Dems Worry James Talarico Lacks Support From Black Voters To Win Texas Senate Race

James Talarico has spent the last few months being marketed as the second coming of Beto O'Rourke, minus the pickup truck theatrics. He quotes scripture, he's got the youth pastor cadence down, and national Democrats clearly think he's their best shot at finally cracking Texas statewide after two decades of trying. So it's worth noting that the people raising the alarm about him aren't Republicans. They're his own party's operatives, quietly telling reporters that Black voters in Texas just aren't feeling it.

That's not a small problem in a state where Democratic statewide hopes have always run through Houston, Dallas, and turnout in Black churches and precincts that don't get a lot of glossy campaign attention otherwise. "Mild enthusiasm" is the kind of phrase strategists use when they don't want to say the real word, which is apathy. And apathy at the top of the ticket doesn't stay contained. It bleeds down into every county judge and school board race Democrats were hoping to flip on his coattails.

The bigger story here is what it says about how the party still operates. Talarico got elevated fast, with a lot of buzz from the same online and donor-class circles that fell in love with O'Rourke and Stacey Abrams before actual voters weighed in. Charisma on social media isn't the same thing as a coalition. Texas Democrats have been burned by this exact pattern before, and it seems nobody higher up the chain has learned the lesson.

None of this guarantees a win for whoever Republicans put up. But a party that can't get its own base excited about its handpicked candidate has a much bigger problem than one Senate race, and pretending otherwise until November is how you lose one you thought was finally winnable.