Talarico is in an extremely close race with Greg Abbott.
Austin Wood
Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico called on North Texans to help him and the rest of the ticket cross the Election Day goal line at his last major North Texas event Thursday night.
The rally was held as a joint event with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa. Inside a crowded, energetic Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center hall, Talarico quoted “Friday Night Lights” and told supporters it was time for a final push as part of his “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts Tour.”
“Dallas, we have five days to win this election,” Talarico said. “We have to execute. We have to leave it all on the field. We have to win. Our fellow Texans are counting on us.”
Scores of people packed together for what may be both candidates’ final major event in Dallas. Both are expected to spend the weekend campaigning in other major metros before landing in their Central Texas bases of support to spend Election Night.
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Talarico narrowly leads Republican Ken Paxton in most polls. After trailing incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott by wide margins for most of the race, Hinojosa has gained ground on the three-term governor in recent weeks as national Democrat groups begin investing money in her campaign.
Democratic statewide candidates will have to rely on healthy voter enthusiasm from the state’s largest metro areas. Dallas County set an all-time Day 1 early voting record last week, while Travis, Bexar and Harris counties have all shattered midterm records. Cal Jillson, a professor of political science at Southern Methodist University, told the Observer earlier this week that turnout patterns look promising for Democrats, who will need urban voters to keep showing up.
“This is the last play of the last drive,” Talarico said.
Talarico and Hinojosa would be the first Democrats to hold the offices since 1988 and 1994, respectively.
Willie, LBJ and Beyonce
One of the many signs at the Dallas rally for James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa
Along with Dillon High’s Coach Taylor, Talarico evoked the names of other prominent Texans to stir the crowd, including former President Lyndon Baines Johnson, former Gov. Ann Richards, Willie Nelson, Beyonce, Bobby Pulido and Sam Houston. Even figures born well outside of Texas, like David and Goliath, got a shoutout.
“He didn’t have as many weapons, but he had hope. He had faith, and he had a slingshot,” Talarico said of the small but mighty warrior from the Bible. “Dallas, you are my slingshot.”
Another name became a central theme throughout. Both campaigns have featured strong populist sentiments as the Democrats from all ends of the ticket position the midterm elections as a battleground between the ultra-wealthy rich and working families. Paxton and Abbott were again attacked for corruption while in office, while Republican megadonor and almost-trillionaire Elon Musk was targeted by both top-ticket candidates. A judge recently sided with Hinojosa and ordered the state to release communications between her opponent and the world’s wealthiest man. Abbott’s campaign has appealed the ruling, citing “intimate and embarrassing” information.
“Elon Musk wants our land,” Talarico said. “He wants our water. He wants our tax dollars. He wants his very own personal United States senator. He is trying to buy Texas, but on November 3, we are going to deliver a crystal-clear message to the world’s first trillionaire: Texas is not for sale.”
Talarico boasted of an underdog campaign supported by grassroots fundraising and everyday Texans, contrasting himself with Republican candidates who have relied on billionaires like Musk to finance late-in-the-day advertising blitzes around the state. The tech titan has pumped at least $158 million into the Senate campaign, although most of his funding has gone through Super PACs, which cannot directly coordinate with Paxton’s campaign.
In the second part of what the Observer called a “mixtape” of untimely leaks that began in early October, Paxton admitted on camera that he had “never had more” control of campaign messaging.
“Ken Paxton is everything that’s wrong with our politics,” Talarico said. “He doesn’t serve us. He serves himself. Since taking office, Kent Paxton has increased his net worth by 27 million dollars. All while our pay has remained steady. He now owns 15 homes, while most Texans are struggling.”
Rev. Freddie Haynes, a Democratic congressional candidate who will almost certainly replace U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, in the U.S. House of Representatives, who lost the Senate primary to Talarico in March, introduced Talarico.
Before Haynes, Hinojosa took the stage to an eruption of “Gina” chants. She took aim at culture war issues and attributed them to division tactics by the ultra-wealthy. The state lawmaker also said that she had no intention of implementing a state income tax, despite Republican ads claiming otherwise, and drew focus back to healthcare and education.
Rev. Frederick Haynes of Dallas introduces Talarico.
As she has for much of her campaign, she attacked Abbott for introducing Texas’ voucher system. After anti-school choice Republicans were primaried by MAGA loyalists following failed attempts at implementing vouchers, Abbott achieved what he has billed as a promise kept to Texans with the passage of SB 2 in 2025.
“Greg Abbott took $1 billion from neighborhood public schools to give to unaccountable private schools in his voucher scam,” Hinojosa said to a chorus of boos.
The first early voting reports will come at 7 p.m. Tuesday night, giving Texans a clearer idea of a midterm cycle that Hinojosa said will shape the future of the Lone Star State.
“This is the fight of our lives that we are in in this election. It is the one fight I talk about, the one fight of our time, the one fight of our generation,” Hinojosa said. “Is Texas going to be a state that is by and for the people?”