In the end, it wasn’t particularly close. Democrats in last night’s Texas Senate primary decisively chose their fighter for November: James Talarico, a 36-year-old state lawmaker who looks—and sounds—like a youth pastor.At certain moments, the primary between Talarico and Representative Jasmine Crockett felt ugly. Online, supporters slung insults and accusations of racism. Crockett had harsh words for Talarico’s allies, and her campaign was hostile to the press, which it demonstrated by kicking me out of a rally.But all of that drama was just a small taste of what’s coming next. On the right, the primary between incumbent Senator John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is heading to a runoff, which likely promises nearly three months of nastiness. “The second wave is going to be a bitch,” Chris LaCivita, a top adviser to President Trump’s 2024 campaign who is working for an independent group supporting Cornyn, wrote on X, tagging Paxton.On the left, Talarico now faces the uphill climb toward winning statewide as a Democrat in Texas—a climb that, depending on which Republican emerges from the primary, will be somewhere between big and enormous. The real ugliness, in other words, starts now. It’s “open season,” Vinny Minchillo, a Republican consultant in Texas who is not affiliated with either candidate, told me. “They’re going to release the hounds.”The two Democrats couldn’t have run more different campaigns. And last night, their strategies yielded very different results. Talarico, whose message is a careful blend of Christianity and economic populism, won the northern suburbs of Dallas, his hometown of Austin, and San Antonio. Crockett, who’d touted her opposition to Trump and promised to expand turnout among the party’s base, earned the support of more voters in Dallas and Houston—just not enough. Some voters in Dallas County were turned away from the polls because of a change in where people could cast ballots on Election Day, but not enough to have altered the outcome. Ultimately, Talarico won by more than six points.Given Crockett’s slightly Trumpian tendencies, including her low tolerance for critical coverage and her apparent willingness to deny reality, it seemed plausible, at least for a moment, that the congresswoman might refuse to concede. But this morning, she called Talarico to congratulate him. “Texas is primed to turn blue,” Crockett said in a statement, “and we must remain united because this is bigger than any one person.”Still, Crockett seems to hold some lingering… [TheTopNews] Read More.
1 week ago
