Three months before Texas State Representative James Talarico took on Jasmine Crockett in the 2026 Democratic primary for the Senate nomination, he took on an interview with Matthew Watkins, the editor-in-chief of the Texas Tribune.
The 36-year-old legislator, who has represented the 50th District in the Texas House since 2023 and previously represented the 52nd District, will run in the general election for Senate against either Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton or Incumbent Senator John Cornyn. At the time of the TribFest session, he was set to run against U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett and former U.S. Representative Colin Allred, the Democratic candidate in the 2024 Senate election who dropped out of the 2026 race in December.
“I was flattered that people were asking me to run for governor,” Talarico said in the session. “The skills that I developed in the Texas legislature, working across the aisle to pass legislation, questioning witnesses to get to the truth, debating on the House floor with my colleagues, those skills in my mind are much more transferable to a U.S. Senate seat.”
Talarico, who is Christian, frequently cites his religious beliefs as moral reasoning for the policies he favors. He also cited Christianity as his motivation for his campaign.
“Our political system is broken, but even our relationships with each other feel broken,” Talarico said. “I think that’s because the most powerful people in the world want it that way. My faith teaches me to love my neighbor as myself. Not just my neighbor who looks like me, not just my neighbor who prays like me, not just my neighbor who votes like me.”
No Democrat has won a statewide election in Texas since 1994. Talarico acknowledged that his campaign may be an uphill battle, which he is compensating for by focusing on general, moderate policies.
“As a Texas Democrat in a Republican-dominated legislature, I’m usually working with a losing hand,” Talarico said. “Love for this state, love for this country, and most importantly, a love for our neighbors: that’s what I’m trying to build in this campaign.”
Talarico’s Republican opponent will be decided in the runoff election on May 26 between Paxton and Cornyn, the latter of whom has occupied the seat since 2003.
“Neither John Cornyn nor Ken Paxton deserve the honor of representing this great state in our nation’s capital,” Talarico said.