‘Clear eyes, full hearts’: Can James Talarico pull off a historic Democratic victory in Texas?
IN AN ENERGISED rally in Dallas, senate hopeful James Talarico makes an appeal to the Texan heart as election campaign enters final days: “We are going up against our own Goliaths”.
At the convention centre in Dallas, Rev Frederick D. Haynes III tells a large crowd of Texans gathered that the senate candidate James Talarico “recognises the wisdom of [the late rapper] Tupac Shakur, who said: ‘You know, it’s funny when it rains, it pours. We got money for wars, but we can’t feed the poor.’”
Haynes, who is a congressional candidate in the midterms, continues: “But we gonna feed the poor because James Talarico recognises that the true test of a country is how you treat the least of these. The true test of a country is how you treat those whose backs are against the wall. And so I’m glad to say that we are going to make a change, it’s time for a change.”
The crowd breaks out into cheers, waving posters with the Talarico campaign slogan “love thy neighbour”.
A wholesome former teacher and presbyterian pastor who frequently refers to scripture in his remarks, Talarico is close to being the first Democrat to secure a US senate seat for Texas in over 30 years.
His “clear eyes, full heart” election tour is named after a quote from Friday Night Lights, a TV show that was filmed in his neighbourhood while he was at school.
“In the very first episode, right before the big game, Coach Taylor gives a locker room speech, and he says they’re going to come at you with everything they’ve got. I expect you boys to execute. I expect you boys to play football. And then he ends with six immortal words: clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose,” says Talarico to a rapt audience.
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Talarico’s campaign has also been able to capitalise on the murky history of the Republican candidate he is running against. Texas attorney general Ken Paxton has been embroiled in multiple scandals, including a past indictment for fraud and impeachment proceedings which were brought against him in 2023 by the Republican majority Texas House of Representative. He was acquitted of the charges of abuse of office in the Texas Senate.
“I’m not planning to marry Ken Paxton,” said Terry Parsons, 64, at a Paxton rally in Abilene on Wednesday, but the military veteran says “if we put Democrats back in charge of our country, it’s going to be horrible”.
Parsons says Talarico is “crazy“, “a vegan” and a “Christian who hates Christians”. In one speech in 2022, Talarico said that reducing meat consumption is the “moral thing to do”, but has repeatedly denied being a vegan.
After research showed that American voters tend to think all politicians are corrupt, Democrats have been focusing their messaging on explaining why the Republicans’ particular brand of corruption is leading to higher prices for Texans.
In his speech in Dallas, Talarico spoke about the impact of data-centre on communities, healthcare costs, tariffs and rising gas prices due to the war in Iran.
“Texans voted to end the wars, but now we have a new corrupt war in the Middle East that’s driving up gas and diesel prices,” says Talarico.
“Texans voted to lower healthcare costs, but corrupt political deals have gutted our healthcare, sending premiums skyrocketing, all to give tax cuts to billionaires. We have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis, but we can end that in this election, in this state, in this race.”
On Thursday evening, Talarico made a positive case for immigration in a state where there is a crucial Latino swing vote which, by a small majority, voted for Trump in the 2024 election. “Texas used to be known as the friendly state. Our official state motto is friendship,” says Talarico.
He continues: “The word Texas comes from the Caddo Native American word for friend, and what’s interesting is that they didn’t use that word to describe a friend in their own tribe. They used that word to describe a friend in a different tribe. Friendship across tribes, friendship across divides. That’s what makes Texas so great. We’re this. We’re this big mashup of all these different people, all these different cultures, all these different friends.
“This Texan ability to welcome new friends, welcome new ideas, has made us one of the most exciting and innovative states in the country. We’re the state that put a man on the moon,” says Talarico.
“Texas is bold, and most importantly, Texas is big. Big hair, big hearts, and big dreams.
“This election shouldn’t be about the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. It’s bigger than that,” says Talarico.
“This election should be about chasing a vision of what this state can be.”
HOW Talarico spoke about immigration in Dallas stood in stark contrast to the words of US vice president JD Vance, who spoke at a rally a few hours earlier in the conservative Texan ranching town of Weatherford and repeatedly referred to Talarico as “Talafreako”.
“James Talarico is somebody who has said openly that he believes that we should have a welcome mat on our southern border,” said Vance.
“Let me tell you, that is a euphemism for James Talarico telling you that he would like to once again reopen our southern border and flood American communities with some of the worst of the worst of remote policies that would flood Weatherford, Texas, with some of the most violent and bloodthirsty drug cartels in the country.
“We’re not going to allow that to happen, and we’re not going to allow it to happen because we’re going to elect Ken Paxton.”
Talarico’s positive vision and moderate approach has earned him support from senior Republicans in Texas including retired Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips and Neil Bush, the son and brother of the respective Bush presidents. Phillips criticised the Republican’s entirely negative campaign in Texas and for failing to put forward policies.
The Texas senate race is set to be the most expensive in the county for this midterm election, with a competitive governor race between Republican incumbent Greg Abbott and Austin representative Gina Hinojosa also attracting significant levels of funding in the final run of the election. After running on a shoestring budget, Hinojosa’s campaign which has focused on voter backlash against data centre, public education and ‘economic populism’ has picked up significant momentum and raised $17.5 million in the past four weeks.
Speaking before Talarico in Dallas, Hinojosa says: “Sometimes, we wonder how did we get here, but we are here, and I am a woman of faith, and I believe that each and every one of us has been chosen for this moment in history.”
According to the Texas Association of Broadcasters, over $1 billion worth of political ads have been placed in Texas for this election cycle, with Elon Musk alone spending over $150 million supporting Republican candidates in Texas.
“In the final days of this election, they are coming at us with everything they’ve got,” says Talarico.
“The billionaire mega donors and their super PACs are spending more than $200 million to try to stop us. That is the most of any Senate race in American history, and more is on the way.
“We are the underdogs in this race. We are literally going up against the richest man in the world. This election is a battle between the powers that be and the powers that ought to be.
“They may have the money, but we have the majority,” says Talarico.
“We are going up against our own Goliaths, those billionaire mega donors, those corporate special interests, the entire Washington D.C. establishment. Their power is real, but so is ours. David wasn’t as big or as strong as Goliath. He didn’t have as many weapons, but he had hope. He had faith, and he had a slingshot. Dallas, you are my slingshot.”
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