After securing the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate this week, Texas state Rep. James Talarico delivered his victory speech hoping to unify Texans after a tough battle against Rep. Jasmine Crockett. Liberals in state were split between him and Crockett, and now all eyes are on the former middle school teacher to make Texas history.
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We previously told you that Crockett conceded and congratulated the statesman on his win. Talarico acknowledged Crockett’s leadership during his victory speech. “I want to start off by thanking Congresswoman Crockett,” he said. “She is a colleague and a friend. I am so grateful for her voice and her leadership.”
Talarico won the primary election with 53 percent of the vote compared to Crockett’s 49. It’s now up to Talarico to reach Crockett’s supporters if he wants any chance of winning the Senate seat in November.
To Talarico’s credit, his “underdog” campaign took Texas by storm. In a matter of months, he became a household name in the state. “The number of Texans who have never voted before but showed up in this election is unprecedented. The number of independents and Republicans who voted in this Democratic primary is unprecedented. There is something happening in Texas,” Talarico said in his speech.
Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988. But while many would count Talarico out of the race already, he made it clear in his speech that he has no plans to back down.
“This is a people-powered movement to take on this broken, corrupt political system. This is truly a campaign of, by and for the people,” he continued. “We’re done being divided. We’re done being played. We’re done being pitted against each other. That old politics is dying, and a new politics is being born.”
The 36-year-old represents a newer wave of Democrats, unlike those we’ve previously seen. Folks like Rep. Crockett, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and now Talarico have won over Americans by addressing the needs of everyday people, proving that the Democratic party isn’t dead… they just needed some fresh faces to lead.
Talarico is running on taxing the wealthy, fighting corruption and advocating for education and healthcare. “We’re not just trying to win an election,” he continued. “We’re trying to fundamentally change our politics.”
Now, incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are set to face each other on May 26 in a runoff race for the Texas Republican primary. Talarico told his supporters he’s not worried about who’s on the other end of the ballot.
“It doesn’t matter what happens in this Republican runoff; we already know who we’re running against: the billionaire mega-donors and their corrupt political system,” he continued. “Not any one politician, not any one political party, we are running against the broken system and the powerful people who broke it. They’re scared of the movement we are building. They’re going to throw everything they have at us.”
President Donald Trump suggested he’ll endorse one of the two Republicans and called on the other candidate “to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE!” CNN reported. Cornyn, a four-term incumbent, has a slight edge over Paxton, who notably said he has no plans to drop out of the race regardless of Trump’s endorsement.
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