Talarico will launch his campaign at a rally in Round Rock this evening. He immediately took aim at billionaires with outsize influence in Texas politics.
ROUND ROCK, Texas — Texas State Rep. James Talarico, an Austin Democrat, formally announced his campaign for U.S. Senate this morning – making the Democratic nomination for this position next year as competitive as the Republican race.
“The biggest divide in our country is not left versus right. It’s top versus bottom,” said Rep. Talarico, 36, in a campaign video to be published later this morning. “The people at the top work so hard to keep us angry and divided because our unity is a threat to their wealth and their power. They divide us by party, by race, by gender, by religion so that we don’t notice that they’re defunding our schools, gutting our healthcare, and cutting taxes for themselves and their rich friends.”
Rep. Talarico will launch his campaign at a rally this evening in his hometown of Round Rock.
His political future has generated a lot of speculation in recent weeks as he has toured the state to rally Democrats.
Last month, Joe Rogan invited Rep. Talarico to appear on his popular podcast after seeing one of the state representative’s viral TikTok videos.
“You need to run for president,” Rogan told Talarico. “We need someone who’s actually a good person.”
Rep. Talarico was an English teacher in San Antonio before entering politics.
He was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2018 and has authored or cosponsored at least nine bills that became law, including ones that established the first-ever cap on pre-K classroom sizes in Texas, equipped Texas schools with Narcan to reverse opioid overdose,s and capped insulin copays in Texas at $25 per month.
Rep. Talarico earned degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, Harvard University, and Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
He suddenly creates an interesting new dynamic in the U.S. Senate race as a youthful-looking liberal Christian, who can easily quote scripture and is a thoughtful orator.
“My granddad was a Baptist preacher in South Texas. He taught me that we follow a barefoot rabbi who gave two commandments: love God and love neighbor,” Rep. Talarico states in his first campaign ad. “Every single person bears the image of the sacred; every single person is holy — not just my neighbors who look like me or pray like me or vote like me.”
Rep. Talarico will face former U.S. Congressman Colin Allred, D-Dallas, in the race for the Democratic nomination next March.
“I’ve never taken anything for granted in life or politics, and this campaign is no exception,” Allred said in a statement Tuesday. “For the next fourteen months, my focus will be on meeting with and listening to Texas families — all across our state — to build the diverse coalition we need to win.”
The Democratic nominee will face either incumbent John Cornyn or his Republican challenger, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in the 2026 November General Election.
Talarico’s first campaign ad will go online at 8:00 a.m. today.
