James Talarico bounded onto the stage of a packed Houston nightclub Wednesday night to the rapturous cheers of hundreds of Democrats desperate for his U.S. Senate run to finally be the one.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre y\u2019all ready to take back Texas?\u201d Mr. Talarico asked. \u201cAre y\u2019all ready to beat Ken Paxton?\u201d<\/p>\n
The boisterous, standing-room-only rally was taking place less than 24 hours after Republicans had finally settled their bitter primary runoff Tuesday, selecting Attorney General Ken Paxton as the party\u2019s nominee by a lopsided margin over Senator John Cornyn.<\/p>\n
Even before the final votes were counted in that contest, the general election began on Wednesday in what was already shaping up to be a rancorous and deeply personal fight.<\/p>\n
The candidates, along with their supporters, spent the first full day of campaigning in a furious back-and-forth over who was more unacceptable, outside the mainstream and just not right for Texas.<\/p>\n
Mr. Talarico attacked Mr. Paxton over his long history of legal entanglements and corruption allegations, which led to a criminal indictment on securities fraud charges (he settled the case) and an impeachment by Republicans in the Texas House (he was acquitted in a trial by Republicans in the Texas Senate).<\/p>\n
Mr. Paxton responded with his own barrage of attacks against Mr. Talarico, accusing him of being a vegan (he eats meat and cheese) and highlighting his past comment, during a legislative hearing in 2021, that there \u201care many more than two biological sexes \u2014 in fact, there are six\u201d (he has since said he was talking about \u201cabnormalities.\u201d)<\/p>\n
In his victory speech on Tuesday, Mr. Paxton looked to label Mr. Talarico as an outsider, someone unlike average Texans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve even heard some people call him James Talafreako,\u201d he said. (Mr. Paxton held no public events on Wednesday.)<\/p>\n
By the time Mr. Talarico arrived for the Houston rally, his campaign had already embraced the nickname, selling \u201cI\u2019m a Talafreako\u201d shirts on their website. All around the venue, people held signs that read \u201cThe People v. Ken Paxton\u201d \u2014 a nod to his history of legal troubles.<\/p>\n
In his speech, Mr. Talarico, a 37-year-old state representative from Austin and a Presbyterian seminarian, cited Bible verses to underscore the notion of service. And he used a story about his father to bring up notions of masculinity, responding indirectly to suggestions by Republicans that he is somehow not manly enough for Texas.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would go next door and mow our neighbor\u2019s lawn,\u201d he said of his father. \u201cHe never talked about it. He just did it. Because that\u2019s what a man does. He serves those around him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rally was reminiscent of those that greeted Beto O\u2019Rourke, the former congressman whose Senate run in 2018 was the high-water mark for Democrats in Texas. Many who came out for Mr. Talarico on Wednesday had been there for that run, and for others by Democrats since. All have ended in disappointment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m as excited as I was with Beto, maybe a little more so,\u201d said Nathan Simmons, a lawyer who wore a white shirt declaring, \u201cWe are all immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s about religion, but he\u2019s not forcing people to follow his beliefs,\u201d said Nazareth \u2014 \u201clike in the Bible\u201d \u2014 Chavez, who attended with her 25-year-old daughter, Bri Guerrero.<\/p>\n
Ms. Guerrero said she appreciated Mr. Talarico\u2019s openness and his support for the transgender community. \u201cI want to see his words in action,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n