Whenever these musings turn political I know I’m veering into territory that makes many of my existing and aspirational readers uncomfortable. And while I confess there’s a lot I still don’t know about this so-called “content creation” world I do know enough that being authentic and true to your beliefs is critical to making any sort of impression at all. So I guess for better or worse I’m doing something right.
I know I get persnickety with many when I see amplifications of folks feeling the need to spend their precious free time going to rallies to express their displeasure with the current administration or the intensely partisan and detailed reactions to just about everything that spews like toxic waste from their lying yaps. We get it. They suck. You don’t like them. Frankly, neither do I. But they clearly don’t give a sh-t what you or I think and, bluntly, none of this is enough to move the damn needle anywhere close to the side you so desperately want to see back in the saddle.
I’ve been getting reactions lately that from a distance this appears to be an expression of hopelessness. Maybe to some of you it is, but I’d offer it’s merely a concession to the harsh reality of numbers and the projectability of how isolated victories in select situations really matters. That’s how I’ve operated in media for decades and I’ve got more than enough evidence that approach has yielded positive results for those willing to embrace them. I sure don’t see a lot of that logic when I see you making signs or authoring thought pieces for choir-preaching polarized media. If you wanna preach, you need to get out of the comfort zone of your own choir.
And that’s exactly what James Talarico is doing down in Texas. When he announced a bid for the U.S. Senate seat in September he conducted a memorable and far-reaching interview with Joe Rogan on his eponymous podcast. If you missed it, here it is:
And since the New Year he’s turning up elsewhere to share his philosphies and passions, such as what he did on THE EZRA KLEIN SHOW which the NEW YORK TIMES dropped yesterday. I listened intensely and would urge you to do same.
To me, he’s far more authentic and less grating than his more popular opponent for the seat, your favorite “superhero” Jasmine Crockett. My social media feed has been flooded with dramatic verbatims and clips of her “oh snap” takes in the U.S. Senate. I’ve seen her guest appearances in cosplay in the Tik Toks of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes. I’ve seen her take her act to Stephen Colbert’s pulpit and I’m well aware of how those that dream of President AOC see her in a similar light. And according to the update that CBS TEXAS’ Jack Fink dropped yesterday, so far it’s working for her:
The U.S. Rep. for Texas’s 30th congressional district entered the race December 8th, hours before the state’s campaign filing deadline. A poll last month from Texas Southern University showed Crockett leading Talarico by eight percentage points, 51% to 43%, with 6% undecided. These and all other candidates are now sprinting toward the primary, which is seven weeks away. Early voting begins in five weeks, on Tuesday, February 17.
And she certainly has an awful lot of folks in her corner ready to turn on anyone who dares say anything against her. Witness the hot water that a coupla other prominent voices got themselves into last week which TV INSIDER’s Dan Clarendon spilled tea about on Sunday:
Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang are acknowledging the backlash to their comments about Rep. Jasmine Crockett after urging their podcast listeners not to donate money to the Texas politician’s U.S. Senate bid. “Hey everybody,” Rogers wrote in an Instagram Stories update. “I hear the response, and l am taking every bit of it to heart, I promise. Transparency and candor matter to me, especially on the podcast. I’m a very progressive person who cares deeply about winning these elections, but my phrasing was not right. I will be more thoughtful! I really do promise.” He added, “I have great respect and admiration for Rep. Crockett, and I regret that my words suggested otherwise. I just want us to win, and I will be better at finding ways to help.”
That said, both are facing some pretty daunting odds and hurdles, as NEWSWEEK’s Andrew Stanton pointed out last fall:
Democrats are hoping to make the Texas Senate race competitive in the 2026 midterms, but it may not be an easy feat. The Lone Star State has not elected a Democratic senator since 1988, and President Donald Trump won the state by double digits against former Vice President Kamala Harris last November.
The same piece also shone a spotlight on what Talarico has already managed to accomplish with a far smaller megaphone given his current position as merely a member of TEXAS’ House of Representaives. Moreover, it drew them from folks who actually know a thing or two about the actual people and not merely their social media footprints:
Joshua Blank, who heads the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, told Newsweek that Talarico has “demonstrated an ability to generate media coverage,” which is crucial in a large state like Texas given that he is less well known than (former Representative Colin) Allred or other potential candidates like former Representative Beto O’Rourke.
Talarico is a “fresh face in Texas politics” and is “rising to meet the moment, Texas Democratic strategist Joel Montfort told Newsweek. “Talarico’s disarming all-American charm, his religious sensibilities, and his common-sense approach to policy make him a strong candidate in Texas. People respond to his ideas and his vision.
Count me among them. And I’ll go further out on a limb that the demography of AOC, the faith-based foundation of Charlie Kirk and the political attitude of Zohran Mamdani rolled into the same non-threatening face and body stands more than a puncher’s chance against the likes of the “dream team” of J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio down the road, assuming of course Fat Orange Jesus actually decides to back off on the President-for-Life approach that his toadies keep whispering into his ear. And frankly, a win in Texas against the multiple juggernauts of Crockett, Allred and the notorious Republican insurgent Ken Paxson, who is giving incumbent John Cornyn a run for his money with the full support of Team Trump would be a lot more significant and indicative of future wider potential than anything we saw this past fall in New York City, New Jersey and Virginia.
I bring all of this to your attention because things are really heating up down in Texas. Talarico’s been particularly busy aside from his guest spot with Klein, as the DALLAS OBSERVER’s Emma Ruby noted yesterday:
2,000 North Texans…filed into the Plano Event Center on Monday evening for a town hall hosted by Talarico, his first campaign event in the area since launching a bid for U.S. Senate….Talarico, 36, took questions from the North Texas crowd for more than an hour. He addressed his concerns about unregulated artificial intelligence — “We are about to fall off the cliff”; his desire to pursue stronger legal protections for teachers — “a profession in crisis”; and his favorite food — “breakfast tacos”.
Throughout the town hall, Talarico teetered between the talking points that have helped spur his political celebrity, such as his belief that the interests of billionaires are interfering with governance that is most beneficial for average Americans, and new policy proposals. One, which received a standing ovation from the crowd, came when a 9-year-old boy named Ryan asked what should be done to stop federal immigration raids. Talarico emphasized his support for immigrant communities and called for laws that would bar ICE agents from wearing masks and would strip away some of the legal protections that have shrouded the agency under President Donald Trump’s administration.
To me, that’s a LOT more resonant and provocative than merely exercising one’s first amendment rights and wasting a weekend hurling insults into thin air. You may share the same bottom line opinion, but Talarico’s doing a far better job of expressing it.
The battle is clearly on and will only intensify in the next few weeks, as Fink summised:
In an interview with reporters in South Texas, she referred to former Congressman Colin Allred of Dallas and former Congressman Beto O’Rourke of El Paso, who both ran for U.S. Senate during different years. She explained why she’s focused on driving up support from the Democratic base. Crockett said, “The person who came closest to winning was Beto. Beto is not a moderate. He’s a progressive. The last candidate, another really good friend of mine who did get out of this race because I was getting in, he’s a moderate. He didn’t do as well as the progressive.” She said her campaign will bring in elected officials and celebrities from across the country to help spread her message.
As for Talarico, he’s courting Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, something he said helped him win his state seat. “I did that by building a big tent, energizing Democrats to show up and vote, inspiring young voters to show up who hadn’t participated before, and also peeling people off from the other side. Moderates, independents, and yes, some disillusioned Republicans.” Both Talarico and Crockett will face off in a debate during the AFL-CIO convention on Saturday, January 24th.
Yes, everything’s indeed bigger in Texas, and clearly the attention to this race is outsized to those who aren’t immediately impacted. One way or the other we’re going to know a lot more about Talarico than we have–certainly more than most of us had five months ago. But he was indeed out there, and props to Rogan for being among those who discovered him first.
So to those of you who are prepping for your next First Amendment expression, may I implore you to spend a little less time perfecting your picket and maybe look around your own state legislatures, your own school boards, your own media for crissakes, and let those of us unenlightened and “hopeless” know who else might be out there somewhere with at least a few qualities akin to those off James Talarico?
I’ve done my part in meeting my own challenge, at least for today. You take over the steering wheel now.
Until next time…