![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20261015_zsp_n340_015_master.jpg\")
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Senate candidate James Talarico speaks at a campaigns rally in San Marcos, Texas.Joe Nogalski\/ZUMA<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tGet your news from a source that\u2019s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.<\/a><\/p>\n It seemed like a curious time and place for a campaign event until I got inside the gates. James Talarico\u2019s first big rally in several weeks, following a well-documented and spectacularly mischaracterized<\/a> bout with the flu, took place at a youth football field in San Marcos last Thursday at the exact time 16,229 students and fans were settling down to watch the Texas State Bobcats on the other side of town. But the cameras towering above the illuminated stage, and the polite but quite insistent request to put away phones and signs, gave away the game. Talarico\u2019s team had engineered a postcard-perfect Texas scene to film his closing message to Texas. The crowd was enthusiastic but not unwieldy, the program unencumbered by dignitaries, the Thursday night lights Friday-night bright.\u00a0<\/p>\n All events should be so simple. A staffer warmed up the crowd by asking for restaurant recommendations, a student dance group performed a short routine to the tune of \u201cKnuck If You Buck,\u201d and then Talarico, the 37-year-old state representative vying to become the first Democrat to win a statewide election since 1994, took the stage beneath the glow of the beams and an eyelash of a moon.<\/p>\n All week in Texas I kept thinking about what was different. In 2018, when Beto O\u2019Rourke came within two-and-a-half points of beating Sen. Ted Cruz, his campaign was a blur<\/a>. He hit every single one of the state\u2019s 254 counties and live-streamed everything he did, from early-morning jogs to haircuts to long drives. The DIY style and off-the-cuff messaging made the whole thing work\u2014a former punk-rocker on an endless tour. That approach embodied the general ethos for Democrats in Texas that year. The map was suddenly wide open<\/a>, and a whole bunch of people were running and winning and trying new things in places Democrats hadn\u2019t won anything in a while. In Williamson County north of Austin, 28-year-old James Talarico walked the length of his district in one day and almost died<\/a>. He won a seat in the state house that fall by 2,458 votes.<\/p>\n \u201cOkay, so now I\u2019m gonna do it, and you\u2019re gonna be quiet, and then when we finish\u2014when I say \u2018\u2026life more affordable\u2019 at the end\u2014then you\u2019re gonna applaud. Is that right?\u201d<\/p>\n The intervening years proved more frustrating. The map that looked so enticing after the 2018 election was literally redrawn (twice at the congressional level) and the coalition Beto and others wrangled proved more ephemeral than it first seemed. Talarico is running a different kind of campaign now too. If he has visited all 254 counties, he has kept it under wraps. He is not going to skateboard in a Whataburger parking lot or air-drum to \u201cBaba O\u2019Riley.\u201d He is also not going to drop f-bombs or speak extemporaneously about taking away anyone\u2019s guns, although it is his considerable gift to make lines he has delivered perhaps hundreds of times still sometimes sound extemporaneous. Even Talarico\u2019s occasional attempts to moderate past comments come packaged for maximum effect. He is deliberate. He leverages high-value situations to score premium points. He is the person in \u201cSupermarket Sweep\u201d who goes straight for the hair products.<\/p>\n Talarico for Texas, in other words, is a messaging machine. His ability to efficiently frame an argument and deliver it to an audience is why he is leading the scandal-plagued Republican attorney general<\/a> Ken Paxton in the polls (the plague of scandals has also helped), and why he raised a record $64 million last quarter. But the content the machine refines and spits out\u2014the thoughtful pauses, the perfect answers, the well-timed punches\u2014has to originate somewhere. It is grown on manicured fields under stadium lights. And sometimes, if you stick around when the crowd begins to thin, you catch a glimpse of what it looks like before the filters are applied and the product is refined, when it\u2019s just a man and a crowd, racing against a stopwatch. It\u2019s kind of fun.<\/p>\n Google\u2019s political advertising database offers a revealing look at how Talarico\u2019s campaign is pitching different parts of his message to different audiences. The Democrat is talking about capping insulin costs<\/a> in ads aimed at Black voters, promising to work with both parties in more conservative-coded spots<\/a>, and driving a pickup truck<\/a> while a Spanish-speaking narrator describes the circumstances of Paxton 2023 impeachment. On the stage, though, these different notes come together in harmony; the message at the heart of the campaign is that corruption is a universal story that is crushing the Texas Dream. You may have read, Talarico said in San Marcos, that Paxton has increased his net worth in office by $27 million and now owns 15 homes: \u201cIt\u2019s hard to get 15 homes in a game of Monopoly\u2014I don\u2019t know how Ken Paxon got 15 homes.\u201d But Paxton was merely a product of a larger system, he explained, in which a handful of billionaires have rigged the political system so that the people in it work for them: \u201cThis is the rot at the core of this broken system; it\u2019s why so many Texans can\u2019t get ahead, no matter how hard they work; it\u2019s why we can\u2019t afford the basics in this economy: We have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Talarico spoke for 16 minutes, but the point of all that equipment was to turn exactly 77 words in the middle part of the speech into an immaculately choreographed soundbite that could air on TV in the final days of the race. In other words, it was not over\u2014Talarico had to come back out until he and the film crew got that passage exactly right. This was not immediately clear to many in the crowd. And so after he finished his remarks and those supporters began to trickle out through the chain link fence, it fell to the young people in official badges to lure as many of them back as they could. The event wasn\u2019t over, they explained. There was room in the bleachers. James was coming back.<\/p>\n \u201cSo this is gonna be fun,\u201d Talarico said, when he bounded back up onto the stage a short while later. He spoke at a light and rapid clip, a sixth-grade teacher forever trying to hold onto the room. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna film this ad. It\u2019s gonna be shown all across the state. You\u2019re gonna be in it. This is gonna be your big break. Some of you may become famous movie stars after this, and you all owe me. You owe me a check, okay? Because I gave you your start.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Talarico explained how the shot was going to work, that the man across from the stage was a director and his name was Roy and that everyone needed to stick together here. \u201cSo this camera is right above my head. So it\u2019s going to be cool\u2014it\u2019s going to, like, start there, and then as I say what I\u2019m supposed to say, it\u2019s going to, like, move about, and it\u2019s gonna look awesome. So, don\u2019t look at the camera though, look at me. We\u2019re all going to act normal, and they\u2019re going to tell me when to start.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, that\u2019s right,\u201d said Roy.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I\u2019m going to be looking this way,\u201d Talarico said, gesturing in front of him, away from the bleachers. \u201cSorry to everyone behind me. I know, I know. But. But! Y\u2019all are gonna be in the ad.\u201d<\/p>\n The bleachers cheered.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe may do this a couple times. So you\u2019re all gonna have to\u2014you\u2019re all gonna have to act like what I\u2019m saying is very interesting. Okay?\u201d<\/p>\n The crowd cheered again.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut. But. But, but, but! No applause, right?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The crowd made a noise.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, see? You already messed up.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, hold the applause,\u201d Roy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d Talarico added, \u201cno applause because it\u2019s\u2014and the reason why is because it\u2019s like a 30-second ad. So if you applaud, that\u2019s\u2014that\u2019s money. Time is money, okay?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The first shot landed at 30 seconds flat, which left no room for the approve-this-message disclaimer, so Roy ordered up another. This time, someone clapped at the end.<\/p>\n \u201cOne guy. One guy!\u201d said Talarico, but it gave him an idea. \u201cActually, should they applaud at the end?\u201d he asked the director.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I think that\u2019s okay.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOkay, so now I\u2019m gonna do it, and you\u2019re gonna be quiet, and then when we finish\u2014when I say \u2018\u2026life more affordable\u2019 at the end\u2014then you\u2019re gonna applaud. Is that right?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d Roy said.<\/p>\n The second take was slow again. Point of order.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you want me to look down here, or should I look up there?\u201d Talarico asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSee, I think you\u2019re addressing the crowd,\u201d Roy said. \u201cThe crowd\u2019s everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, okay\u2014I\u2019m addressing the imaginary crowd,\u201d he said, and laughed a little.\u00a0<\/p>\n They went again. And again\u2014still slow.<\/p>\n \u201cMan! Okay. Here we go. I\u2019m gonna go so fast,\u201d Talarico said.<\/p>\n Again.<\/p>\n \u201cRoy!\u201d someone shouted. \u201cWe love you, Roy.\u201d<\/p>\n They were good on time, but the crew hadn\u2019t nailed it. Talarico turned to the crowd in solidarity: \u201cIt\u2019s not us! It\u2019s not us!\u201d<\/p>\n It was starting to feel like that Saturday Night Live sketch, where Tom Brokaw has to film a succession of news reports about the death of Gerald Ford. The nominee\u2014a veteran of the stage who once played Aslan in a high school production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe\u2014joked that he was \u201c25-take Talarico.\u201d Maybe we\u2019d be here all night. Maybe they would turn on Roy. The moving camera got into place again and Roy counted down. Talarico slipped into character, turned to the imaginary crowd, and tried to reduce the most expensive Senate race in American history to 27 seconds.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t afford gas or groceries or health care because the system has been rigged by billionaires and corrupt politicians like Ken Paxton,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the state house, I worked with both parties to cut your taxes and cap insulin costs. This election is about whether or not you want a senator who puts money in your pocket or money in their own. Together, we can defeat the most corrupt politician in Texas and make life more affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n He blinked a few times, and then smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cRoy!\u201d someone shouted.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCome on Roy!\u201d<\/p>\n That was a wrap. When I checked back a few days later, an image from the rally was Talarico\u2019s new profile pic and there were 48,000 likes on a photo of him standing on the field, looking toward the end zone. He had shouted out his \u201cTala-freakos<\/a>\u201d on-stage, apparently\u2014that was being clipped and shared too. The ad wasn\u2019t up yet, but you could start to see what the game\u2019s final drive might look like. Friday Night Lights stars Jesse Plemons, Adrianne Palicki, and Connie Britton had teamed up<\/a> to film a hype video for the campaign before the start of early voting. Talarico\u2019s \u201cClear Eyes, Full Hearts\u201d bus tour was about to get underway outside Dallas.\u00a0Democrats have been here before. But \u201cthis year,\u201d promised the heroes of Dillon, Texas, \u201cthings are gonna be different.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senate candidate James Talarico speaks at a campaigns rally in San Marcos, Texas.Joe Nogalski\/ZUMA Get your news from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-473462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473462","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=473462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}