Following a riveting Republican primary that saw state Attorney General Ken Paxton defeat incumbent John Cornyn for the Texas Senate seat up for grabs this November, all attention now turns to the general election. Democrats are really, truly convinced that they can win the Lone Star State this time – and it all depends on their efforts to sell the shockingly radical and downright weird James Talarico as a normal, red-blooded dude who eats barbecue, was really opposed to the border invasion, and has a girlfriend.
To his credit, Talarico has fully embraced this risible politico-cultural costume – which is at least a sign of basic pragmatism in either the candidate or his handlers. Appealing to a statewide Texas electorate is much different than appealing to his safe Democrat state senate district that includes parts of Austin (unofficial motto: “Keep Austin Weird”).
Voters, however, are right to be skeptical about Talarico’s chances. After all, we are only a few years removed from the seemingly never-ending Beto O’Rourke hype – when Democrats insisted that yet another effeminate-looking white guy could flip the state by cosplaying as a tough, down-to-earth Texan. O’Rourke subsequently lost to Ted Cruz for Texas’s other U.S. Senate seat in 2018, fell flat on his face in a 2020 presidential run, and got walloped by Greg Abbott in the 2022 gubernatorial election.
The reality is that the whole “moderate, normal Democrat” charade just isn’t believable anymore. Talarico’s cringeworthy photo op biting into a turkey leg (holding it with a napkin no less) is no more convincing than Hillary Clinton pretending that she always carried hot sauce around in her purse to appeal to black voters or Kamala Harris bragging about being a gun owner.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member