March 7th, 2026 Len’s Political Note #795 James Talarico Texas US Senate
2026 General Election
Texas Democrats have a candidate for the United States Senate, a candidate who frightens the Republicans because he could win. James Talarico could be considered a white, Christian, Texas version of New York City’s Zohran Mamdani. He is a young man whose thousands of volunteers helped elect him. His religion is part of his identity. Like Mamdani, he wins elections, whether the election is for the State House of Representatives or for a larger entity. James Talarico won the Texas Democratic primary defeating Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett 53.1 to 45.6.
James Talarico’s mom, Tamara Causey, was originally from Laredo in South Texas, along the Mexican border. She left home for Austin and stayed there. A single mother, with two children, a boy and a girl, she built a life in the Austin metropolitan area. James was born in Round Rock – less than 20 minutes (without traffic) from the center of Austin. When Tamara Causey married Mark Talarico and he adopted the children, they took the Talarico name and continued living in the area. James Talarico went to the Round Rock elementary schools and to Williamson County’s McNeil High School. For college, he went to the University of Texas in Austin, one of this country’s great universities.
Rebellious as Tamara Causey may have been, she and her children maintained contact with her parents. James Talarico credits his understanding of Christianity to his Baptist preacher grandfather. What he learned, James Talarico says, is that Christianity has two tenets: Love God. Love your neighbor.
At the University of Texas, James Talarico’s Christianity did not look that different from the ideological bases of other campus activists. When he was initiated into the Friar Society, the University of Texas’s oldest honor organization, they described his undergraduate achievements. He had been Executive Director of Student Government and President of the Democratic Party’s organization on campus. A co-founder of Hook the Vote, that organization was credited with registering 20,000+ new voters at the University. James Talarico was a leader in the student effort to fend off state budget cuts while, at the same time, he and they worked to prevent tuition increases. James Talarico addressed other issues on campus. As an example, he was part of a student group that pressed successfully to change the name of a dormitory from that of a former KKK member. For these achievements, he received the Yearbook’s Outstanding Student Award.
In 2011, after graduation, James Talarico joined Teach for America. He got his training and was assigned to teach in San Antonio – a city roughly halfway between Austin and Laredo. He completed his two year Teach for America stint as a sixth grade English teacher at the Rhodes Middle School. Like many Teach for America grads, he moved on to the nonprofit world. He joined Reasoning Mind, a Texas based organization that developed computer based math curricula and then consulted with schools helping them make that curriculum work..After two years with Reasoning Mind, James Talarico left for Harvard’s Ed School where he got a Master’s Degree in educational policy.
James Talarico came home from Harvard. In 2018, he ran for an open seat in the Texas House of Representatives representing Round Rock and other communities in Williamson County. He won election to the closely contested Texas House District 52 by a 3.4% margin. Reelected again in 2020, he was faced with Republican redistricting for the following election year. In 2022, he ran for Texas House District 50, a heavily Democratic seat from which the incumbent was retiring. James Talarico won the primary by more than 50 percent and the general election by almost as large a margin.
Reelected in 2024, James Talarico contemplated a big political jump. In September, 2025 he announced his candidacy for the US Senate. He had been elected four times to the House, he was completing his degree at the Austin Presbyterian Seminary, and Texas Monthly had identified him as one of the Top Ten Best Legislators.
Education had been one of his greatest legislative interests. The Children’s Defense Fund describes James Talarico as being responsible for legislation that established a cap on Pre-K class size, equipped schools with Narcan to prevent teens from dying from overdoses, and made it possible for incarcerated minors to graduate from high school. He was also responsible for ensuring that suspended students have a way to complete their coursework and for a bill, vetoed by Governor Abbott, to identify what a model recess would look like. He was also a leading opponent of the proposed mandate that schools display the Ten Commandments, a requirement he described as un-American and un-Christian. Other non-education priorities included reducing the cost of prescription drugs and blocking reality show presenters from accompanying most law enforcement figures on their rounds.
James Talarico could, by the time he had won the primary, note that his campaign had inspired and been inspired by nearly 30,000 volunteers. That is a lot, though he had a way to go to achieve the approximately 100,000 volunteers helping Zohran Mamdani get elected. The business magazine Fast Company praised James Talarico’s intentionally rough around the edges print face (an unevenly weighted letter C, for instance) that inspired volunteers and those they targeted alike.
James Talarico provides a moderate and religious tone to liberal or progressive goals. That was a winning combination in the primary and just might be a winning combination in the general election. He won’t know who his general election opponent will be until May 26. It is conceivable that he would know earlier. President Donald Trump promises to endorse one of the Republicans in the run off and persuade the other to drop out. More than likely, Senator John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will be spending money opposing each other rather than using resources to oppose James Talarico.
We know the stereotypes in which the two Republican candidates fit. John Cornyn is an establishment figure (That is what he has made himself while serving in the United States Senate). Ken Paxton has been a volatile and controversial politician – indicted for crimes, sued for divorce, and shameless about both. Even if Trump does not endorse him, Paxton is the politician who resembles Donald Trump.
Texas would benefit and the country would benefit if James Talarico were elected to the United States Senate from Texas. DONATE to his campaign. Help gain a Democratic majority in the US Senate.
To put the race in perspective: A mid-January Emerson College poll found James Talarico and Ken Paxton tied at 46 and John Cornyn leading James Talarico 47-44. In the money race, on February 11, John Cornyn had $5 million, Ken Paxton had $3.9 million, and James Talarico had $4.8 million. Further fund raising and outside spending on behalf of those candidates could dwarf these amounts.
Other US Senate candidates nominated on March 3
North Carolina: Democratic former governor Roy Cooper leads the former State and National Republican Party chair Michael Whatley in the most recent poll: 50-40. He leads in the money race as well. As of February 11, Roy Cooper had $14.2 million in his pocket; Michael Whatley had $2.5 million DONATE to Roy Cooper
Arkansas: Democratic farmer and activist Hallie Shoffner had $500,000 as of February 11; Incumbent Tom Cotton did not provide the FEC with the required information for them to make a report. Nor are there polls available. Democratic supporters are hopeful. DONATE to Hallie Shoffner. If Democrats can flip the Arkansas Senate seat, there will almost certainly be a Democratic majority in the US Senate.
