Who’s James Talarico? Why did he win in Texas? What are his views and implications of winning?
James Talarico defeated Jasmine Crockett and Ahmad Hassan in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Texas, raising $20.7 million to Crockett's $8.6 million.
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James Talarico was a public school teacher in San Antonio before entering politics. He is a Democrat who speaks openly about his Christian faith and has cited it in arguments against Republican policies in Texas, including calling a law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in public school classrooms "deeply un-Christian" in a clip that went viral. His opposition to requiring Texas schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms introduced him to a national audience, including podcaster Joe Rogan, who told him he should seek the White House.
Why he won the Democratic primary
With his victory, the state lawmaker from Austin will test whether a smiling message of unity and change is enough to answer voters' frustrations. He argued that the GOP's focus on culture war issues is meant to inflame and distract voters from political corruption and an economic system rigged against them, and he centered his campaign on a faith-based, populist message describing the country's true divide as "not left versus right, but top versus bottom."
He is a media darling who has framed his argument against Republicans in terms of his Christian faith, which gave him a lane that Jasmine Crockett, a more combative Donald Trump critic, didn't have. That softer, faith-forward tone moved more voters in a primary where the party was already debating what kind of candidate could actually win Texas in November.
His views
His Senate platform centers on economic issues with progressive ideals: universal pre-kindergarten, higher taxes for billionaires and corporations, a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage, a public option for healthcare, and codification of Roe v. Wade to legalize abortion access nationwide.
In office, he hopes to outlaw super PACs, provide a universal public Medicare buy-in option for everyone, and raise the federal minimum wage. He has long centered his campaign on fighting the ultra-wealthy and corruption in politics.
On social issues, he is attempting to balance his support for causes like LGBTQ+ rights and combating climate change with the demands of a statewide race in conservative Texas, and has walked back some of his past remarks, calling them "cringey" and saying they "missed the mark."
What his candidacy means
Talarico's victory sets the stage for a race that promises to be among the most expensive contests of the year, as Texas Democrats hope President Donald Trump's unpopularity translates to red-state victories.
Texas Democrats, who have not won a statewide race since 1994, have touted this contest as one they can win. Talarico's edge stems from stronger support among independents, younger voters, Black and Hispanic voters, and women, along with superior fundraising that has allowed heavy advertising across the state's media markets.
Record projected spending exceeding $400 million by both sides and aligned groups has intensified the contest heading into early voting. As of today, Talarico leads Paxton 50% to 44% among registered voters statewide in the Marist poll, and prediction markets give him a 63% chance of winning.
If he wins, it would be the first time a Democrat has won a Texas Senate seat in roughly three decades, and it would signal that faith-based, populist economic messaging can crack states that pure progressive politics cannot.
Follow-ups
What is a Super pac and why is he against it? Who is behind Talarico? Where are his parents from?
A Super PAC is an independent political fundraising group that can collect unlimited money from corporations, billionaires and unions to spend on elections, and James Talarico, the Texas Democratic Senate nominee, has made banning them a centerpiece of his campaign, though a Super PAC funded largely by billionaires is simultaneously spending heavily to elect him.
What a Super PAC actually is
A Super PAC, short for Super Political Action Committee, is a group that can raise and spend unlimited sums of money to support or oppose a candidate, as long as it doesn't hand the money directly to the campaign or officially coordinate with it. The key word is "independent." A campaign can only take capped donations from individuals, but a Super PAC can take $10 million from a single billionaire and blanket the airwaves with ads. The Supreme Court's 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. FEC opened that door, and it has never been shut. Dark money groups, which don't have to reveal their donors at all, often feed money into Super PACs on top of that.
Why Talarico says he opposes them
Running on the premise that the true conflict in politics is not left versus right but a "top versus bottom" struggle between the ultrawealthy and everyday Texans, Talarico has sworn off corporate PAC donations, proposed measures to crack down on "billionaire tax loopholes," and advocated for outlawing Super PACs. He has said he will include banning Super PACs in an "anti-corruption" package if elected to the Senate. He has compared resisting the temptation of Super PAC money to Jesus refusing the Devil's offer in the wilderness.
The contradiction his critics point to
The tension is real. LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman donated $10 million to Lone Star Rising, the Super PAC supporting Talarico, making up nearly 80% of that PAC's second-quarter fundraising total. Hoffman's total giving to Lone Star Rising reached $11.5 million, and the PAC had raised nearly $22 million by mid-summer. The cast of contributors bankrolling Lone Star Rising also features several other billionaires, many of them prolific Democratic donors, and dark money nonprofit groups that don't have to disclose their funders.
Lone Star Rising is chaired by Talarico's first chief of staff in the state legislature, and reporting found that the PAC began running ads that followed instructions laid out on a buried page of Talarico's own campaign website. Federal law allows Super PACs to spend unlimited amounts so long as they don't coordinate with campaigns; Talarico's team has insisted there was no coordination.
When asked about the support he receives from billionaire donors and Super PACs, Talarico has said he will not "unilaterally disarm while Republicans play by their own rules," and that he welcomes billionaire supporters who believe they should be taxed more and want their own political influence curtailed.
Where his parents are from
Talarico was born James Dell Collins in Round Rock, Texas. His mother, Tamara Causey, left his biological father, an abusive alcoholic named Steve Collins, when James Talarico was seven weeks old, and a few months later married Mark Talarico, who adopted James and gave him his surname. The Talarico surname and Italian heritage came through his adoptive father, whose family roots trace to Italy. Biologically, he identifies as an eighth-generation Texan through his mother's lineage, with ancestral ties to South Texas dating back to when the region was part of Mexico.
His grandfather was a Baptist preacher who ministered in South Texas communities including Corpus Christi and Laredo, and Talarico has said that grandfather taught him that Christianity comes down to two things: loving God and loving your neighbor. That faith runs straight through his politics.
What is Lone Star Rising?
Lone Star Rising, the main Super PAC backing Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico, has raised around $9 million, with nearly half coming from a dark money group that doesn't disclose its donors — a tension at the heart of his campaign built on getting billionaire money out of politics.
The PAC disclosed it received $3.75 million from another Super PAC called Government That Works PAC, which itself received $4 million from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a leading dark-money hub for Texas Democrats previously associated with Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss and Democratic megadonor George Soros. Among the notable individual donors were LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman, who gave $500,000, and Austin philanthropist Simone Coxe, who contributed $400,000.
That is the tension at the heart of Talarico's campaign. He has built his entire message around getting billionaire money out of politics, yet he has responded to questions about Lone Star Rising by saying he is not going to "unilaterally disarm." His campaign spokesman added that "when James Talarico has the power to change federal law in the U.S. Senate, he will fight to ban super PACs like this one."
Lone Star Rising spent nearly all of the money it raised on his behalf throughout the first quarter of the election year. It has remained the dominant outside force supporting him through the general election, though the sums on the Republican side dwarf it. Texas PAC, associated with the Senate Leadership Fund and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, booked $117 million in ads in Texas to help Paxton, with reports suggesting the PAC could spend as much as $200 million before election day.
A second pro-Talarico PAC, Moment of Truth PAC, launched by a bipartisan group of campaign operatives, aims to deploy advertising that "gives Republicans permission to defect" to Talarico and makes him "safe for moderates." But Lone Star Rising remains his primary outside backer.
Where the race stands: Talarico leads Paxton in nearly every poll, ranging from one to six percentage points, with the RealClearPolitics average showing him ahead 47.6% to 44.6%.
How much has the Senate Leadership Fund spent on Senate races across the country this election cycle?
The Senate Leadership Fund has committed $342 million to Senate races in the 2026 election cycle, its largest investment ever.
As of June 30, the SLF had raised a total of $253.7 million for the 2026 midterms, according to its most recent quarterly report to the Federal Election Commission. At that point it still had $238.6 million in cash on hand, more than double what it held at the same stage of the 2024 cycle.
Where the money is going
The plan allocates $79 million in Ohio, $71 million in North Carolina, $42 million in Maine, $29 million in Iowa, $45 million in Michigan, $44 million in Georgia, $17 million in New Hampshire, and $15 million in Alaska.
The group is prioritizing five Republican-held seats on defense while simultaneously trying to flip three Democratic seats in Michigan, Georgia and New Hampshire. The spending is split between $271 million for television, digital and streaming ads, with the rest going to mail and other get-out-the-vote operations.
Who is funding it
Some of the SLF's largest individual donors this cycle include Miriam Adelson, a physician and businesswoman; Paul Elliott Singer, a hedge fund manager; and Elon Musk, the wealthiest person in the world.
How it compares to past cycles
The SLF spent $296.6 million across the entire 2024 cycle and $246 million in 2022, so the $342 million commitment for 2026 is the group's biggest outlay in its history. Texas, where James Talarico is the Democratic nominee, is not among the eight targeted states, which tells you something about how both parties have assessed that race's competitiveness on the national map.
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