Texas Rep. James Talarico Runs Against Colin Allred for Senate

State Rep. James Talarico is making appearances across Texas after officially launching his bid for the Senate seat last Tuesday. During a campaign rally in Houston, Houston Public Media Bianca Seward got the opportunity to interview Talarico in regard to the new campaign announcement for the U.S. Senate. 

Democrat representative, and aspiring preacher, Talarico, has gained immense popularity on social media. 

He is running against Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn, who is up for re-election next year and is also being challenged by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.  On the Democrat side, former Congressman Colin Allred and former NASA astronaut Terry Virts are planning to run as well. The primary elections will take place in March 2026.

“I talked to Colin at the beginning of the summer and told him my interest in this race before he got into it and told him it was nothing against him,” said Talarico to Houston Public Media. “I have great respect and love for Colin Allred – I campaigned vigorously for him last time – but I feel like I’ve got some skills and some experiences to really speak to this moment, and I feel the need to do this for our state and our country.”

Talarico called his party leaderless at the moment, “I think we’re leaderless right now, and that may feel a little scary to some Democrats, but I actually think it’s an opportunity.” He then added, “Everyone’s saying the Democratic Party’s in the wilderness. That’s certainly true, but the wilderness is a place where new leaders, new ideas, new movements can come forth.”

Texas hasn’t had a Democrat in the Senate in more than 30 years. In recent years, Democrat Beto O’Rourke lost against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Democratic candidate MJ Hegar stayed 10 points behind Cornyn.

When asked about this, he shared that his campaign is not waiting and depending on the Democratic National Committee, as he is doing it “the Texas way”. In the short term, his plan is to gain Latino voters, by approaching Latino neighborhoods and hearing their concerns.