James Talarico wants to become the first Democrat to win a Texas U.S. Senate seat in more than three decades. His road to victory runs through Harris County and Houston.
The Democratic Senate nominee was repeatedly reminded of this during a town hall meeting Talarico held at the Kingdom Builders Center on West Orem Drive on the day of the FIFA World Cup final. The tension was palpable as the town hall revealed how much work remains between now and November for the State Representative from Round Rock, Texas.
For roughly three hours, Talarico, running against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, alternated between rousing applause lines and pointed, sometimes uncomfortable, questions from Black voters and community leaders, who made clear that his candidacy will have to be earned.
“We are gonna win this race in November,” Talarico said. “But there is no way to win Texas without showing up for, investing in, and listening to Black communities across the state. For too long, the Democratic Party has taken Black voters for granted, assuming that Black folks here in Texas and around the country are just going to show up and vote for any Democratic candidate. That’s not true…The fastest way to lose an election is to take any voter or any community for granted. We’re not going to make that mistake in this race.”
Since Talarico defeated U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett in a bitter primary, Talarico has been accused of not being present enough in the Black community, which largely favored Crockett.
Meeting Black voters
The event, hosted by Talarico for Texas, drew a crowd of undecided voters and Black elected officials, including Congressman Christian Menefee, Houston Mayor Pro Tem Martha Castex-Tatum, Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, and state Reps. Alma Allen, Ron Reynolds, and Lauren Ashley Simmons. Several of them used their remarks to vouch for Talarico.
“I’m not trying to hide James [Talarico] from accountability…but you’re not going to win the state of Texas without the Black vote,” said Simmons.
Black voters asked Talarico a wide range of questions, including his strategies to invest in infrastructure in minority communities, addressing Black maternal mortality, voter suppression, Black farmers, and racial wealth gaps.
The conversation also got heated when Talarico’s campaign members announced he could answer one final question. This is when Kandice Webber, a Black voter, screamed, “Our people don’t trust you for this reason.”
“You cannot win without us. So you stay here, you answer our questions, or you suffer the consequences,” Webber said.
Talarico thanked her for traveling to the venue and extended his time at the town hall to address Webber and other attendees.
Attendee Destiny McCoy expressed concern about voter burnout ahead of the midterm elections.
“When I talk to my peers, they are not excited; they are apathetic to the political process,” she said. “As a licensed mental therapist, I understand that we are very disengaged from the process, especially Black people, Black women specifically.”
McCoy asked about his investment in voter turnout. Talarico said his team is planning to spend $25 million on Black voter outreach.
Not all attendees were skeptical.
“I am a Crockett supporter, but you sold me,” said Earnest Babalola Goodrich, a precinct chair. “How are you gonna earn the militant Black Democratic vote?… I want to see more. I want you to earn that hard vote.”
Clarifying that he is sincere about earning the Black vote, Talarico said, “I don’t want anyone to vote for me just because they don’t like Ken Paxton.
What Talarico promised
When Talarico took the microphone himself, he moved through a sweeping set of policy areas.
On education, he called for universal early childhood programs and higher teacher pay, noting that some educators are driving for rideshare apps at night to make ends meet, and argued that investment in a child’s first three years of brain development would be “a game changer” for public schools.
On immigration, he invoked the case of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a longtime Houston construction worker who was killed by ICE after decades in the country, to argue for a citizenship pathway paired with what he called “sensible border security,” while criticizing plans to build a border wall through the Big Bend region.
“There is no way to win Texas without showing up for, investing in, and listening to Black communities across the state.”
James Talarico, U.S Senate candidate
He also pledged to protect Black political power and voting rights against restrictive election policies and redistricting, defend Black-owned businesses and historically underutilized business programs, expand access to capital for young Black entrepreneurs, address health care costs and Texas’ Black maternal mortality crisis, continue direct outreach through HBCUs, Black churches, community roundtables and Black media, and work to defeat Ken Paxton and end three decades of Republican control in Texas.
“We’ve not just been talking about the issues that affect all Texans, Black, white, or brown, but we’ve also been talking about the issues that are impacting black Texans in particular,” he added. “Everywhere I go, I hear about the attack on Black businesses, attacks on the HUB program for our historically underutilized businesses that need to make sure that, especially young Black entrepreneurs, have access to capital. When Black businesses are successful, Black people are successful. The full-frontal attack on Black-owned businesses across the state and across this country has to end.”
With the general election nearly four months away, Talarico’s campaign is betting that direct, at times tense conversations like the town hall in Houston will be what ultimately builds the coalition Democrats need to compete statewide. The candidate says he will host more meetings, although no future dates have been set yet.
