Even before last week, when he became a central character in Stephen Colbert’s fight with his own network and with the head of the Federal Communications Commission, the Texas state representative James Talarico had shown a knack for getting attention. The thirty-six-year-old Democrat’s social-media posts, in which he connects his religious faith to his hopeful politics, have racked up millions of views. This past July, Talarico went on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” and, by the end of the show, Rogan told his guest, “You need to run for President.”
For now, Talarico is running for the Senate, becoming the latest in a line of buzzy Democrats put forward to pursue the Party’s increasingly elusive dream of winning a statewide election in Texas. But, as Tad Friend reports in the week’s issue, Talarico is different from other Democratic standouts past and present. Part of it is his public expression of Christian faith—Talarico is currently on leave from the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary—but it’s also the way he talks about elections and political life. “I’m not a huge fan of being against someone,” he tells Friend. “A campaign based on love is more durable than one based on fear.” Even his mother wishes her son would get his hands a little dirtier. “He won’t trash-talk,” she says. “And that’s very annoying, because some people need trash-talking.”
Friend spent weeks on the trail with Talarico, speaking to the candidate and those around him in Texas politics. The resulting portrait reveals a man who’s less beatific than he may first appear. His colleagues in the Texas legislature, impressed with Talarico’s skills, have called him “the baby-faced assassin.” Friend documents the way that Talarico muscled his way into the Senate race, going against the wishes of some of the state’s Democratic Party leaders. “James came in, like, ‘I don’t care what you guys are doing with your little huddle. Fuck all y’all, I’m doing this,’ ” Beto O’Rourke, the former golden-boy Senate candidate, tells Friend. “He blew everything up in his excitement to make the case for himself.” O’Rourke adds, “You’re not going to win in this game unless you’re really fucking confident.”
Friend spoke with Talarico shortly after his campaign was hit by what the candidate describes as “an asteroid”—the late entry into the primary race of the U.S. congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, a liberal firebrand and social-media superstar, who sharply criticizes Donald Trump’s agenda but operates with much of his rude charisma and main-character energy. Crockett’s bid was cheered by Republicans, who believe she will be easier to beat in a general election. Crockett has won endorsements from many prominent Democrats. Polls are, at this point, inconclusive. When Texas Democrats make their pick between Talarico and Crockett, on March 3rd, they will be, in part, choosing between two modes of resistance in the Trump era—a commitment to seek common ground or a steadfast promise to fight. For his part, Talarico has declared that the primary result “will determine the course of the Democratic Party.” We’ll see.
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