![\"State](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pawpaw2.jpg\" "\\"State")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
State Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Texas, with his grandfather, former Tarrant County auditor Jimmy C. Causey, in a campaign ad.<\/p>\n
Talarico campaign via YouTube<\/p>\n
FORT WORTH<\/p>\n
James Talarico\u2019s new U.S. Senate ad features his granddad, and here\u2019s the backstory.<\/p>\n
Jimmy C. Causey, 86, was a young Southern Baptist pastor in Corpus Christi back in the 1960s. That\u2019s what he talks about in a new campaign ad.<\/p>\n
It shows \u201cPawPaw\u201d and \u201cJimmy\u201d rocking on a porch, drinking iced tea from Mason jar mugs and talking about the \u201ctwo great Commandments: \u2018Love God,\u2019 and \u2018Love your neighbor.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
But much later, Causey was the hired Tarrant County auditor for eight years. As county government\u2019s chief financial officer, he stood up to good-ol\u2019-boy sheriffs running side schemes and to the then-new Republican power clique at the courthouse.<\/p>\n
Until 1987, sheriffs also ran a private jailhouse store on the side selling inmates shaving cream, cigarettes, candy and snacks for up to $20,000 a year in personal profit. The Star-Telegram and Fort Worth Press both denounced the private jailhouse business as the sheriffs\u2019 \u201cbanana wagon.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was blatant exploitation of what was literally a captive market.<\/p>\n
![\"Tarrant](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_1397.jpg\" "\\"IMG_1397.jpg\\"")
Tarrant County auditor Jimmy C. Causey decided to let a panel of district judges decide whether he should keep his job. He later resigned after the meeting June 22, 1995, at the Tarrant County Courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas. Allen Rose Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection\/UT Arlington Special Collections <\/p>\n
Causey took the not-so-radical position that any money collected in the county jail should rightfully belong to the people of Tarrant County, not to then-Sheriff Don Carpenter, an Azle Republican. Eventually, courts agreed and the jailhouse concession was changed to fund deputies\u2019 equipment and emergency assistance.<\/p>\n
Causey, a former chief financial officer for a Laredo junior college and for a Fort Worth-based county mental health agency, was county auditor for eight years from 1987 to 1995. He often tangled with District Clerk Tom Wilder, a Bedford Republican still in office.<\/p>\n
\u201cJimmy\u201d Talarico was a toddler at the time, a frequent visitor to Causey and his wife, schoolteacher Betty Causey.<\/p>\n
Talarico often mentions that his maternal grandfather was a Southern Baptist pastor in South Texas but has only said in passing that they later lived in Fort Worth.<\/p>\n
In a June 1 story in The New York Times<\/a>, Causey said he was a moderate in the Southern Baptist Church in the early days of conservative fundamentalists\u2019 church takeover.<\/p>\n \u201cThe conservatives believed that the Bible was dictated by God to the writers of the Bible and that every word of it was to be taken as the literal word of God,\u201d Causey was quoted as saying. \u201cI just never could swallow that line.\u201d<\/p>\n Causey said he was a pastor at three churches. Based on newspaper archives, his longest stint was at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Corpus Christi.<\/p>\n In the commercial, titled \u201cDeep in the Heart of Texas,\u201d he is first seen in closeup of his folded hands as he rocked in the chair.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is my pawpaw,\u201d Talarico said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Jimmy is my grandson,\u201d Causey said.<\/p>\n Talarico describes how he\u2019s tried to live the \u201ctwo great Commandments\u201d as a schoolteacher and then as a lawmaker helping those who struggle to afford housing, healthcare and groceries.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that\u2019s loving your neighbor,\u201d Causey said.<\/p>\n When Talarico read the required \u201cI approve this message\u201d line, Causey added, \u201cAmen!\u201d<\/p>\n As auditor, Causey pushed for more funding for a larger staff and stricter oversight.<\/p>\n But he also was a lightning rod throughout his career.<\/p>\n At Laredo Junior College, he sided with now-state Sen. Judith Zaffirini in a sexual discrimination lawsuit against the school. In Tarrant County, he faced resistance when he called for substantial tax increases and then when he tried to take over more than 30 bank accounts managed outside the auditor\u2019s oversight. Later, he was targeted by officials\u2019 complaints when he was city comptroller in El Paso.<\/p>\n In 1995, when Causey turned in his resignation to County Judge Tom Vandergriff under pressure from district judges, Star-Telegram columnist Bob Ray Sanders wrote that Causey was the target of \u201cself-centered, fiefdom-protecting county officials.\u201d<\/p>\n The criticism was \u201can orchestrated attempt to politically assassinate the county auditor,\u201d Sanders wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cAuditors have always been a whipping boy of county administrators who don\u2019t like being told how and when they can spend money,\u201d Sanders wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cBut there is a different dynamic at work here, because Wilder is the man who would be king of the county. He wants to control others and he\u2019s used to getting his way.\u201c<\/p>\n Causey had called Wilder a \u201cneophyte officeholder\u201d and said then-Sheriff David Williams, a Haltom City Republican, led a \u201csmear campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going up here to resign,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t need this.\u201d<\/p>\n As he stormed out of the courthouse, a reporter asked his plans.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not a public figure anymore,\u201d Causey snapped back. \u201cIt\u2019s none of your damn business.\u201d<\/p>\n Jimmy Talarico was 6 years old.<\/p>\n And they\u2019re still fighting at the courthouse.<\/p>\n Do you have an opinion on this topic? Tell us! <\/p>\n We love to hear from Texans with opinions on the news \u2014 and to publish those views in the Opinion section.<\/p>\n \u2022 Letters should be no more than 150 words. <\/p>\n \u2022 Writers should submit letters only once every 30 days. <\/p>\n \u2022 Include your name, address (including city of residence), phone number and email address, so we can contact you if we have questions. <\/p>\n You can submit a letter to the editor two ways: <\/p>\n \u2022 Email letters@star-telegram.com<\/a> (preferred).<\/p>\n \u2022 Fill out this online form.<\/a><\/p>\n Please note: Letters will be edited for style and clarity. Publication is not guaranteed. The best letters are focused on one topic.<\/p>\n This story was originally published August 13, 2026 at 9:21 AM.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n Bud Kennedy is a Fort Worth Star-Telegram opinion columnist. In a 54-year Texas newspaper career, he has covered two Super Bowls, a presidential inauguration, seven national political conventions and 19 Texas Legislature sessions..![\"Tarrant](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_1396.jpg\" "\\"IMG_1396.jpg\\"")
Tarrant County auditor Jimmy C. Causey leaves a meeting with district judges before they asked for his resignation Jan. 22, 1995, at the Tarrant County Courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas. Allen Rose Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection\/UT Arlington Special Collections <\/p>\n
\n ![\"Profile](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/BudKennedy-Profile.jpg\")
\n <\/a><\/p>\n
\n Support my work with a digital subscription<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"State Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Texas, with his grandfather, former Tarrant County…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-406217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406217","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=406217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}