I don’t know how he does it.
To win over undecideds of the Democratic, Independent, and Republican persuasion for the U.S. Senate against Republican State AG Ken Paxton, State Rep. James Talarico held a town hall in Fort Worth last night co-hosted by CNN and the Jubilee Media digital platform.
The audience launched all kinds of controversial questions at him.
And he handled them amazingly.
Talarico effortlessly navigated between not blaming conservatives for the current unstable, untenable, terrible condition of the formerly strong United States while stressing his platform: lowering prices, supporting public education, and saving health care, among many other things, things that apparently resonate with most Texans. Talarico leads Paxton in almost every poll.
One stat that stood out came from a poll of 250 respondents, who said the economy and affordability are the most important problems facing not only Texans but all Americans. The current White House occupant’s self-defeating tariffs and focus on ballrooms and golden arches have put the entire country except the 1% well behind where we were under President Joe Biden and earlier administrations.
These are choices, not the results of circumstances.
Another odd stat from the poll concerned “social issues,” and while CNN didn’t explain them, you can bet they were about the queer and trans communities.
If five trans Texans playing sports and gay Texans simply existing worry you so much, you need to log off Twitter/BotFarm for good.
By casting himself as a moderate in this deep-red state and by appearing at the town hall by himself — Paxton refuses to debate him — Talarico may pull off what no Democratic legislator has done since the 1990s: represent the state nationally.
While Talarico faced the hard questions and promised to work for all Texans, not just Democrats, Paxton, who was also invited, live tweeted the event.
Vote Talarico.
Early voting begins Monday.
This column reflects the opinions of the editorial board and not the Fort Worth Weekly. To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly.com. He will gently edit it for clarity and concision.
