At a crowded rally in Texas on Thursday, James Talarico has compared his US Senate campaign to David – who fought Goliath – as the Democrat faces more than $158 million in outside spending from Republican leaders and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
Talarico told attendees under bright lights that David may not have the strength of Goliath, but he does have a slingshot.
“You are my slingshot,” he continued, without mentioning Musk or the other charges against him. “We face our own Goliaths.”
The description matches Talarico’s past rhetoric, describing politics not as right versus left, but between the ultra-rich versus everyone else, as he attempts to become the first Democrat to win statewide in more than 30 years. Talarico’s own campaign raised record amounts in one of the most expensive and competitive Senate races in the country.
The national debate around Talarico’s campaign has evolved in recent months. Initially, the state lawmaker was seen as the last of many Democratic candidates in recent years who had given the party hope of flipping Texas, but that hope faded on Election Day.
Talarico is now considered a real contender for the seat against the Republican candidate. Ken Paxton. Talarico’s success so far can partly be attributed to voters’ apprehensions about Paxton, who faced questions about his past regarding corruptionincluding being impeached by his own party in the Texas Legislature. He was later acquitted.
Texas will help decide control of the US Senate
While outside spending on Paxton has flooded the Texas airwaves with ads, Talarico’s campaign itself has outpaced Paxton’s in fundraising from donors eager to see Texas relinquish its solidly Republican title.
The prospect of a GOP swing state turning blue doesn’t just delight Democrats and alarm Republicans. Whoever wins will help determine which party controls the Senate over the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term, making it either smooth sailing for Trump or bogged down by investigations and opposition.
Talarico, a seminarian and state representative, also followed a very careful path — as nonpartisan as possible — from the big metropolises that already lean Democratic, along the border towns that flipped from blue to red in the last election, and out to the rural Republican high plains and deserts.
The candidate has distanced himself from former President Joe Biden’s administration and his own party, and although progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders will come to Texas this month, he will not share the stage with Talarico.
Talarico’s speech on affordability resonated at the rally
Talarico’s strategy is to take direct aim at what voters care about most: costs that have inexorably increased over the years. That unaffordability, Talarico argued at a late-night Texas rally of young voters, is because billionaires and corrupt politicians have rigged the system. It resonated.
“They think they can buy us and they can basically be kings of the country,” said Kaitlyn Johnson, a 29-year-old bartender who attended the rally.
Johnson felt Talarico put words to this feeling she’s had for some time, and the high costs keep nagging at her as well.
“I make quite a bit of money,” she said, “but there’s no chance I’ll be able to buy a house anytime soon.”
Paxton has the support of Musk and Trump
Trump and the Republicans are well aware of Talarico’s ability to connect with voters and Paxton’s difficulties finding traction in what would otherwise be a relatively easy race for a Republican. The president traveled to Texas several times to rally around Paxton.
Paxton received significant financial support from Musk, who last year led Trump’s cabinet. Ministry of Government Effectiveness. Musk contributed $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, federal campaign spending documents showed Thursday. The Senate Leadership Fund gave $158 million to the Texas PAC, the largest contributor to Paxton’s campaign.
Musk also provided $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, a group that supports Paxton.
Thursday’s rally in the small town of San Marcos, south of Austin, follows nine days earlier this month, when Talarico was out of the public eye because of the flu. His absence sparked a whirlwind of online conspiracies, including the false claim that he was in a mental health treatment center in Ohio. Shared by conservative social media influencers, the claim quickly collapsed looking closer.
___ Associated Press journalists Thomas Beaumont and Joey Cappelletti contributed.
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