James Talarico Says He Is Not Trying to Turn Texas Blue: 'The Best Color for Texas Is Purple'
In a video posted by his campaign Wednesday, the Democratic Senate nominee argued that competitive elections force both parties to solve problems — his closing case for ending 30 years of one-party rule in Texas.
Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico is closing his campaign with an argument about competition, not conversion. Asked at a recent rally whether he would turn Texas blue, Talarico answered in a video his campaign posted on X on Wednesday, Oct. 28: "I'm not interested in turning Texas blue. I wanna win this seat so that I can fight for all 31 million Texans, whether they're Democrats, Independents or Republicans... I think the best color for Texas is purple. It would look great in purple. When you have a purple state, when you have competitive elections, it forces every politician in both parties at all levels to stay on their toes."
Talarico pointed to his own state House history as the proof of concept, as reported Thursday by Primetimer in a piece read in full this run. "When we saw Democrats flip state House districts... In 2018, I was one of the 12 that flipped. Suddenly in 2019, you saw the Republican leadership focusing on real issues. We were able to come together as Democrats and Republicans to pass historic co-financing reform, historic property tax relief; we weren't chasing culture wars, we weren't grandstanding our issues, we were actually solving problems," he said.
"When you have competitive election results, you get better public policies on the backend. And my hope in this race is that it can finally end 30 years of one-party rule and get some competitive elections back in Texas," Talarico said. The remarks came days after a University of Texas rally where, according to The Guardian, he told supporters "Texas is not for sale" — a shot at Elon Musk's support for Republican nominee Ken Paxton, whom Talarico faces on Nov. 3. Early voting ends Friday, Oct. 30.
