Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico, in a recent CBS News appearance, had a problem he could no longer avoid. Over nearly eight years in the Texas House, Talarico built a national brand as a viral progressive who quoted the Bible in defense of left-wing causes.Now he is running statewide in a state that President Donald Trump carried by 14 points in 2024. Republicans have gladly brought up Talarico’s previous comments ahead of the Nov. 3 election, when Texas voters will choose between him and Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton.Many of Talarico’s past comments, now being used against him on the campaign trail, were uttered during “Peak Woke.” That is, the roughly 2019-20 period when the COVID-19 pandemic, George Floyd’s tragic death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, and the Black Lives Matter movement’s growing political strength within the Democratic coalition briefly made social justice warriors some of the loudest voices in American politics.
Unfortunately for Talarico, what he offered up was not a defense of his past comments, but a walk-back issued in a frantic attempt to position himself as a centrist in his fight against Paxton, the Texas attorney general who won the Republican primary over Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a nearly 24-year veteran of the chamber.(Washington Examiner illustration; Brenda Bazán/AP; Posts via X)
