When I talked to James Talarico supporters in early December at a banquet hall on the north side of San Antonio—it still bore the flowers and archway of a wedding ceremony; a staffer joked that it was “the most romantic” campaign event they’d ever held—I kept hearing the same story.
Of the dozens of people I talked to, all but one had become fans after watching a video. But not just any video. Of all the hundreds of floor speeches, sermons, and campaign rallies, they would often begin to describe the same one. Maybe it shouldn’t be that surprising—millions of people have seen it. Joe Rogan saw it. You probably saw it. Talarico’s viral exchange with a Republican state representative over a bill (now a law) that would require public schools to put the Ten Commandments in classrooms established him as not just a rising star in the party, but someone who could command the most precious commodity in politics: attention.
In a state where Democratic optimism has given way to a succession of disappointing general elections, polls show Talarico has as good a chance as almost any Democrat this century to win a statewide election. (Since 1994, only a handful of candidates have even come close.) But only if he can make it through Tuesday’s primary, against a former colleague with a much different idea of how to flip the state. The race is a test of just what kind of fighter Democrats want, and of two competing theories of the electorate. With control of the Senate perhaps hanging in the balance, the stakes for the party couldn’t be higher.
I hope you'll give my profile of Talarico a read.
—Tim Murphy
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