- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
James Talarico won the Democratic nomination for a US Senate seat in Texas on Tuesday, capping a remarkable rise from state lawmaker and seminary student to the party’s standard-bearer in one of the key races of the 2026 midterm cycle.
With his blend of faith-based populism, bipartisan appeal and generational energy, Talarico defeated Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, a firebrand beloved by the party’s base but who struggled to dispel concerns that she could defeat a Republican in a state that has not elected a Democrat statewide in more than 30 years.
A jubilant Talarico told supporters in Austin before the race was called: “We are not just trying to win an election. We are trying to fundamentally change our politics. And it’s working.”
I love Jasmine Crockett but infuriatingly, a white man that talks frequently about his Christian faith is much more likely to win a senate seat in Texas.
conservatives/or “on the fence” are likely to choose a white man, christian over women any day, if they have to somehow vote for D, they would never do it for the likes harris, and clinton because they are women.
Tbf he’s Presbyterian, the same church as Mr Rogers, and by this atheist’s view, the only genuinely honest Christian sect as a whole. They focus heavily on Christ’s teaching on community, believe in the charitable service of others as the devine will of god, and they don’t prostilitize or require tithes. That’s not to say bad people can’t be apart of any faith, but as he’s a minister of that church (like Mr Rogers) I’m inclined to think he’s honest about those core beliefs and not just riding the good name of the church like other politicians have.
Ultimately none of that really matters. He’s on record more progressive than Crockett, and unlike her, did not take AIPAC money. That should be a deal breaker for any voter I don’t care what party, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion.
https://www.trackaipac.com/states/texas
Presbyterians, ELCA Lutherans, and United Methodists coalition together. Just FWIW. They have different theologies but very similar approaches to what ultimately matters out in the world: ethics
Are you not counting unitarians? Because hands down they’re the best denomination. Only ones I see consistently waving rainbow flags and free Palestine banners.
Unitarian is not Christian. There are a lot of disaffected Christians at your local Unitarian church, but they welcome all religions as well as atheists.
what makes you say they’re not christian? they believe in god and they follow the teachings of christ. calling them not christian feels very “evangelicals say ethiopian orthodox isn’t real christianity” to me.
Most Quakers seem chill, but maybe I’m overlooking some shitty views they may hold?
Yeah, they’re pretty good too, but don’t really see that many of there churches these days.
Also your username is dumb and unoriginal. You aren’t fooling anyone Rick.
Get off my lawn, kid
A white man who in 2026 has the political sense to say “Gaza is a genocide and that’s a simple moral question,” while Crockett took AIPAC money and voted to continue funding Israel.
I also like Crockett, but to be fair I haven’t seen much about Talerico I don’t like beyond his Christianity. To be fair in that regard he at least talks the talk of a genuine Christian, rather than the hate mongering bigotry you normally see.
Remember that Crockett took a $25k paid trip to Israel by an AIPAC affiliate. Also Talarico’s messaging blows hers out of the water with independents and moderate Republicans, and yet still manages to put him closer to AOC in attacking billionaires.
Agreed. If Crockett had more leftist ideals and political substance, she’d be a member of the squad. That is not what she is tho. I hope she stays fighting as a Rep and is supportive of initiatives coming from the left wing of the party.
And also of separation of church and state.
His faith-based takedown of the bill to put up donated ten commandments posters in classrooms was pretty great.
This is one of the things that gives me the most hope for him as a candidate. He is (imo) a great public example of how to a person of faith in politics. I think setting this example will have a large impact on US politics as a whole. I think there are a ton of Christians that would break with Trump in a heartbeat given the choice between a Talarico and a Christian nationalist (as unfortunate as that scenario is).
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: progressive Christians are probably our best bet of significant progress. There are plenty of problems with the dogma and institutions of most modern Christian sects, but Jesus himself was obviously extremely progressive. And Christians as a whole (2/3 of Americans) tend to let Christian messaging heavily influence their vote.
A wave of Talaricos could seriously jeopardize the Republican party. This should be highly encouraged.
My problem with Crockett was that she took corporate PAC money. Talerico ran on not taking corporate PAC money.
I don’t think Talerico is nearly progressive enough, with the main issue I found being that he supports a public option over universal healthcare, which will ultimately leave insurance corporations in charge. I do hope that, if elected, he could be convinced to pivot further left and that he will continue to not take corporate money, but at this point, I’ll believe it when I see it.
The good news is that Crockett will remain in Congress where she has been a very effective critic of MAGA. I’m sorry she probably won’t be able to move beyond that position, but that’s the consequences of being a black woman politician in Texas. She’s lucky to be in that office at all.
AOC, OTOH, has a good chance of taking Schmuck Schumer’s or BackStabbing Gillibrand’s seats, and I wish she’d get to doing it. Those two have to go, especially Schmuckie-Boy.
someone should take hakeem jefferies seat too.
Alexandria has bigger things in store for her i hope. But someone needs to send Schumer to his retirement home in Tel Aviv for sure
I thought that part of the reason she was running for senate was that her district had been gerrymandered out of existence - if so, she will only be in the house until January.
Def not, her district is barely changing and is heavily Democratic. You can compare the old and new boundaries on the map here
From that exact page:
“Redistricted to the 33rd district but choosing to retire to run for U.S. Senate.”
I like her and it’s clear her messaging is orchestrated to appeal to those of us who hate maga and the rapist in chief BUT she’s an ardent AIPAC shill. Fuck every single AIPAC backed candidate regardless of party. Fuck them all.
This right here.
👏AIPAC👏TRACKER👏.COM
It’s not about race…
Talaricomis more progressive and can convince people to agree with him.
Crockett is more conservative and just yells at people, that’s why the NRSC manipulated her into running, why after that came out she refused to acknowledge it, and why she’s now claiming the reason she lost is racism and she’s suing.
Even if we were skipping a general and either one was guaranteed to be a Texas Senator, Talarico.was the best choice.
It wasn’t just “who’s most electable” and frankly it’s concerning that so many people didn’t look deeper than skin color but are so opinionated on this.
You’re the reason the NRSC tried this manipulation, because it worked on you.
We can’t afford for it to happen again, look into candidates and what they actually have as a platform. Not just who’s the most outrageous on social media.
Ah, but you’re forgetting that this is america where if a white man wins any competition against a black woman, the only conceivable reason has to be racism.
If people vote based on the merits of the individuals’ policy platforms or who they receive their funding from, then it’s racism plain and simple. Only the people whose voting choices are entirely based on skin color aren’t racist. Anything else is colorblind racism.
In case it isn't clear:
/s, but some people do insist on this unironically
Removed by mod
It’s part of it, of course. He’s more “electable”.
But there’s a lot to dislike about Jasmine Crockett for this particular race.
Her strategy is to energize dem voters in Texas. She’s good at that, and has been vocally slapping down Republican politicians on the hill for a while now. That will all be used against her by the Republican opposition in this race. They will use her viral clips in smear campaigns to energize Republican voters to save their state from the woke angry black lady - that is a message that will land great with their base and even with many “moderates/undecideds”. There’s a reason the republican party has backed her campaign, and it isn’t because they think she can win.
Talarico is much more mild mannered and has a strategy of winning over Republican voters. That is not usually a winning strategy. But in Texas when many people want an alternative to Trump that shares their christian values? It’s got a real shot. People are fucking stupid and care more about messaging than actual politics. He’s got the messaging that will appeal to them. He’s a seminarian. He looks like a choir boy. He is fucking great at rhetoric. He is electable for more reasons than just race.
The worst part of this, is that you and other people do see it that way.
The thing that really bothers me is that Republicans vote against their interests, “leftists” vote on what they think someone’s interests are, and the majority just wants to fucking live. And we get outvoted on hate or speculation every single time.
Again, I was ignoring policy in that comment.
I believe Talarico’s policies and alignments (especially regarding Israel) are better.
That is policy. I’m not here to say you’re wrong. I’m honestly just a bit shell shocked at what I was doing. I tend to agree with most on here, but I got taken by surprise with this candidate specifically.
You’re literally falling for Republican propaganda…
https://www.notus.org/senate/jasmine-crockett-nrsc-texas-senate
Shitlibs can’t comprehend a world where their identity isn’t the center of the universe.
He was the better candidate with a more attractive message for the target audience.
They also had the earned media from the Trump/ Colbert thing.
I genuinely think Crockett wins without that. That was hundreds of millions in earned media, and just an unforced error on the part of Trump.
If Trump had just “done nothing”, that Talarico interview maybe gets 80k views coming from people who just “Like Colbert”. Instead it got millions of views because it was the thing everyone was interested in for 48 hours. And it got a lot of people who would have not known who Talarico was to learn the name.
This map convinces me of that. Even amongst the people voting in a dem primary, the rural people preferred the white church boy. Crockett is more qualified, but Talarico has a better chance of actually winning.
Fortunately, they were both good candidates.
What you see on this map is the Hispanic population overwhelmingly supporting Talarico over Crockett, and vice versa for the black population. This bodes well for a general election, given Texas is 40% Hispanic.
Because she has 3 whole years in the House…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasmine_Crockett
And Tarico only has checks notes 8 years of experience in House.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Talarico
But it’s not just that, he’s religious and the grandson a Christian church leader! Not like Crockett who…
Is religious and the daughter of a Christian church leader…
Well, she only takes some money from corporate PACS, and he takes… Well, he takes none, but…
The only thing Crockett has more experience in, is losing elections.
The only one she won, was because Sam Altman bought it and the incumbent heavily supported her.
There’s no logical reason for everyone to have such high options of her, except you all fell for billionaire and Republican propaganda
Can you give me a logical defense of:
Because I legitimately never understood her “rise”.
Crockett has 3 yrs in the Texas House and 3 years in the US House.
Talarico’s 8 yrs have been solely in the Texas House.
I think most people weight national legislative experience significantly higher than state legislative experience.
Plus Crockett has a demonstrated track record of getting national news coverage opposing Trump.
I’m really not looking to get into a debate though. I’m not a Texan and have only casually followed this race. They seem like remarkably comparable candidates overall. I just wanted to say that from the outsider’s perspective, Talarico seems to have a better chance in the generals.
Brother. Do you know how rural all that purple is?? That’s the East Texas Piney woods, just as rural as any prairie farmer
Looks like San Antonio has churros and Talarico voters.
Call me a dumb fuck, but where can I find this info prior to voting day?
I love his gimmick! Being openly Christian and stuff, but not being an intolerant, genocidal brained, warmonger!
He seems to have threaded the needle of studying the bible and not becoming an atheist or a rabid right winger. His belief does appear to be a major factor in trying to help the people who need help. You know, like Jesus said you should.
For real dude knows how to work a Texas crowd
Same, me and my wife were split on this vote, but I’d be fine voting for either one, I just wish they were running for different seats. Hope Crockett sticks around to oust Cruz in 2031, but I imagine she finds another race before then.
And in the long run, as much as this also sucks, the presidency.
So far as I can tell, Crockett was practically an idpol/Woke-v1 psyop by conservatives. I never thought I’d be happy to see a black woman lose in Texas, or cheer for GenericChristianWhiteBoy#12, but here we are…