Texas Senate candidate James Talarico has recently highlighted some Republican leaders who have endorsed his campaign against Attorney General Ken Paxton. The news excited liberal-leaning Texas voters, who believe that there’s a strong chance Talarico could beat Paxton in November.
As reported by USA Today, the list of so-called “Republicans for Talarico” includes former mayors and state representatives. The long list includes names such as Bryan Mayor Pro Tem James Edge, former Texas state representative Jimmie Don Aycock, former Dallas Mayor Steve Bartlett, former Georgetown Mayor Dale Ross, and others.
After unveiling the list, Talarico reportedly said he was “proud” to welcome Republicans to the campaign and framed the race as “top versus bottom” instead of “left versus right.”
Texas Reacts to ‘Republicans for Talarico’
Many liberal-leaning voters expressed joy on r/Texas at seeing members of the GOP supporting Talarico. One of them said: “This is what we need. Republicans have to break free of the brainwashing from the last 40+ years that’s convinced them that Republican is a synonym for Christian. If we can break through that belief that Jesus wants them to vote red no matter what, we really could take the country back.”
Someone else added: “I feel like there are probably more Republicans that personally despise Paxton than even Democrats who despise him.” Others commented: “Their ability to paint democrats as evil is a brilliant game plan. Once the party no longer listens to reason, the politicians can go nuts on personal profit and stick around.”
Curiously, even some Republicans expressed satisfaction with Talarico: “My husband and I are both Republicans who will be voting for Talarico. I’ll also be voting for Democrats in many of the down ballot races. Honestly, at this point, I consider myself more of right leaning Independent due to how far right the Republicans have strayed.”
However, some folks were still not entirely convinced that this was a winning strategy or even something relevant: “LOL. There were republicans for Kamala, most cringy political ads ever, that swayed no one. Evidently they love stepping into the same pile over and over.”
Talarico currently has a narrow edge on Ken Paxton in the polls, according to a recent N+ Univision/YouGov poll, with 48% to 43%, with 7% undecided. So, this strategy seems to be working so far.
