Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico is once again facing down the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Much like his appearance on The Colbert Show earlier this year, Talarico joined "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" This week to discuss his U.S. Senate run against Republican Ken Paxton. The FCC, however, censored the broadcast over regulations related to political bias.
Nonetheless, the video went live on YouTube Thursday night, Sept. 10.
“The FCC has threatened me or threatened my show, our network, even our local ABC stations because they want to make our editorial decisions for us, which of course we cannot accept," Kimmel said in a news release from Talarico's campaign. "And so tonight, we are bypassing the public airwaves and hosting this
interview on YouTube, even though our government would clearly prefer that we not do it at all.”
The interview ran the gamut, from the Republican National Convention and voter suppression in Texas to Paxton's refusal to debate to Talarico's faith.
“They're worried that we're going to win this race in Texas," Talarico said. "We are the underdogs until the last vote is counted. We're not just going up against the most corrupt politician in Texas. We're going up against this entire corrupt system."
"They are terrified of this movement we're building in Texas," he continued, "working people coming together across party and race and gender and religion and culture to take on the people at the top who have been screwing us over for far too long now.”
Adam Powell covers government and politics for the El Paso Times and can be reached via email at apowell@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Watch: James Talarico, Jimmy Kimmel bypass FCC with YouTube interview
