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Attendees listen to Democratic U.S. Congressional candidate James Talarico at Kingdom Builders Center in Houston on Sunday, July 19, 2026.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Conley\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
\u201cTalarico\u2019s got a Black people problem.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That was the frank analysis of Christian Alexander, a 36-year-old political podcaster and strategist for Houston Black American Democrats. I met him on Tuesday inside the Third Ward Multi-Service Center right past an abandoned convenience store and down the street from Texas Southern University.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alexander wasn\u2019t the only one with a lot to say about the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Already, James Talarico, the former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian, had gotten a tough scolding over the weekend. During a town hall in southwest Houston, he\u2019d said all the right things: about protecting voter rights, supporting Black candidates and fighting for public education funding. He\u2019d touted his efforts, showing up at a handful of Baptist churches and historically Black universities and stopping for a plate of smothered chicken at Mikki\u2019s Soul Food. He\u2019d even pledged to spend $25 million on Black voter outreach<\/a> \u2013 a level of investment he said was a first in Texas’ modern political history. But when Talarico\u2019s campaign staff tried to wrap up questions after about an hour, Kandice Webber, a Houston nurse and political content creator, wasn\u2019t impressed.<\/p>\n \u201cOur people don’t trust you for this reason,” said Webber, who is Black. “And you cannot win without us. So you stay here, you answer our questions, or you suffer the consequences.”<\/p>\n The road to Blue goes through Black<\/p>\n The tense moment went viral, of course, even if it didn\u2019t reflect the prevailing cordial tone of the town hall. But what Webber said, about Black voters being the backbone of any winning Democratic campaign, is true \u2013 and Talarico knows it. He\u2019d said as much in his opening remarks. And after the primary, where U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett won 8 of 10 Black votes in Houston and Dallas<\/a>, Talarico also knows that he can\u2019t take for granted that those voters will show up for him in the general election.\u00a0<\/p>\n Recent polling shows a majority of likely Black voters<\/a> do plan to support him over his ethically challenged, dismally unfit opponent Ken Paxton<\/a>. But to flip this seat, Talarico needs the unlikely voters \u2013 the young, the disaffected and the ones not quite persuaded yet. Webber, the influencer, later posted another video in which she said \u201creal Black folks\u201d were going to sit the election out to teach \u201cwhite moderates\u201d a lesson about earning the support of Black voters.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n I don\u2019t doubt that Talarico\u2019s earnest pitch \u2013 about fighting for the bottom and middle at a time of yawning inequality \u2013 resonates with many Black Americans. I think it resonates with many people, period. But what would it take for Talarico\u2019s Black doubters to truly believe him, to want to head to the ballot box and give this self-described choir boy a chance?<\/p>\n On Tuesday night, ideas abounded. About a hundred or so Black Houstonians filed into folding chairs, ready to give their advice. They grabbed platefuls of catered spaghetti, jalape\u00f1o rice and shrimp empanadas from Savoy and homecooked red beans and rice, potluck-style. Speakers included Kamala Harris\u2019 former communications director Ashley Etienne<\/a> and Harris County Democratic Party Chair Traci Gibson. Social media influencers \u2013 including Erika Harrison of Black Girls Who Brunch<\/a>, Juli McShaye of Pretty Petty Politics<\/a> \u2013 were peppered throughout the first few rows. A chunk of 90 minutes was slated for community members to take the mic and air their thoughts.\u00a0<\/p>\n James Talarico, it should be noted, wasn\u2019t there. (Though a campaign staffer reportedly was.)\u00a0<\/p>\n Because as Alexander, the young political strategist, put it, while Talarico might have a Black people problem, it isn\u2019t a problem for Talarico alone. Black voters feeling taken for granted<\/a> is a longtime Democratic problem (that, yes, Talarico currently embodies). The event,<\/a> hosted by state Rep. Jolanda Jones, was partly to remind all Democrats that \u201cthe road to Blue goes through Black.\u201d And too, it was partly a collective catharsis.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In response to U.S. Senate candidate James\u00a0Talarico’s recent town hall, state Rep.\u00a0Jolanda Jones hosted a Democratic listening event, “The road to Blue goes through Black” in\u00a0the Third Ward Multi-Service Center on Tuesday, July 21, 2026.<\/p>\n Regina Lankenau<\/p>\n The young and the disaffected<\/p>\n Wearing a baseball cap and a black T-shirt with rapper Petey Pablo\u2019s grinning face, Alexander stood out from a crowd that skewed 45 and older. But it\u2019s people like him, he said, who Talarico and other Democrats most need to court. \u201cThe country is in shambles,\u201d he said, ticking off the reasons: two financial crises, several senseless wars, a pandemic and runaway inflation. The youngest have been hit the hardest.\u00a0<\/p>\n As Tyler Smith, a 26-year-old candidate for state House, explained, our generation has seen corporations rake in record-breaking profits<\/a> while everyday Americans shoulder record-breaking debt<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Smith, who spent years at the state Capitol with Everytown for Gun Safety, calls Talarico a friend. There\u2019s no such thing as a perfect campaign, he said, but it starts with making sure young Black voters at least know \u201cwho James is.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n And those voters, as Alexander noted, aren\u2019t at church, where Democratic candidates have traditionally courted Black voters. \u201cWe\u2019re at brunch,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re at the bars. We\u2019re doing social things \u2013 and not in the traditional ways that our elders gathered.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Even an \u201cold curmudgeon,\u201d as Carroll Robinson described himself, knows that. Tall and professorly in a crisp white button-down, Robinson is a former Houston City Council member and chair of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats. Alexander calls him \u201cThe Seer.\u201d <\/p>\n Robinson had a wealth of free advice.\u00a0<\/p>\n For starters: \u201cGet up on Black radio ASAP!\u201d Like the late U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland who rode public buses, Robinson said, it\u2019s about meeting people where they are \u2013 in the Super Targets and Walmarts. Stiff town halls and one-off commercials aren\u2019t gonna cut it.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve gotta pound away at that infrequent voter\u201d \u2013 white, Hispanic and Black \u2013 Robinson continued. That\u2019s the only way for Talarico to make up the 300,000-some votes that will tip the scales. And you\u2019ve gotta convince them of your policies, in their own right. \u201cTelling us that Paxton is the devil isn\u2019t enough,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n But there\u2019s something else, something less tangible.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Though a lot of us (me included) feel overwhelmed by all the things that need urgent attention \u2013 the rollback of civil and voting rights, the unaffordable groceries and health care, the attack on critical institutions \u2013 the Houstonians who showed up at the multiservice center on a school night hadn\u2019t checked out. They were there, present and engaged. They hadn\u2019t given up hope.<\/p>\n Robinson motioned at the room, bursting with overlapping voices. \u201cIf you look at this audience, they\u2019re not opposed to Talarico,\u201d he said. \u201cBut they gotta know in their souls that when there are some tough decisions, he won\u2019t sell them out.\u201d<\/p>\n Bridging the divide<\/p>\n But how, in a world of competing priorities, does that play out?<\/p>\n During the listening session, one participant shared that she was tired of constantly hearing about\u00a0LGBTQ and immigration issues. The grumbling crowd interrupted her, and Jones reminded everyone that Black voters aren\u2019t a monolith.<\/p>\n Still, another woman echoed the complaint that Black-centric issues get short shrift. \u201cImmigration this, immigration that,\u201d said that woman, who identified with the African diaspora. \u201cWhat about us?\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a fair question \u2013 one that divides generations.\u00a0<\/p>\n For 29-year-old Imari Reynolds, caring about immigrants doesn\u2019t feel like a zero-sum thing, she said, particularly when Black immigrants are twice as likely to get deported. \u201cAnd damn near all my friends are LGBTQ,\u201d she added with a laugh.\u00a0<\/p>\n When it was her turn at the mic, Reynolds stood proud in a T-shirt whose rainbow block letters spelled \u201chave the day you voted for.\u201d She didn\u2019t mince words. \u201cTo all those saying you\u2019re gonna stay home,\u201d she said, \u201cyou don\u2019t speak for me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The room buzzed with approving mm-mm\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n Then came her mic drop: \u201cIf you stay on your couch in November, the Republicans will steal your couch come January!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Hollering cheers erupted from the crowd.<\/p>\n More than a dozen Black Democratic Houstonians line up to air their concerns during\u00a0“The road to Blue goes through Black” event in the Third Ward Multi-Service Center on Tuesday, July 21, 2026.<\/p>\n Regina Lankenau A participant earns cheers from the crowd at “The road to Blue goes through Black” event in the Third Ward Multi-Service Center on Tuesday, July 21, 2026.<\/p>\n Regina Lankenau<\/p>\n The energy was, frankly, infectious. It reminded me of my own rambunctious Mexican family reunions: as fun and soul-nourishing and exasperating as they are edifying. I couldn\u2019t imagine why candidates like Talarico wouldn\u2019t prefer that kind of real-world spontaneity over prepackaged campaign stops.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sure, you might get the odd speaker who confronts and challenges\u00a0you. But that’s what it’s all about. As Alexander told me, real campaigning is about \u201cactive participation in communities you don\u2019t belong to \u2013 even if it\u2019s uncomfortable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Talarico, wherever you are, I hope you’re listening.<\/p>\n Regina Lankenau is an editorial writer, columnist and a member of the Houston Chronicle editorial board. She can be reached at regina.lankenau@houstonchronicle.com.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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