Talarico is a GameChanger!
- Anne Ochoa
- Dec 16, 2025
- 3 min read
Last night I went to see James Talarico, Candidate for US Senate, speak in Lakeway. The crowd was in the hundreds, not a packed house but definitely full. The evening completely turned my head around about the senate race. There’s been a lot of head spinning in this race since Rep. Jasmine Crockett jumped into the ring a week ago, after Collin Allred left the Senate race and pursued a newly gerrymandered US Congressional Seat. Selfless of Collin and I wish him well. But now we have two Democratic rising stars running for Senate in the upcoming primary, both with winning potential against our long-time tired old Senator who’s been in office way too long (just like some other Texas red necks we know). I’m pretty pragmatic, and I thought the candidate with the best chance of winning would be the one with national name recognition. But then last night…
Talarico took the stage like a gladiator walking into the ring. A crowd that had showed up for the “free” food and booze woke up to a forceful new player in the field. This millennial pulls no punches. He told us flat out that he’s the underdog in this race (which, wink wink, just got a whole lot more expensive in the primary). But hey, he’s used to it. Out of the box in 2018 at the tender age of 28 he won his first race and flipped his Trumper Round Rock house district from red to blue, in part by out of the box thinking (which I love). He literally “ran” or walked the full length of his district, 25 miles in a door-to-door campaign. Then he collapsed, spending 5 days in the hospital after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. So, what did he do? During his first term, he sponsored a bill that caps insulin prices at $25 per month. It passed. This was the start of a history of actions to help normal people live better lives. (1)
One other thing that spoke to me personally was Talarico’s early history of teaching English-language arts at a middle school on the west side of San Antonio, a beautiful but poor historic Mexican-American neighborhood. Someone close to me also created something beautiful in that neighborhood. My brother-in-law, Oscar Lawson, and his band the Royal Jesters, birthed the “westside sound”; 50’s doo-wop blended with Tejano rhythm, emanating from the fruitful golden spot on the map where Tex meets Mex. (2)
Talarico also epitomizes something I’ve realized since I recently started spending summers in blue Massachusetts. There’s something about living in a red state that makes us Dems scrappy. We Texas Dems know how to fight. Even more than that, Talarico fights and wins. He referenced the Great Escapes of the Texas House in 2021 and again this year, when he was a leader of the charge. He vowed that Trump’s gerrymandering would backfire. He said, “the biggest divide in this country is not left vs. right, its top vs. bottom.” He revealed that his first job on Day 1 in the Senate would be to introduce a bill to end gerrymandering forever, followed by actions to address the high costs of healthcare, childcare, education and housing.
Although a devout Christian currently attending the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminar, he is adamant about separation of church and state. He lives by the teaching that there is no love of God without love of neighbor, and is supremely frustrated by the rise of Christian nationalism. He told us, “I work with many members of other faiths that are more Christlike than some of the so-called Christians I work with. The kind of religion that says that you can do whatever you want to other people as long as you have a personal relationship with Christ is an abomination.” This brought the room, including me, to its feet.
In response to a question, he made a point of saying that he and Representative Crockett are co-workers and friends, and that the race will be run cleanly and with the utmost respect. I don’t know if I’ll ever have the chance to hear Representative Crockett in person. I hope I do. But as I waited in line to get my picture with this young man, I was reveling in the moment. Win or lose, Talarico is part of the future of our country, and I can believe that yes, we will overcome this bleak tiny segment of our country’s history. Because the new generation is truly one of substance, truth, and love.
Thank you for sharing!