Democrats should go all-in on Texas -- and Talarico [View all]

Democrats should go all-in on Texas — and Talarico
Turning the Lone Star State blue will be expensive. Hesitation to go all in on a candidate will cost even more

By Jason Kyle Howard
Senior Ideas Editor
Published March 9, 2026 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) If faith is indeed “the substance of things hoped for,” as St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Hebrews, then James Talarico’s win on Tuesday in the Texas Senate primary was surely, at least for the Lone Star State’s Democrats, “the evidence of things not seen.”

What has not been seen for nearly 40 years is a Senate victory for the party, and the 36-year-old Talarico, a state representative and Presbyterian seminarian, has gotten Democrats excited. After his decisive six-point primary victory over Rep. Jasmine Crockett, they are hoping, as they have for at least 10 election cycles — that the massive state, with its 31 million residents, of which at least 40% are Latino, will turn finally blue. That Republicans are staring down a lengthy, costly and nasty runoff between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, the scandal-ridden MAGA firebrand, has only increased excitement on the left.

But as stoked as some rank-and-file Democrats are, national party leaders and many high-dollar donors, according to POLITICO, are hesitating to go all-in for Talarico. At the root of their doubts and anxieties, Elena Schneider reports, is the “massive injection of cash” it would take to even contest the state, “while there are other, cheaper options on the Senate landscape.”

....(snip)....

But Texas is a special case — and Talarico could prove a singular candidate.

For starters, the political environment ahead of November’s midterms is shaping up to be similar to 2018, the year of the blue wave that came during Donald Trump’s first term when Democrats took control of the House and won governorships, as well as other statewide races. That year in Texas, Beto O’Rourke came within 2.6 points of beating Sen. Ted Cruz. .................................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/03/09/democrats-should-go-all-in-on-texas-and-talarico/