2026 midterm cycle.
With his blend of faith-based populism, bipartisan appeal and generational energy, Talarico defeated Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, a firebrand beloved by the party’s base but who struggled to dispel concerns that she could defeat a Republican in a state that has not elected a Democrat statewide in more than 30 years.
A jubilant Talarico told supporters in Austin before the race was called: “We are not just trying to win an election. We are trying to fundamentally change our politics. And it’s working.”
I love Jasmine Crockett but infuriatingly, a white man that talks frequently about his Christian faith is much more likely to win a senate seat in Texas.
I also like Crockett, but to be fair I haven’t seen much about Talerico I don’t like beyond his Christianity. To be fair in that regard he at least talks the talk of a genuine Christian, rather than the hate mongering bigotry you normally see.
Remember that Crockett took a $25k paid trip to Israel by an AIPAC affiliate. Also Talarico’s messaging blows hers out of the water with independents and moderate Republicans, and yet still manages to put him closer to AOC in attacking billionaires.
Agreed. If Crockett had more leftist ideals and political substance, she’d be a member of the squad. That is not what she is tho. I hope she stays fighting as a Rep and is supportive of initiatives coming from the left wing of the party.
Yeah the AIPAC Israel trip is a big fail
This is one of the things that gives me the most hope for him as a candidate. He is (imo) a great public example of how to a person of faith in politics. I think setting this example will have a large impact on US politics as a whole. I think there are a ton of Christians that would break with Trump in a heartbeat given the choice between a Talarico and a Christian nationalist (as unfortunate as that scenario is).
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: progressive Christians are probably our best bet of significant progress. There are plenty of problems with the dogma and institutions of most modern Christian sects, but Jesus himself was obviously extremely progressive. And Christians as a whole (2/3 of Americans) tend to let Christian messaging heavily influence their vote.
A wave of Talaricos could seriously jeopardize the Republican party. This should be highly encouraged.
It’s not about race…
Talarico is more progressive and can convince people to agree with him.
Crockett is more conservative and just yells at people, that’s why the NRSC manipulated her into running, why after that came out she refused to acknowledge it, and why she’s now claiming the reason she lost is racism and she’s suing.
Even if we were skipping a general and either one was guaranteed to be a Texas Senator, Talarico.was the best choice.
It wasn’t just “who’s most electable” and frankly it’s concerning that so many people didn’t look deeper than skin color but are so opinionated on this.
You’re the reason the NRSC tried this manipulation, because it worked on you.
We can’t afford for it to happen again, look into candidates and what they actually have as a platform. Not just who’s the most outrageous on social media.
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You’re literally falling for Republican propaganda…
The National Republican Senatorial Committee put out a poll in July with Crockett’s name included, which showed her as the leading Democrat in a hypothetical matchup.
“When we saw the results, we were like, ‘OK, we got to disseminate this far and wide,’” a source familiar with the process told NOTUS.
The fact that Crockett was included in the poll was no accident.
In June news broke that Texas Democrats Colin Allred, James Talarico, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke and Rep. Joaquin Castro met to discuss the 2026 election. Operatives at the NRSC realized that Crockett — whose political stock had been rising — wasn’t included in that meeting and also hadn’t been included in any credible poll. So they decided to change that.
https://www.notus.org/senate/jasmine-crockett-nrsc-texas-senate
That propaganda is literally the only reason she ran:
Crockett herself even admitted she was encouraged to jump into the race by all the positive polling she was seeing ahead of her announcement.
"The more I saw the poll results, I couldn’t ignore the trends that were clear,” Crockett said during her announcement speech.
Crockett did not return a request for comment.
We can’t afford to just ignore that people are being manipulated…
Shitlibs can’t comprehend a world where their identity isn’t the center of the universe.
He was the better candidate with a more attractive message for the target audience.
They also had the earned media from the Trump/ Colbert thing.
I genuinely think Crockett wins without that. That was hundreds of millions in earned media, and just an unforced error on the part of Trump.
If Trump had just “done nothing”, that Talarico interview maybe gets 80k views coming from people who just “Like Colbert”. Instead it got millions of views because it was the thing everyone was interested in for 48 hours. And it got a lot of people who would have not known who Talarico was to learn the name.
Tbf he’s Presbyterian, the same church as Mr Rogers, and by this atheist’s view, the only genuinely honest Christian sect as a whole. They focus heavily on Christ’s teaching on community, believe in the charitable service of others as the devine will of god, and they don’t prostilitize or require tithes. That’s not to say bad people can’t be apart of any faith, but as he’s a minister of that church (like Mr Rogers) I’m inclined to think he’s honest about those core beliefs and not just riding the good name of the church like other politicians have.
Ultimately none of that really matters. He’s on record more progressive than Crockett, and unlike her, did not take AIPAC money. That should be a deal breaker for any voter I don’t care what party, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion.
Idk I have to respect the Quakers, even if the only Quakers to be president were remarkably awful (Hoover and Nixon)
Same, me and my wife were split on this vote, but I’d be fine voting for either one, I just wish they were running for different seats. Hope Crockett sticks around to oust Cruz in 2031, but I imagine she finds another race before then.
AIPAC money and a Harris endorsement appears to have obliterated an 18 point polling lead. That’s crazy to think about.
The Colbert fiasco with the FCC trying to silence Talarico really did a number here.
Love that Trump still manages to fuck things up for himself.
The Colbert fiasco with the FCC trying to silence Talarico really did a number here.
and also, because the OG situation:
I can’t tell if that’s Barbara Streisand or Jennifer Aniston.
I wrote about this yesterday. Harris and Schumer, and possibly Jefferies, all seem to have the mierdas touch.
That’s the most sane thing in America politics for a while lol. It’s crazy that she couldn’t predict that it would happen.
Harris is running for Pres again in 2028, she has learned nothing, and we will all suffer the cost.
As long as we get a primary, she won’t make it past that
obliterated an 18 point polling lead
Gotta wonder whether that lead ever existed. YouGov flip-flopped on Crockett the minute polls actually opened
I actually really like everything I’ve seen out of Talarico. Hopefully he can give Christians an off ramp from Christian Nationalism, MAGA and the Republican party.
Hope he can turn Texas blue
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I like to think Carr and Colbert had a huge hand in this outcome. Carr through the Streisand Effect, and Colbert through what we at work call “Short-timers Syndrome.”
I hope that I am wrong about this, but I am not optimistic about Talarico.
He said all the right things to position himself as not just a progressive candidate, but as a christian candidate. White, male, middle aged, handsome, well spoken, seemingly levelheaded, and gives off strong Mr. Rogers vibes. Those things make him comparatively more palatable than most other democratic candidates, especially in Texas.
However, the democrats have had more than a handful of bad actors and turncoats in recent years. Candidates that talk the blue talk and walk the blue walk, but once they take office they quickly turn face. Sinema, Fetterman, Gillibrand, Robin Webb; not an exhaustive list of democrats that turned their backs to the rhetoric and policies that got them elected, but their the ones that spring to my mind first. Schumer, Jeffries, Pelosi, and a host of others could be rightly accused of actively aiding the republican-led undermining of the rule of law (and civil rights) while in office.
The Streisand effect has a long history of backfiring on public officials, so much so that it’s not too far of a stretch to wonder if the administration banked on the FCC debacle to elevate Talarico. To be clear, I’m not entirely pessimistic about Talarico; I want to believe that there are still good people who want to get into public service for the right reasons. I’m just not optimistic because he’s almost too good. Running a sleeper candidate against one of the stronger progressive voices in congress (who frequently and loudly called out the GOP’s bullshit) is exactly the kind of thing that the far-right think tanks would do.
However, the democrats have had more than a handful of bad actors and turncoats in recent years.
If you were worried about a turncoat, I’d argue Crockett had much worse vibes. Israeli apologist, surveillance state supporter, pretty cynical in her position on immigration, and deeply self-promotional in a Stacey Abrahams way.
Also, her UAF fixation is… not great.
Talarico has his problems (took a big chunk of cash from the casino industry, for instance). But his politics at least seems more populist.
Idk if that’s going to matter. Odds of winning a statewide office in Texas as a Democrat have been dogshit for thirty years.
But if I’ve got to live with a mushy liberal Dem as a Texas senator, I’m happier with him than the alternative.
More dems voted in the primary than republicans. Beto lost to Cruz by only like 2 points or something as well. I’m cautiously optimistic
Honest question but why would taking casino money be a problem. Unless you’re a religious nut with a gambling addiction it’s not really a bad thing. Lots of jobs associated with casinos that will explode the local economy.
why would taking casino money be a problem
Cause the casino was Miriam Adelson’s, and she’s one of Trump’s biggest backers.
That’s really bad. Any Israel connection is going to drive his chances way down. Especially if that ghoul Addleson is involved
That’s really bad.
It’s not great. But you’re going to find it hard to locate a politician without this kind of relationship, because anyone who doesn’t get their beak wet.
Especially if that ghoul Addleson is involved
The Addlesons spread around a ton of money, especially at the state level.
I’m religious, but that’s not why I have an issue with gambling. To quote people I mildly disagree with on a different issue, I believe that gambling should be “safe, legal, and rare”. I’m anti prohibition of most vices, but I think gambling has an atrocious social risk profile, and since its only benefits seem to have been taking some of white people’s money back to native tribes, it should have been left for reservations.
That said, I’m hopeful for Talirico
Appearances can be deceiving. From what I’ve read, Talarico seems the more progressive of the two. If he wins, we’ll find out–the system is entrenched and hard to buck for anyone, until enough more progressive members are there to form a coalition with some power.
But I have no doubt that no matter what, he’ll be vastly better than if the R wins. I’m much more worried about Platner turning out to be a Fetterman/Sinema than I am about Talarico.
Follow the money. I think Talarico is at least trying to run a small donor funded campaign. Crockett was taking Israel’s money and kicking unfavorable media out of her campaign events and denying it afterwards. I don’t really believe in the existence of “blue maga” – I think it’s like searching for the “leader” of “antifa” – but she’s one of the closer things I’ve seen to it.
Crockett took Israeli blood money so fuck her.
I inherently distrust anyone religious, but it’s not really up to me and he seems like a very reasonable pick for Texas. Plus, y’all actually got a real primary! That’s rare!
With the comments talking about Crockett taking the same mistakes as Harris, it reminded me of when Harris, a DA at the time, ran for Senate here in CA. We didn’t really get serious opposition in that primary, even though the next highest was the house member (?) representing Santa Ana. She… uh… dabbed during a debate. It was a desperate move in a race drowning in money and favoritism for Harris. Harris won the primary by like, 30+ points iirc.
Now things don’t look like they can simply be bought as easily like that. People are paying attention and are rightfully pissed off at the DNC, AIPAC and the rest.
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Really? You can’t think of anyone that you should inherently distrust? I can! Cops, CEOs, hedge fund owners, stock brokers, self-help gurus, anyone trying to sell you something, insurance agents, bankers, billionaires, Nazis, religious zealots, politicians… I can think of at least a couple more groups that should be inherently distrusted. If your group spends its existence abusing others- I will discriminate against and distrust you inherently.
Guy who is definitely going to scam you: “Everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt!”
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Thank you!
It’s one thing to be angry at what’s happening but the mood they put in is so bleak (intentionally or not) and they just want everyone to not do anything about it.
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As a non-American. What happens to Jasmine Crockett now? Does she still have an official political role?
Talarico, the more popular of the two, will do his best to consume Crockett whole (and possibly her family if he can find them) in order to consolidate the voting base and display his prowess. Failure to do so could lead to a third party situation, such as Andrew Cuomo, who was consumed far later than the primary.
Habibi, why is Cuomo in my shawarma?
This entire shawarma is now haram, such a waste
It seems barbaric but really it’s the only way.
The stakes are unusually high because a messy Republican primary was headed to a runoff on Tuesday night, with the four-term incumbent senator John Cornyn fighting for his political life against the scandal-scarred attorney general, Ken Paxton.
I received a metric fuckton of texts that were like, “ZOMG YOU GUYS WE ARE SO REPUBLICAN AND CROCKETT HATES ICE CAN YOU BELIEVE IT-ZORZ?!?!?!?” They seem to trace back to a shady republican group. Apart from a couple of milquetoast Cornyn ones, everything else I got was for various Dem candidates despite my living in a very red zip code.
The campaigns have excellent lists, and somebody on the right wanted blue voters to know how very “terrified” they were of her. The only reasonable alternative is that she ran them herself as a low-grade false-flag, and in either case it made me go ahead and decide on Talarico, though I’d have happily voted for either in the general. I think he’s made such a brand of being a blue christian that he’d probably feel obligated to make separation of church and state an important part of his brand, and he’s speaking very explicitly to the wealth divide in a way she hasn’t.
I do tend to think the dust-up over the Talarico’s Allred comment has at least some truth to it, but while I assume he’s much more calculating than his public persona, even in the worst case the story hit my (admittedly white) ears like someone who assumed that his allyship exempted him from micro-aggressions, rather than his being some cackling hypocrite. He’s got his work cut out for him, but if he can energize the base, recover Trump 2024 Hispanics, and get a couple of percentage points’ worth of red voters to flip or even just say, “meh” and stay home, he’s got a chance.
Realistically, I think the most likely scenario is that we’re looking at a pre-guns Beto campaign that comes close but can’t get over the hump versus an unpopular Republican, but I think he’s the best chance we’ve had since then to flip a seat. All of which is incumbent on elections happening semi-normally.
I have a very bad feeling about this guy.
Never trust a Christian fundamentalist. They can get away with anything by their rules if they just repent, whatever the fuck that means.
What makes you think the guy is a Christian fundamentalist? From what I’ve seen, he’s been very outspoken about the criticality of the separation of church and state.
Just so you know, Christian fundamentalism is not at all defined by an individual believer’s stance in regard to the Free Exercise Clause. Someone being a “Christian fundamentalist” simply means they believe in Biblical literalism. It may or may not coincide with other beliefs, political or religious. And even then the purely religious definition tends to shift over time.
It’s really just the faux-fundamentalists who don’t actually believe in their book at all, and who have hijacked religious belief to shore up failing hold on political power, that don’t like separation of church and state.
I’m not a fan of Talarico, I think he’s an unknown quantity at this point, but I offer this clarification in defense of the many non-political and apolitical fundies I have known in my time. Please do not confuse them with the hyper-politicized neofascist version of “Christianity” now popular in right-wing power grabs.
As for Talarico, he has personally been a critic of “Christian nationalism” and doesn’t identify as anything even close to Christian fundamentalism but rather as a Presbyterian. It’s about as vanilla as you can get these days and leans liberal: they’re the kind of Christians uber-conservative Christians love to hate.
Sure, but I was trying to highlight he’s not an extremist. Presbyterians aren’t bible literalists
You’re right, I misunderstood. Thanks for the correction.
All good, I probably should have been more clear
I don’t believe christians when they say that.
Talarico gives me Mike Johnson vibes.
It has been wisely and sadly said that Democratic candidates are chosen for us by the Republican Party.
He just blue DINO he probably vote with Republicans more then anything. Also I don’t want a Christian nationalist running or winning and what I see when I see this guy.
You should probably look into him more than you have. He’s a Christian but he’s definitely not a Christian nationalist.
As opposed to the woman who took a luxury trip to Israel paid by AIPAC?
Have you seen his actual voting record or the organizations he has led? You are just out here spouting complete nonsense without knowing a thing about him. You make yourself sound incredibly stupid.
Google AI tried to tell me there was no record of her traveling to Israel until I specified August 2023 in the search. Very shady.
Doesn’t make him better, just means Texas had two shit choices. Fuck any one who puts their imaginary friend before the people they represent.
Again, you aren’t really showing much mental prowess right now. He actively and loudly pushes against his imaginary friend being involved with the people he represents.
No your just a dope anyone probably states they are a christian will always choose that over facts and science. Even looks the part. I rather have a Satanist then a christian.
No your just a dope anyone probably states they are a christian will always choose that over facts and science. Even looks the part. I rather have a Satanist then a christian.
No, you’RE just a dope. Anyone WHO states they are a Christian will ?probably? ?always? (it can’t be both) choose that over facts and science. HE even looks the part. I WOULD rather have a Satanist thAn a Christian.
If you are going to call someone a dope, then maybe don’t have nine grammatical errors in a three sentence post.
