Texas Democrats haven’t won a statewide race since 1994. That is three decades of losing. Now, Senate hopeful James Talarico is laying the groundwork for his potential defeat, claiming the game is rigged before the first ballot is even cast. He thinks the deck is stacked.
“Means you’re probably going to have to win by a little more than we would have to in a completely free and fair election,” Talarico muttered during a recent podcast appearance. It is a familiar tune. Democrats love to blame their Texas-sized losses on voter suppression rather than the state’s deep-red DNA.
He has cash. Forty million dollars, to be exact. But money cannot buy miracles. Talarico is staring down Ken Paxton, the state’s heavyweight Attorney General who boasts near-universal name recognition and a thirst for political blood. To win, Talarico says his campaign must “out-hustle” the system. Good luck with that.
The griping centers on SB1. Passed after the pandemic, the law tightened Texas voting rules. It demands strict ID numbers—like a driver’s license or Social Security digits—for mail-in ballots. It killed drive-through voting. It stopped officials from sending unsolicited ballot applications. Talarico fought it. He lost.
“Texas is one of the hardest places to vote,” Talarico insists. He points to low turnout. He is not entirely wrong; Texas routinely sits near the bottom of national turnout rankings. Yet, the data tells a more complicated story. Turnout in the 2020 presidential election hit 56.6%, outperforming several previous cycles. The 2022 midterms saw a similar bump. People are voting. They just might not be voting for him.
Republicans smell blood. RNC spokesperson Zach Kraft wasted no time painting Talarico as soft on border security, claiming the Democrat “wants illegal aliens to vote.” It is a harsh accusation, but it plays well in Texas. Kraft pointed to Talarico’s legislative record, specifically his vote against upgrading illegal voting from a misdemeanor to a felony. Paxton, meanwhile, is riding the Trump wave, pushing the SAVE America Act to keep noncitizens off the rolls.
Talarico remains defiant. He compares his uphill battle to the civil rights struggle and early labor movements. They fought a rigged system, too. It is a grand comparison for a guy who once went viral for telling people to eat less meat. Whether voters buy the martyrdom remains to be seen.
