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Taco Policy is where people, politics, and power collide — Texas style. Each week, host Kat Vargas of Howdy Politics travels to taquerías across the state to sit down with elected officials, organizers, and everyday Texans making change in their communities. Together, they dig into recent news, the fights shaping Texas — from public schools and healthcare to voting rights and government corruption — and what you can do to make a difference.
Smart, sharp, and a little spicy, Taco Policy is your seat at the table for the future of Texas.
Kat, Host (00:00)
What is your taco policy? What is your order?
James Talarico (00:02)
feels almost like the virus is trying to get out of the lab.
Kat, Host (00:05)
Like you have a very calm, bless your heart, way about, you know, you need to make some call outs. What is giving you hope right now?
James Talarico (00:13)
people who have maybe given up on politics in some ways, who feel like they have a place in this campaign.
Kat, Host (00:23)
Welcome to Taco Policy, where people, politics, and power collide, Texas style. I'm Kat Vargas, the creator behind Pouty Politics, and every week I'll travel across the state to sit down over tacos with elected officials, organizers, and everyday Texans making change in their communities. Together we'll get into recent news, the fights shaping Texas, and what you can do to make a difference. Today we are down in the Valley in McAllen at the historic El Pocito They have been making homemade tortillas for over a-
hundred years and we're going to be joined by a very special guest, Representative James Tallarico, who is running for U.S. Senate. Let's go get him. Thank you so much, Representative, for joining me down here in McAllen. I know you've got some kind of roots down here, but thank you so much for joining us. And something that we're going to, before we kind of get into the nitty-gritty, something that we're always going be asking our guests is, what is your taco policy? What is your order? And how religious are you about that order?
James Talarico (01:07)
Thanks for having me.
Well, I'm a big breakfast taco person and sort of my favorite, which is bacon and egg, home flour. It's what fuels me back in Austin. It's what fueled me in San Antonio when I was a teacher and now it's fueling me on the campaign trail. Love that.
Kat, Host (01:33)
Definitely getting lots of opportunities because you have been you've been everywhere And I mean I think how most of the folks on how do you're real familiar with you? We're kind of opening up a new audience on taco policy Yeah, so I'd love to know more just kind of about your background and you know your kind of your story I think you have a really beautiful story or both raised by single moms Very similar stories with our you know our our dads and things so much stuff kind of you don't mind talking. Yeah
James Talarico (01:57)
Of of course, yeah. My mom is from Laredo, ⁓ not too far from here. ⁓ Our family is from South Texas and also from the Texas coast. ⁓ I was in Victoria, Texas two nights ago, I guess, and we had a lot of extended family there, ⁓ some of whom voted for Donald Trump, ⁓ but they came out for my rally, so we'll see if I get their votes. But she was a preacher's daughter.
My granddad was a Baptist preacher down here in South Texas and ⁓ she was always a little rebellious, ⁓ which I think I've inherited some of that rebellion. ⁓ And she left home at 19, wanted to strike out on her own and she moved up to the big city, Austin, Texas. That's where young people were, the university and she wanted to be there. And when she got up there, she met my birth father, who's a bartender, 21 years old, high school dropout.
and he had a drinking problem. And that drinking problem sometimes led to violence. he, one night after I was born, he became abusive. And that night, my mother decided that she was gonna leave. And so she packed me and all our stuff into her little Ford Escort. And she drove me to the hotel where she worked, asked the manager to let us stay in one of the rooms until we found this.
little apartment in East Austin. The apartment is actually in the district that I now represent, which is really cool. ⁓ And there wasn't, it wasn't a big apartment. And so I slept in a crib in her closet and she decorated the closet and was so proud of it. So proud that she had struck out on her own and she was like working overtime and ⁓ she didn't have money. didn't have a college degree, but she had a lot of love for me and that was all we needed. So, ⁓
Later we both met and fell in love with my adopted dad, Mark Tallarico. That's where I get the cool Italian last name. ⁓ And ⁓ the rest is history. They still live in the house where I grew up. And our whole extended family lives in the area now. My grandparents live there. Aunt's and uncles, cousins, everybody's there. yeah, she definitely showed me how to stand up to bullies and how to fight for what's right. And I thought I'd take that spirit with me. ⁓
into the Capitol and also on the campaign trail.
Kat, Host (04:23)
I that and I love your mom. ⁓ follows me. you. I remember a couple sessions ago you did end up changing your vote but there was a vote that was coming up and I didn't agree with how you originally were standing and I was real tough on you and then I see Talarico come up on my DMs and I saw it was your mom and I was like I don't want to open this this is gonna be so bad. But she was like it's alright Jimmy can take it ⁓ and I just.
James Talarico (04:24)
She's the best.
That's so funny.
She
criticizes me all the time, so she is.
Kat, Host (04:48)
I love that though and I love that, you know, and I see that a lot in just how you kind of maneuver where you do take kind of that criticsm and stuff comes. of course. And you're very open to hearing and having very much hard discussions. And you know, I got a glimpse into how that does come from your mom. So.
James Talarico (05:01)
Yeah.
Well, that's what politics is all about. Like, I don't agree with anyone 100 % of the time, ⁓ but we negotiate, we compromise, we debate it out, ⁓ even within our own party. And when we stop doing that, you no longer have a democracy. And we're kind of seeing that on the other side, where they just take orders from one guy at the top and there's no dissent. There's no discussion, there's no debate. And I just think that leads to bad outcomes. So I'm very proud that we're still in a party. Sometimes it's messy where we still have debate.
We still have discussion, we still have dissent.
Kat, Host (05:33)
Absolutely. And now you're running for US Senate. That's big jump from going from the Texas House and things. Why now? Why is now the time to make that leap?
James Talarico (05:43)
Well, I feel like there's such an urgent moment in this country and we desperately need someone who's gonna fight for all 30 million Texans. Right now, we have a lot of politicians like John Cornyn, like Kim Paxton, who are far more interested in serving their billionaire mega donors than serving the people of this state. And so I wanted to throw my hat in the ring. I know I'm the underdog, both in the primary and in the general, but I like being the underdog.
how I ran my first campaign for the state house. I was running in a district that no one thought was winnable. People thought flipping that Trump district was impossible. And we ran an aggressive, authentic, unorthodox campaign and brought people together and we flipped that district on election night. And so I know what it's like to be the underdog. And I think honestly, it frees you up to try new things and campaign your own way. You're not beholden anybody. You don't be answering anybody. And that's exactly the kind of campaign I like to run.
⁓ So I hope if I'm elected I can take some of the fights I've been waging at the state capitol against corruption, against those mega donors, ⁓ the fight for lowering costs on health care, on housing, on child care. I can take all that to the US Capitol if I'm elected to this position.
Kat, Host (07:01)
And that was in 2018 when you ran for state house for the first time. So it was a Trump midterm. We're at a Trump midterm again. He was deeply unpopular then. He's even more unpopular now. And we're really seeing that Republicans realize how unpopular he is. We just got through the redistricting scam that we had with our maps being redrawn. Of course, that's going to play out in court. But when you're taking away millions of people's health care, when you're, you know...
Bowing down to billionaires and giving them, you know, cuts and things and not working for the working class. It's not popular. Right. And we're seeing it even on our education system in Texas. ⁓ And so we saw this map, you know, you broke quorum, you you were fighting that. What do you think, that says about, you know, is this 2018 yet or is this even more a chance for us to really pull through and get some wins here in Texas?
James Talarico (07:48)
You know, I started this campaign ⁓ by saying that I don't see politics as left versus right anymore. I see it as top versus bottom. For the exact reasons you just said, all of us have so much more in common than we realize. And we have a lot more in common than the platforms and the cable news networks and the algorithms want us to think. I everywhere I go, I've been in blue areas, been in red areas, urban areas, rural areas, and everybody is concerned about the cost of living.
Everybody's concerned about their health care. Everybody's concerned about their public schools. And that's a lot of common ground, right? And so I just see how we're all pitted against each other from the people at the very top who have a vested interest in keeping us all divided, who have a vested interest in all of us kind of fighting horizontally instead of fighting vertically. And so I want this campaign to really bring people together across all these divisions, party, race, gender, religion.
so that we can take our back for ourselves, our communities, our families. And I think this campaign can be a catalyst for that kind of unity and hopefully that kind of transformation.
Kat, Host (08:57)
You talk a lot on the campaign trail about the billionaires being the only minority that is destroying our country. And in Texas, have Wilkes and Donner are the two big ones that we talk a lot. You fought them a lot on vouchers. they were known to even sit up in the gallery to watch to make sure people are voting the way and staying in line. They were willing to go out to their own party and really have this ideal for a Christian nationalist, not just Texas, but the US. A lot of their money also goes outside of our state. I don't think people realize that.
James Talarico (09:27)
and increasingly national. Yes. You know, that feels almost like the virus is trying to get out of the lab. They've done so much harm in our state. You and I have seated at the state capitol. I've been fighting back against them in the trenches in the state house. And now they are taking that extremism and that corruption and they're trying to take it national. And they're going to try to buy this U.S. seat. And I just I feel such an urgency to stop them. And I feel like I was their chief critic in the state house.
And I feel like now that they're trying to take this to the federal level, I'm the one who's best equipped to stop them.
Kat, Host (10:01)
Part of the vision though, is this Christian nationalist vision that they have. like you said, Texas was kind of the testing ground for a lot of that. We're seeing that play out with Project 2025 nationally. That's right. But you're kind of in this unique position because you're going through seminary. You're very open about your faith. And you're not who some people would think would be the one standing up to Christian nationalism. Why is that so important?
James Talarico (10:23)
It's very personal. ⁓ Not only are they trying to take over my state that I love so much, I'm eighth generation Texan, my family's been here since it was Mexico, but they're also trying to co-opt my faith, which is the most important thing in my life. It is central. It's why I'm in public service first as a classroom teacher, now as an elected official. And I feel that I have a moral obligation as a Christian to speak out against this perversion of my faith and this
subversion of our democracy. I hope and I think I'm seeing that more Christians are speaking out against this because they're twisting our religion. They're using our religion to consolidate power and wealth for themselves. And that's the exact opposite of what Jesus asked us to do as his followers. And so this is not just a political struggle. This is really a spiritual struggle in a lot of ways. And those things are very intertwined for me. I mentioned my granddad was a Baptist preacher.
here in South Texas. And he told me that Jesus gave us two commandments, love God and love neighbor. Pretty simple, not easy, right? I mean, anybody who's seen the politics over the last decade, no, it's not easy to love our neighbors, especially when our neighbors disagree with us, especially when our neighbors are so different from us. But that means that our faith has to be public in a way. ⁓ Jesus didn't say, love your family members or love your close friends. He said, love your neighbors. And that means that it's out in the world. And so
I really do see that there's a spiritual dimension to politics that I think we neglect at our own peril. And I want this campaign to speak to that spiritual dimension.
Kat, Host (12:02)
Yeah, I just think it's something, you know, because I was listening to, you know, pod save yesterday and they were talking about how as Democrats, you know, a lot of times we've really shifted away from a lot of the moral arguments, you know, as a party. And we really tipped to around and we're real scared to talk about it because no one wants to see them as if they're pushing their faith on someone. And I think you just you strike that balance really well of saying like, this is my faith and it demands that I also protect your faith or your right to not have faith. And I think that's why, you know, it does it resonates.
so well with people and it's not a pushy thing, it's just this is part of my values.
James Talarico (12:34)
That's right. And like, I very much see all these beautiful religious traditions as different languages. You know, here at this taqueria, the folks here speak Spanish. We're talking about the same thing, right? I ordered the same taco I order everywhere, but we were communicating in a different language. I very much see that. That's how I see these different traditions. We may use different words, different symbols, but we are all essentially talking about the same mystery at the heart of the universe.
the same love that's at the heart of the universe. And so to get, you know, caught up in the different words and the different symbols, you're missing the point. That makes it very easy for me to connect with people who are in different faith traditions, Judaism and Islam, Buddhism and Sikhism and even people who aren't religious, know, agnostics and atheists and ethical humanists, all these traditions, whether they're theistic or not, are all really talking about how we treat one another. There is not a
faith tradition that says when your neighbor gets sick, you should try to make as much money off of them as possible. No tradition says that. And so there's a lot of consensus, moral consensus about how to treat each other, how to treat the natural world. And that consensus is a threat to the people that are in power right now. And it's why I think they try to pretend like we're all so different when really we're all much more the same than we are different. ⁓ And so, yes, I try to have conversations across these traditions. I try to stick up.
for my atheist friends and my agnostic friends and my Jewish and Muslim and Buddhist friends. Because that's what I'm called to do as a Christian. If you ever open the New Testament, you'll see that a lot of the heroes in Jesus's stories are the outsiders, the outcasts, the people who are different. And oftentimes it's the people who come from a different religious tradition. The Good Samaritan is probably the most famous story that Jesus tells. And nowadays we're 2,000 years later, so we just think Good Samaritan is someone who helps someone on the side of the road.
But a Samaritan at that time was a different religious group. so the hero of the story was the heretic, right? That salvation comes from the heretic. To me, that's such an important reminder that our neighbor love has to transcend these religious boundaries. And it's what I try to do as a seminarian and as an elected official.
Kat, Host (14:48)
And I think too, as I've watched you in office over the last seven years now, you have a style, you're known to reach across the aisle. I don't wanna say you're not confrontational, but you have a very calm, bless your heart way about, you need to make some call outs and things. How do you kind of wrestle with your demeanor and your faith and how you connect yourself with how politics has turned out?
James Talarico (15:12)
I try as much as I can to call people in, right? It's almost like, you know, if you go out drinking with friends on the weekend, maybe a friend's had too much to drink and he like grabs his keys to go drive home. And like, if you're a good friend, you gotta take those keys away. And that may seem aggressive, but really it's done out of love. You know, if I consider Republicans on the other side of the aisle, my friends, I owe it to them to stop them when they're trying to hurt other people and when they're trying to corrupt our art.
democracy. And so I used my campaign launch video, the story of Jesus overturning the tables in the temple. Because, we oftentimes think of Jesus as like this really nice, kind, gentle person, which he was. But when it came time to stand up to the powerful people who were hurting our neighbors, he was there with an act of civil disobedience, flipping over these tables in the seat of power. And so to me, that's a model for how
Love is not passive, it's not neutral. Love is sometimes aggressive. Love is the strongest force in universe. My mom showed me that. ⁓ She didn't just take it from a bully. She stood up to him and walked out. And so love is very courageous. There is a temptation to think that love is just kind of get along, don't ruffle feathers, be polite. In my experience, in my life, in my faith, that's not what love is. And if I want to run a campaign based on love, it's going to sometimes be aggressive and confrontational.
because that's what love demands.
Kat, Host (16:44)
I love that. And it really is a lot of fun to watch. Like I'm one of the nerds that like is watching like the lunch feed all the time. And so it's always nice. Cause sometimes it is. It's a little monotonous and then like, I'll hear your voice and like, all right, like something's So it's great. And I think, you know, whether it's Cornyn or Paxton, I look forward to, you know, that debate. And I don't think people outside of Texas realize how much our state has changed politically in the last 10 years and really in the turbocharged in the last five. It used to be.
more reasonable, you know, Republicans and most people were moderates. But we've seen even from the state house behind closed doors, whether it was permitless carry, whether it was vouchers or any other bill, the abortion bill they thought was never going to actually go into law because they said, no, it's okay. have Roe. Right. But they said, if I don't vote for this, someone worse will replace me. And we're seeing that now with Cornyn where in 2020 when he was running, he tried to distance himself as a trap.
And he was like, you I have my views, the president has his. And then we saw, you know, to his credit, he voted for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022 after you've all day. Now he's kind of even walked back from that. Seeing that shift that we've had, do you think Texas can still be ready for a Democrat to win a statewide office?
James Talarico (17:58)
I think people are waking up to the fact that one party rule, regardless of what party it is, that one party rule always leads to extremism and to corruption. Because power corrupts. And when there's no check on that power, when there's no competition, then people start to feel very comfortable in the powerful positions they have. I think that neither Kim Paxson nor John Cornyn deserve the honor of representing this great state in our nation's capital.
Obviously, Kim Paxton's crimes are well known. As you mentioned, I was part of the bipartisan majority that impeached our corrupt attorney general. But I do think in some ways, John Cornyn is even more corrupt than Kim Paxton. I know that sounds hard to believe, but John Cornyn was the deciding vote on that big ugly bill. A bill that's literally going to kick millions of Texans off their health care. It's going to take food out of the mouths of hungry Texas children, all to give another tax break to his billionaire donors.
I feel like we sometimes think corruption is just something that's illegal. But corruption is really just the betrayal of the public's trust. It is the abuse of your public office. And by casting the deciding vote on that big ugly bill, John Cornyn committed an act of corruption of the highest order. And I think he's forfeited his right to represent all of us in Washington, D.C.
Kat, Host (19:19)
When you're elected, I want to say when, I think I'm ready. I am ready. I think Texas is ready. Washington is even more divided than I think we are as a country right now. You know, what are your plans to start combating some of that? You you brought up health care. You know, we're down here in the valley where they're going to be hit. Some of the hardest hit communities by the big, you know, bad bill are going to be, you know, down here. There's a lot of rural areas that are losing their hospitals.
We know schools, especially down here, are getting hit so hard with funding. Now some of that federal funding is also being cut. What are your plans to make life better for just the everyday Texan?
James Talarico (19:56)
Well, and that's the whole reason I'm in politics. As you know, this business can be pretty terrible. But I that calling to love my neighbor. I think is is what's required in public service. I mean, what I'm trying to do is through public policy, make life easier for my neighbors and all the issues you hit on health care, education, the cost of living. All of that is how we can make life better and less stressful for all of our neighbors.
The two things I think I want to talk a lot about on this campaign are corruption and costs. And I see those two very much connected. Sometimes Democrats will just call out corruption. And we don't always explain how that corruption hurts people and how it makes life harder for people and for communities. And so I've been drawing that connection while I've been in the statehouse. I want to draw that connection on this campaign that this broken corrupt political system is why
You can't afford groceries. You can't afford childcare. You can't afford prescription drugs. Can't afford housing. All of that is because the system is rigged for the most powerful and the most wealthy people in the country. And again, this is kind of beyond party. This is really a, again, a top versus bottom issue. This is a structural problem in our political system. And so if we're going to make progress on healthcare, on education, on childcare, on housing, we have to clean up government first. Because unless you fix the political system,
Unless you fix the way elected officials interact and represent their constituents, you're not going to see progress on all the issues we care about. And I know it's kind of maybe sometimes inside baseball or feels like process, but I think people are sophisticated enough to understand that the system itself has to be fixed before we can start to make progress on those issues we care about. And I have a record when I was in the state house, I passed major bills.
to bring down costs on healthcare, on housing, on childcare. And that's what I wanted to do in DC. I did it in a difficult environment. I mean, I did it in the state legislature with Republican majorities. And so if I can do it there, I think I can do it anywhere. And I want to take that fight against corruption and that fight to lower costs to our nation's capital if I'm elected USN.
Kat, Host (22:14)
I'm trying like childcare specifically because I've got one left in preschool. you know, when our middle child started kindergarten, it was like we got a huge raise. Because before when we had two, it was more than our mortgage to have our kids. I work, my husband works, having them home was not, it's not an option. And it's not an option for most families. You we see so much of the right and especially with this push of these trad wives telling us all stay home. And I'm like.
One, a lot of people don't have that option. I did stay home for a little while and I was terrible at it. I love to cook and do things like that. I don't like keeping up with the house. also like I I'm just I'm somebody who has to be out, you know, doing things. I am very active in my community. Obviously started howdy and things and it wasn't for me. It was not good for my mental health and that even even if you take COVID out of it. know, but with all that, know, having put the kids when I go back into work.
putting them in childcare, it's more than our mortgage. I get DMs about that all the time online that are like, I can't get ahead or I can't donate to a campaign because I've got to pay this or whatever. What are your plans specifically for childcare and how do we bring that cost down?
James Talarico (23:23)
You're absolutely right about this. Child care is now more expensive than college in the state of Texas. And I don't think people realize that unless you have young kids, unless you have someone in your family who has young kids, it's kind of a hidden crisis that I think a lot of people have awoken up to. I care about this issue for a few reasons. One, I have a baby niece who's two and a half and ⁓ my younger sister, her mom and my brother-in-law have been talking to me about the cost of child care even before she was born because, you know,
They're middle class people and they were worried, were they gonna be able to afford to have a kid? There's all this talk about young people not having kids at the same rate they used to. I don't think we consider that cost as a huge part of that. If you can't afford it, then of course you can have a kid. You really want to start a family. But the other reason I really care about this is because as an educator, I really don't believe in silver bullets when it comes to education policy. But the closest thing we have to a silver bullet,
is high quality, affordable, accessible early child education. Because we all, think there's some people who still think of it as babysitting. This is the most critical part in a child's brain development from zero to three years old. Those first thousand days in a child's life are the most important when it comes to their language development, their social skills, all of that. I mean, there are like a thousand neural connections being formed every second in a child's brain during that period.
And so if we're not there as a community, if we're not empowering families to be their child's best first teacher, then those kids are set up to fail by the time they get to kindergarten, especially kids who grew up in poverty. And so not only is this a workforce issue, an economic issue, a family issue, it's also an education issue. And so if we can figure this out, if we can lower costs and raise quality, it could be a game changer. And we're going to save so much money on the back end, right? If you don't have to pay for remediation.
criminal justice costs, government assistance. If you can ensure on the front end, when it's cheaper, honestly, that kids have the best head start in life and that they're set up for success, that they're set up to be contributing, prosperous members of our community, we're gonna make money on this deal. And so I've been pushing this since I got into the legislature and I've passed two huge bills here in Texas. One is a bill to raise quality. We have a lot of childcare providers who get public money for the work they do, which is great.
but they're not part of our state's quality improvement program. So I passed a bill that creates a pathway for all of those publicly subsidized providers to get into, it's called Texas Rising Star. And it puts them on a path to improve student staff ratios, improve curriculum, improve nutrition. And so with that one bill, which early childhood advocates had been working on it for years, I was able to push it through, which was not easy. I was on the floor having to whip boats all the way up until the vote happened. But when we passed that bill,
It is probably the single biggest action that we could take to improve quality. In the next session, I passed a bill that will allow childcare providers all over the state to get property tax relief, because so many of them are about to close. Childcare workers, they earn poverty level wages. Again, these are the most important professionals in our communities doing the most important work, and they can barely afford to support their own families. They can barely afford to make ends meet.
So now local governments, cities and counties are able to provide that property tax relief to keep those centers open. And those child care providers are passing those savings along to their workers and to their families to bring down costs. So those are two examples of things I've already done that we can build on at the federal level. There's so much we can do at the federal level to guarantee quality child care for every single family in this country. And I cannot wait to get into that fight at our nation's capital.
Kat, Host (27:17)
And you know, we talked a little bit about, you know, the corruption of Kim Paxton and things. And in a lot of ways, you would just be moving to a different, the same, the same, a different version of Kim Paxton. You know, had, Pullman was caught on video taking $50,000 out of a brown paper bag that someone handed him. And they're like, no, it's okay, nothing to see here. We've seen such an attack in the last several weeks on the first amendment. Here in Texas, we've seen teachers be doxxed, be placed on leave. And...
you know, after the Charlie Kirk shooting and there is a narrative that's being pushed on the right is that it's teachers are celebrating. And a lot of these, you actually look at what was said, it was just them presenting, in some cases, just quoting him. And that was it. And now they've been doxxed. And we've been told, no, you have to grieve this person, which I'll be honest, like for me, you know, it's hard, you know, it's what happened is wrong, full stop. Political violence is never the answer.
I, there's nothing that I agree with him on. It is also hard to sit, to not bring the whole, whole person that he was. You know, I'm from the Plano Allen area. The El Paso shooter was from my community. We had the Allen shooting, which was also race motivated. He had, you know, great replacement theory things in his, you know, journal they found at home. And those were things that Charlie Kirk, you know, spoke on. And so people do have a lot of, you know, complex feelings about this.
And I think with Jimmy Kimmel, we saw it, you know, the biggest where it was again, not celebrating. He actually made a completely separate comment. They just didn't like that. He wasn't warning in the way they wanted him to. And he was temporarily pulled off air. Luckily as people, you know, our voices were allowed and this is one that we won. Both, you know, going into that, knowing that you're going into an even more corrupt, you know, space where there's attacks on first gen, where teachers, especially in your former educator.
or under attack, you are you ready for kind of just to, you know, go into that beast?
James Talarico (29:18)
Well, I feel like I've been forged in the fire of the Texas legislature. There's probably no better place to learn how to fight than the trenches of the Texas house. ⁓ And so I feel like I've had the best training to be able to fight for the people of this state in a corrupt system in Washington, D.C. And I just met with teachers a couple hours ago here in McAllen who talk about the exact same thing. They feel they can no longer speak their mind. They feel like they can't express themselves even on their own time.
without the government coming in to try to cancel them. Again, the Republican Party ran in the last election against cancel culture. They ran on the freedom of speech. And I happen to agree with them on both of those things, but then for them to turn around and start using the government to censor people, to take a late night comedian off the air, ⁓ it has a chilling effect. Even if you're not censored, you now think twice before speaking your mind.
And the beauty of the freedom of speech and the First Amendment is that it allows for dissent. It allows for discussion and debate. And that makes us all better, especially in public education. We've got so much work to do to improve our public schools, to serve all students. And if you don't have educators able to speak their mind and raise red flags, then you're doing a disservice to kids. And therefore you're doing a disservice to all of us. So I just, I'm against cancel culture, whether it comes from the left or the right.
But I will say that I think this is the scariest kind of cancel culture because it's coming from the top, right? It is the most powerful people and the most wealthy people, because we should remember Jimmy Kimmel was canceled by corporate media executives who were trying to curry favor with corrupt politicians. So was this conspiracy between the wealthiest and the most powerful to censor and silence someone who they disagreed with. And this is not, it's really not partisan because if they come for any of us, they come for all of us.
A threat to any of our First Amendment rights is a threat to all of our First Amendment rights. So we've all got to cherish those freedoms in our First Amendment and our whole Bill of Rights if we hope to continue this American experiment going forward.
Kat, Host (31:27)
hope Texans realize how much your win would mean for being able to one, hold that corruption accountable. Yes. To curb a lot of what Trump's doing because very likely if you were to win this seat, you're going to actually pull in some congressional wins for us as well in Texas. We saw that in 2018 with Beto's campaign that he pulled up down ballot candidates as well. You were one of them. So again, we would like to see that kind of same wave and start to see some of those checks. We can see, you know,
for home and we could actually see an investigation, you know, in the house. Right now where the Senate is the holdup on so many things, flipping a seat in Texas would really change, you know, the game there and really allow us to start fighting back in a very different way.
James Talarico (32:10)
Well, I know I want to say it's a two way relationship because the top of the ticket certainly helps other candidates who running for local offices. But those candidates running at the local level also help to talk to the ticket because, you know, I know what it was like to run in a difficult district that no one thought was winnable. I did it by knocking on every single door, personally asking for people's vote, registering folks to vote, mobilizing them, turning them out. I'm not going to do that at the top of the ticket. I can't knock on every door in Texas as much as I would love to. So I'm going to need.
a team, I'm going to need a full ticket that's out there reaching every single person at their doorstep, over the phone, on their text messages. That's going to be how we win this thing. In a democracy, politics is a team score. And sometimes, you know, there are candidates, especially when you're at the top of the ticket, who forget that. And we have to remember that we're doing this as a group, as a team, because that support and that benefit runs both ways, from the top to the bottom of the ticket and from the bottom to the top of the ticket.
⁓ And yes, if we break through, if we win a U.S. Senate seat here in Texas, if we win more statehouse seats here in Texas, ⁓ if we win more congressional seats here in Texas, it will not only change the politics of this state, which desperately needs change. ⁓ We have a broken, corrupt political system here in Texas. And all 30 million Texans, whether you're a Democrat or Republican, we need a better politics in Texas. But it will also change the politics of this country. mean, Texas...
has such an influence on our nation's politics. And if we're able to make progress here, I can't tell you what an impact that will make on the entire country. So I do think that this race in this state is maybe the most high stakes race in the whole country in 2026. And I'm putting myself forward as ⁓ someone who can lead this ticket and lead this team going into this critical election. But even if I'm not the nominee, I'm gonna be there right alongside everybody else.
trying to make progress in this election because it is so, critical to the future of the country.
Kat, Host (34:11)
I love that you talked about being a team and that you talked about, you know, our down-bound candidates and the importance of them having the resources that they need because the money does not flow down to them often. That's right. And you know that it is, it's a team that you know, you're working with them because you need them, the whole thing. And I don't want to put you on the spot. That's all right. You know, that's one of the things I criticize your primary opponent for a lot, you know, the last cycle, which was less than a year ago when we lost.
Well, we did not see that. We did not see, you know, working with our down ballot candidates to really make sure they have the resources that they need. And we didn't see Kim a lot in a lot of these areas, you know, being all over the state. What are we going to see different from you this Kim? think everyone's biggest thing is what's going to be different from you versus the way Colin, you know, campaigns.
James Talarico (34:55)
I've tried to show just in the first two weeks of this campaign the kind of pace you can expect from me. I'm a very aggressive campaigner. was when I flipped the Trump district and I still am today. And we've done eight or nine rallies in the first two weeks. And that pace is going to continue for the rest of the campaign and into the general if I'm the nominee. I'm also going be going everywhere. I'm not just going to be in blue communities. I'm also going to be in purple and red communities too, because I think we have an obligation to earn the trust.
and the respect and the support from all communities across Texas. ⁓ And it's going to be done in partnership. I'll give you one very specific example. We have county parties across the state that struggle to get the money and the data that they need to do the work on the ground for our down ballot candidates. And typically when you're kind of a top of the ticket campaign, you want to keep that data to yourself. We've already set up to where anyone who's coming to our event, as long as they check off that they want to share their data, that data will then be shared with the local county party.
So everything we're collecting can then be transferred over to the boots on the ground. Again, that is just one example of how I see this as a team effort because what the county parties do, what local candidates do is gonna benefit our campaign and vice versa. And so for us to hoard resources or hoard data doesn't do any of us any good and it ends up hurting our campaign too. So we're much stronger when we're together. We can go much farther if we do it together. And I hope just the first two weeks of the campaign are showing people what kind of nominee I would be.
and people should feel free to kick the tires, right? I know I'm kind of the new kid on the block. I'm a little unknown and people should watch and see how do I handle being on the campaign trail? How do I work with others? This is kind of a job interview. I am asking to be the nominee of our party and it's up to me to answer every question and demonstrate how I could do this job well.
Kat, Host (36:43)
I love that. I love that. It's one of those like in the weeds conversations that like I'm like, I'm going to remember this to go over with your teamwork. Cause I love that about the data share because it is so important. Especially we've got to clean up our data that we have here in Texas to make sure that we're reaching the right doors and all the things.
James Talarico (36:56)
And I'll add, Kat, ⁓ what's so exciting about these rallies that we've been hosting is the number of young people that are showing up. They often tell me they didn't hear about me from the typical Democratic bubbles like MSNBC or New York Times. They hear about me on TikTok, Instagram, Joe Rogan show. And so they're not necessarily Democrats. Some of them are even right leaning, but they want to change the politics of this state and they want to join us. And
I'm having a ton of people show up who say it's their first event ever. First time they've ever come to a rally. First time they've ever donated to a candidate. And so again, those people are folks that we're bringing into the party. And it's why I want to make sure we're sharing that with everybody so that, again, we can be stronger as a team.
Kat, Host (37:39)
I literally brought up social media because you have such a strong presence. You're a millennial like I am. Your understanding of how the girl's work and that there's good and bad of it, but that you can reach a lot of people. It's one of the most cost efficient ways for us to reach voters, especially in a state like Texas. Absolutely. What are some of your plans as far as reaching some of these demographics, whether it's through social media or otherwise, to make sure that you are getting into people's aqualerms?
James Talarico (38:02)
Well,
social media is one tool in the toolbox. It's something I think we excel at as a team. And I think it's because I'm a native speaker, right? I had a MySpace when I was in high school and I grew up with these platforms. I know. Sad we don't have MySpace anymore. topping. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The music. Maybe we'll do a live There you go. Right, right. And that's where people are. We kind of, I'm really...
Kat, Host (38:23)
Maybe one day we'll go into your top eight in the.
James Talarico (38:31)
I think we have to start dropping the social modifier because it is increasingly the media. mean, this is where traditional outlets are getting their information is on on social media. And so if we're not there where people are, we're not on TikTok and Instagram, we're not speaking directly, then they're not going to hear about my values and my vision for this state and for them and their communities. And so I always want to be speaking directly to people. I always want to be where they're at. And that's socials, but it's also new media. That's why I went on Joe Rogan show.
It's why I go on these podcasts that maybe aren't always, you know, super friendly to Democrats because I want to try to build a bigger tent. We cannot be in a position where we are constantly between 49 % and 50%. We can't be in this this tug of war. I think we as a party have to build a much bigger coalition. I'm interested in building a 60%, 70 % super majority in this country. We used to have that. In the New Deal era, we have that. In the Great Society era, the last time we had a Texas Democrat.
leading our country. had a super majority of working people who didn't agree on everything. We're not all gonna agree on everything, but we agree on the important stuff. Schools, education, jobs, safety. I mean, these are the things that all of us can get behind, and that's the kind of coalition I wanna build because that's the kind of coalition that can transform this country.
Kat, Host (39:50)
And as we're kind of wrapping up, do want to ask, because it's very easy right now to get stuck doom scrolling. I I'm someone that I spend so much time on my phone, I feel like I can't avoid it. it feels heavy right now. And especially in the last few weeks, it's felt like one of the darkest times that I remember in our country and especially in our state. What is giving you hope right now?
James Talarico (40:12)
Honestly, it's the people showing up to these events, ⁓ the people who have maybe given up on politics in some ways, who feel like they have a place in this campaign. And that just fires me up every time I meet those folks and going across this beautiful state. We're so lucky to live here. We're so lucky to live in a state that has literally everything you could want, right? We've got, I was in the Piney Woods, then I was on the coast, now I'm here in the Valley. Then we go over to West Texas and the Panhandle and the Hill Country.
big cities, small towns. mean, it is the perfect state that I get to travel around and meet the wonderful people who live here. And I learned so much and I get to go to cool new places like this taqueria that I never been to before. And all. Yeah, it's just such a privilege to be able to do this. And and I know things are dark. I know things are scary. I'm also tempted by hopelessness. I want to be very honest about that. But there's a we talked about faith at the beginning of this conversation.
Kat, Host (40:55)
We're in a carport. We are,
James Talarico (41:11)
In my faith, Jesus tells his followers, blessed are you who weep, which is kind of a strange thing to say, right? How can someone who's weeping be blessed? In our culture, we think of those two things as opposites. I think what he's saying is that sometimes we can see the world most clearly through our tears. There's something about our grief and our disillusionment that teaches us something about ourselves, about others, about the world. And so if your heart is breaking right now, and I know the people watching,
There's a lot of broken hearts. want them to realize that that means they still have a heart. And that means they're still human. And they should listen to that. They should trust that because that is what's going to get us out of all this. And so I would say blessed are those who weep. And we should use this grief as fertile soil to nurture and grow something better and something brighter. And I hope this campaign is a small part of that.
Kat, Host (42:07)
I love that. One of our pastors, his favorite verse is actually that Jesus wept. And he says, you know, for us to remember that that's not like a moment of weakness for us, you know, that Jesus also wept for, you know, the things in the world and the cruelty in the world. ⁓ But we do want people to stay active and not to stay in that. And so people want to get involved with your campaign. What's the best way they can do that?
James Talarico (42:26)
Well, they can go to our website, jamestellerico.com. They can find us on TikTok, on Instagram, Twitter, threads, Facebook. I'm leaving out the blue sky. Substack. We just started a Substack. So they can find us on all those sites. You can message us on there if you want to get involved. We've had a ton of people signing up to donate, which is great. We raised more than $1 million in the first 12 hours of this campaign. 97 % of those donations were under $100. And they came from 200 counties across Texas.
Kat, Host (42:35)
There are so many.
James Talarico (42:56)
And so we are building the biggest grassroots army the state has ever seen. Donations are part of that, but so is volunteering. And maybe the thing that makes me even happier is we have had more than 4,000 people go to our website and sign up to volunteer, knock doors, make phone calls, send text messages, send postcards. So the people who are watching, if they want to join us, go to the website, donate, sign up to volunteer. We'll come to an event, ⁓ we'll put you to work. And I think this campaign can be something really special.
Kat, Host (43:23)
Well, Representative Talarico, thank you so much for joining us on our very first episode of Taco Policy. I'm really looking forward to this campaign. Thank you again.
James Talarico (43:30)
And thank you for all you do.
Kat, Host (43:32)
Thanks so much for tuning in to the very first episode of Taco Policy. If you enjoyed listening, be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcast. We're also on YouTube so you can watch the entire episode. Make sure you subscribe there too so you don't miss what's next. We'll be back next week. In the meantime, you can follow me on social media at @howdipolitics and check out our brand new show account at @tacopolicy on Instagram. Remember, this is your seat at the table for the future of Texas. This is Taco Policy.