The Democratic state representative framed the race as a choice between change and corruption during a rally not far from where he used to teach in San Antonio.
SAN ANTONIO — Those who know their Texas political history will know the significance behind the year 1994—the last time a Democrat won statewide office in the Lone Star State.
With the Republican primary runoff settled, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico is officially turning his attention to the general election, hoping to become the next.
Talarico, a four-term state representative from Central Texas, visited Paper Tiger in near-north San Antonio on Friday as he launched the next phase of his campaign following Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s landslide victory over incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican runoff.
It’s the third of five initial stops on his “The People vs. Ken Paxton Tour,” which reflects the approach he’s taking at his rallies.
“I really do believe Texans are hungry for change,” Talarico told KENS 5 in an interview before his rally.
The former educator and Presbyterian seminarian won his Democratic nomination outright in March.
Paxton, meanwhile, enters the general election after defeating Cornyn by 27 percentage points in the Republican primary runoff. That prolonged contest saw the candidates shelling out tens of millions of dollars.
“Tonight is the beginning of the fight to preserve every value we hold dear,” Paxton said in his victory speech Tuesday night.
The matchup comes three years after Paxton was impeached by the Texas House on allegations ranging from bribery to misuse of power. A few months later, he would be acquitted by the Texas Senate.
Talarico said his campaign will focus on both his legislative experience and what he described as a culture of corruption that he says Paxton personifies.
“That kind of corruption is the rot at the core of our broken political system,” said Talarico, who has built his campaign around the ethos of opposing “billionaire mega-donors and their puppet politicians,” per his campaign website.
“It’s what we’re running against,” he added. “The contrast in this race could not be clearer: It’s the crook versus the San Antonio teacher.”
Among the legislation he has been able to pass during his time in the Texas Legislature are bills requiring that suspended students are still able to receive lessons; forbidding law enforcement agencies from allowing personnel to be filmed for reality TV shows; and establishing programs to lower the cost of prescription drugs for Texans.
Back to where he started
Hundreds of supporters attended Talarico’s rally along the St. Mary’s Strip, just a few miles from Rhodes Middle School, where he previously taught sixth-grade Language Arts over a decade ago. He has talked often over the course of his campaign about his experience teaching “in one of the poorest zip codes in Texas” laid the bricks of his political motivations.
Some years later, Rhodes is set to close after a vote by San Antonio ISD leaders—a symptom, Talarico says of attacks on public education.
And hours before he was to rally the vote in a city that’s been roiled by the debate over federal immigration enforcement tactics under the Trump administration, Talarico said he wants to hold ICE agents accountable while working toward the kind of comprehensive immigration reform both parties have been unable to align on.
“I think we all recognize how both political parties have failed us on this issue,” he said.
The state representative’s visit also comes at a time of year when the region is acknowledging not one but two recent tragedies—the Robb Elementary School shooting and the Hill Country flooding disaster.
Both situations, he said, reflect how Texas leadership can do better.
“We need leaders who are not going to just react to tragedies, but are going to do the work ahead of time to prevent them from happening in the first place,” he said.
Given the state’s electoral history, Talarico has an uphill mountain to climb. Ever since Beto O’Rourke came within three points of upsetting Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, the closest a Democrat challenger has come to flipping a Republican senator’s seat in Texas was nine points.
But an early poll released Friday by the non-partisan Texas Public Opinion Research found Talarico leading Paxton among likely voters, 47% to 44%.
KENS 5, meanwhile, has reached out to the Paxton campaign seeking an interview with the Republican nominee about his platform and priorities for the general election.