At a packed rally in Texas Thursday, James Talarico compared his U.S. Senate campaign to David — who fought Goliath — as the Democrat faces more than $158 million in outside spending by Republican leadership and the world's richest man, Elon Musk.
Talarico told rallygoers under bright lights that David may not have had Goliath's strength, but he had a slingshot.
“You are my slingshot," he continued, without mentioning Musk or the other the spending
against him. "We are going up against our own Goliaths.”
The description falls in line with Talarico's past rhetoric painting politics not as right versus left, but the ultrawealthy versus everyone else, as he tries to become the first Democrat to win statewide in over 30 years. Talarico's own campaign has raised record amounts of money in one of the nation's more expensive and competitive Senate races.
The national conversation around Talarico’s campaign has evolved over the past months. Initially, the state lawmaker was considered just the latest of several Democratic candidates over the past years who gave the party a hope of flipping Texas, only for that hope to deflate come Election Day.
Now, Talarico is seen as a real contender to win the seat against Republican candidate Ken Paxton. Talarico’s success so far can partly be chalked up to voters’ apprehensions toward Paxton, who faced questions in his past over corruption, including being impeached by his own party in the Texas legislature. He was later acquitted.
While outside spending in support of Paxton has flooded the Texas airwaves with ads, Talarico's campaign itself has outpaced Paxton's in fundraising from donors eager for Texas to forgo its solidly Republican title.
The prospect of a flagship GOP state turning blue doesn't just fill Democrats with glee and Republicans with alarm. Whoever wins will help determine which party controls the Senate in President Donald Trump's final two years in office, making it either smooth sailing for Trump or a bog of investigations and opposition.
Talarico, a seminarian and state representative, has also tread a very careful path — as nonpartisan as he can — from the major metros that already tilt Democratic, along the border towns that flipped from blue to red last election, and to the rural Republican high plains and desert.
The candidate has distanced himself from former President Joe Biden's administration and his own party, and while progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders is coming to Texas this month, he won't be sharing a stage with Talarico.
Talarico's strategy is to take direct aim at what voters say they are most concerned about: the costs that have inexorably grown for years. That unaffordability, Talarico argued at the nighttime rally in Texas that was packed with younger voters, is because billionaires and corrupt politicians have rigged the system. It resonated.
“They think that they can buy us, and that they can essentially be the kings of the country,” said Kaitlyn Johnson, a 29-year-old bartender who attended the rally.
Johnson felt that Talarico put words to that feeling she'd held for awhile, and the high costs keep nagging at her, too.
“I make decent money,” she said, “but there's no way in hell that I'm going to be able to buy a house anytime soon.”
Trump and Republicans are well aware of Talarico's ability to connect with voters, and of Paxton's struggles to find purchase in what would otherwise be a relatively easy race for a Republican. The president has made several trips to Texas to rally for Paxton.
Paxton has received significant financial support from Musk, who last year headed Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. Musk contributed $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, federal campaign spending filings showed Thursday. The Senate Leadership Fund gave $158 million to Texas PAC, the largest contributor to Paxton’s campaign.
Musk also provided $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, a group that supports Paxton.
The rally Thursday in the small city of San Marcos south of Austin follows nine days earlier this month when Talarico was out of the public eye due to the flu. His absence sparked a swirl of conspiracies online, including the false claim that he was at a mental health treatment center in Ohio. Shared by conservative social media influencers, the claim quickly fell apart at closer inspection.
___ Associated Press reporters Thomas Beaumont and Joey Cappelletti contributed.
