While Texas Republicans have been distracted by their bitter, protracted runoff battle for the Senate, James Talarico, the Democratic nominee, has been focused on the general election.<\/p>\n
Since he won the Democratic nomination in March<\/a>, Mr. Talarico has been raising money, working to unify the party and seeking to solidify his support among Black voters.<\/p>\n Mr. Talarico had tacos<\/a> in Austin with former President Barack Obama. He gave the commencement address<\/a> at Paul Quinn College, a historically Black college in Dallas. And he met<\/a> with Opal Lee, the 99-year-old voting rights activist who led the movement<\/a> to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.<\/p>\n As his two potential Republican opponents, Senator John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton, raised money that they spent attacking each other, Mr. Talarico raised money for what\u2019s expected to be a hugely expensive and highly contentious general election.<\/p>\n Mr. Talarico won<\/a> the Democratic primary election in March over U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett of Dallas in a contest that had some racial tensions<\/a> between their supporters.<\/p>\n Without a runoff opponent, Mr. Talarico, a state representative and former schoolteacher, turned his sights to uniting Democrats as they undertook the more daunting task of trying to win statewide in Texas for the first time in 30 years.<\/p>\n To that end, Mr. Talarico, who is white, has spent the past two months traveling the state, raising money and shoring up support with important voter groups, including Black Texans who overwhelmingly backed Ms. Crockett, who is Black.<\/p>\n Democrats believe the 2026 Senate race presents their best chance in years for a big victory in Texas, and they have seen Mr. Paxton, the outgoing attorney general of Texas, as the more vulnerable opponent.<\/p>\n