Two-thirds of the residents<\/a> in DeSoto are Black.<\/p>\nHis continued response was to accurately represent Texas; it requires showing up and investing in Black communities, he said.<\/p>\n
One person asked specifically how he is going to make sure that Black voters aren\u2019t taken advantage of by his policies.<\/p>\n
Talarico said Democrats must confront the truth of their history of taking Black voters for granted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am committed to not repeating those mistakes,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s why we\u2019re having this conversation tonight. It\u2019s why we have been competing for Black votes all over the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that his campaign will spend $25 million on outreach to Black voters, which he says is the largest investment in outreach to the Black community in Texas history.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to make sure that this campaign is reflective of the diversity of this beautiful state,\u201d Talarico said. \u201dIt is impossible for any one person to reflect that diversity, and it\u2019s why we need to build a campaign that reflects that diversity. \u201c<\/p>\n
When Talarico was asked about reparations for the Black community he said that repairing past harms is part of his faith.<\/p>\n
He said we have to correct the injustices of our past whether it\u2019s by tuition relief, homeownership grants, or baby bonds to ensure that we are helping to build that generational wealth.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil we, as a society, are committed to righting those past wrongs of restoring our Black communities, we\u2019re never going to be able to get this country back on track,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Talarico\u2019s campaign has historically focussed on the importance of the public education system and affordable healthcare for all.<\/p>\n
A resident of Cedar Hill asked him what he plans to do to help repair the \u201cbroken healthcare system\u201c in the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cHealthcare is a human right, it is not a privilege,\u201d Talarico said. \u201cThis is an emergency across the state of Texas, and I think what you\u2019re seeing as part of this campaign is people coming together: Black, white, brown, rural, urban, suburban, Democrats, infants, and Republicans who are rejecting the extremism and the corruption in our government, and who are ready to fight to make sure that healthcare is truly a human right for every single person in this state.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to a question about how he will ensure that all federal funding for schools is held to the same requirements, he said state funded private school vouchers are part of the problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe states that have tried these private school voucher stands, they tend to reject our students with disabilities, our students with special needs, our students with special education. They take the students who are the easiest to teach and whose parents can afford the gap between the voucher and the tuition bill,\u201d He said.<\/p>\n
He added that this system benefits those who can already afford private school and takes money away from public schools that aim to serve everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s immoral. It is unconscionable. It\u2019s unacceptable. And I hope that I can be part, as well as everybody in this room, of a movement that takes back the state and repeals this insane powerful program,\u201d Talarico said.<\/p>\n
Asked whether he thinks teachers should be allowed to cross dress at school, he said they should \u201cprobably do that at home and not bring it to work.\u201d He also said that cynical politicians have been using the LGBTQ+ community as a way to create division at a time when we must be united.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, I want to make sure that our public schools are for education, not indoctrination. This is why I have fought this Christian nationalist agenda to shove religion down the throats of our students,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Talarico told the Star-Telegram he is hoping to schedule a similar event to last night\u2019s town hall in Fort Worth, adding that Fort Worth means a lot to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy grandparents lived in Fort Worth when I was growing up, and so I spent a lot of time in Cowtown, and I understand the needs of people in Fort Worth,\u201d Talarico said.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published July 21, 2026 at 9:51 AM.<\/p>\n
Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds filed into Disciple Central Community Church in DeSoto on Monday night to ask James Talarico how he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":["post-382375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}