James Talarico Pulls Another Key Win For Democrats, Ending a Decades-Long Drought in Texas
James Talarico pulled another upset for Democrats in the midterms, ending a decades-long drought for the party in U.S. Senate elections.
Talarico beat state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a widely watched race that included over $160 million in ad spending from GOP backers, including Elon Musk.
In fact, Musk had said that there is “something seriously wrong with Talarico” during the weekend while responding to a clip of Republican Senator for Texas Ted Cruz and pro-Trump musician Kid Rock criticizing him.
“Talarico I think is a very weird dude … because he is like the ultimate woke social justice warrior … he says God is non-binary,” Cruz is heard saying.
However, the Democratic surge and Paxton’s own controversies were enough to secure the win. Paxton’s alleged corruption has become a key issue on the campaign trail; in 2015 the Republican was indicted on three felony securities fraud charges, and in 2023 the Texas House of Representatives voted to impeach Paxton on articles of bribery, abuse of public trust, whistleblower retaliation, and obstruction of justice.
More than 60 Republicans crossed party lines to join Democrats in the vote to impeach Paxton.
Paxton avoided criminal prosecution by reaching a pre-trial diversion deal which saw him agree to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution and complete community service in the securities fraud case.
In the impeachment case, the Republican-dominated Texas Senate voted to acquit Paxton of the 16 impeachment articles put to a vote.
With the victory, Talarico becomes the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate election since 1988. Democrats have taken control of the House and the Senate, with President Donald Trump acknowledging the result and telling The New York Times on Tuesday night that he is “absolutely willing to accept those results.”
“We’ll work with the Democrats, and we’ll, you know, look forward to working with them. We’ll probably work something out,” Trump added.
Earlier in the night, the president rejected blame for the Republican party’s rout, saying results would have been widely different had he been running.
“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” Trump said in a publication on his social media platform, Truth Social.
However, Trump’s approval rate remained near career lows in November as voters soured on his handling of the economy. Only 32% of respondents to the most recent Reuters poll said they approved of his job in the White House, just one point above his lowest on record.
Almost four in five voters said the rising cost of living would be a very important or the most important factor in their vote. 43% said Democrats were better on the issue, compared to 32% of Republicans.
Trump will also be facing heat from Democrats poised to control the House. Rep. Robert Garcia, set to become the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told the president to “lawyer up.”
In a statement on Tuesday night, Garcia recalled that he has “vowed to take on the Trump Crime Family, corporate corruption, DHS and ICE abuses, and the cover-up of the Epstein files.”
