James Talarico on Earning Black Voters’ Trust

Texas politics is full of big promises, but Texans are living with very real consequences: underfunded schools, crushing health care bills, rising housing costs, and a political system that feels like it works best for the wealthy and well-connected. We sit down with Representative Talarico, who says he may be one of the least-known candidates in the race, but he’s determined to earn trust the only way that lasts: by showing up, listening, and pointing to what he’s already done. He speaks directly to Black women and Black voters across the state, arguing that no Democrat can win Texas statewide without respecting those voters year-round, not just right before Election Day. 

We dig into his background as a former middle school teacher and what chronic underfunding looks like on the ground, from overcrowded classrooms to shortages that push districts toward fast-track certifications. He explains why he fights school voucher plans, what fully funding public education should mean, and why teacher pay has to match the responsibility of the job. From there, we get into Gen Z frustration with “politics as blood sport” and his bet that voters are ready for system-level political reform: campaign finance reform that bans super PACs, anti-gerrymandering rules for fair elections, term limits, and a ban on members of Congress trading individual stocks. 

Health care is personal. As a type 1 diabetic, Talarico connects insulin prices and premium hikes to a broader push for universal health care through a Medicare buy-in, and we talk about how coverage gaps drive costs back onto families. We also cover the cost-of-living issues Texans feel most: rent, child care, groceries, and prescription drugs. And on immigration, he lays out a border security approach that he says must include humanity and strong oversight, including investigations into ICE abuses and rules that end masked operations that terrorize communities of color. 

If you care about the Texas Senate race, the Democratic primary, public education, Medicare, campaign finance reform, and what it takes to earn trust with receipts, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review with the single issue you want to see tackled first.

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Transcript

Introducing Himself To Black Voters

Speaker 1 0:00

Representative Talarico, thank you so much for making time. It's so good to see you.

Speaker 0:03

It's so good to see you. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 0:05

I appreciate you guys making time for this. A lot of the people who watch me are black women. Yeah. Always like to mention that. When you think about them specifically, what do you want them to know about you right now?

Speaker 0:14

Well, I'd like to introduce myself. You know, I'm probably the most unknown candidate in either party in the Senate race. And so that's incumbent upon me to introduce myself to black women across the state, all black voters across the state, and try to earn their trust, uh, earn their respect, and maybe earn their support. Um, either way, regardless of who wins this primary, there's no way to win Texas without black voters. And so listening to their concerns and ensuring that they have a place in this campaign and see themselves in this campaign is a top priority for me.

Speaker 1 0:47

I want to mention this, and I know you've heard it probably too many times to count at this point. Uh, Texas Democrats haven't won statewide in decades. We know this, but black women have stayed loyal through all of it, specifically to the party. Given that history, what is genuinely different about your strategy uh to finally change the outcome?

Speaker 1:03

Yeah, we have to win. Um, in a democracy, if you don't win, you can't help people. And as a four-term member of the Texas legislature, I've seen the consequences of losing elections up close. I've seen my constituents get hurt. I've seen all kinds of communities get hurt, but particularly black folks in my district who can't access basic reproductive care, who have their neighborhood schools closing, uh, who you know are working more hours than ever and can't seem to get ahead, can't afford to live in the homes that they've lived in for 10, 20, 30 years. And so I know that we have to win. And that is what my campaign is focused on. Here's what I bring to the table when we're having this conversation. I got elected to the state house by flipping a Trump district in a county that hadn't voted for a Democrat for president since Jimmy Carter. And I was able to win that seat by energizing Democrats, bringing in new voters, particularly young voters, and then also peeling some people off from the other side. I did all three of those things and I won the district with 51% of the vote. I'm trying to take that strategy now statewide. I've never done this before, obviously, but just in the first four months of this campaign, we've seen folks showing up at our events in every community across the state. We've seen a record number of folks donating and signing up to volunteer. So I think we're building something special. And I think given the backlash to the extremism and the corruption in Washington, I think we have a shot at winning in November. And it's a moral imperative to win this race.

Speaker 1 2:34

I

Fixing School Funding And Teacher Pay

Speaker 1 2:35

want to go back to something you said. You mentioned uh young voters. Yes. I have some Gen Z folks on my team. I'm a millennial myself as you're here. So I got some Gen Z folks, and they got a question for you, okay? You're a former middle school teacher, so you've seen this up close. Texas schools are dealing with chronic underfunding and a growing teacher shortage, and districts are turning to fast-track certifications to fill classrooms. How would you fix the funding issue and support teachers without lowering the bar for students?

Speaker 3:00

So, as you know, before I was a politician, I was a public school teacher myself. I taught sixth grade language arts on the west side of San Antonio, which was a beautiful historic neighborhood. It was also one of the poorest zip codes in the entire state of Texas. And I entered the classroom in the fall of 2011, right after the state legislature cut $5 billion from our neighborhood schools. And so I saw firsthand how those cuts hurt students like mine, how class sizes grew and programs got cut and students fell through the cracks. I saw how decisions made in the halls of power hurt flesh and blood human beings. And I remember I was teaching one classroom that had 45 kids in it. And that's 45 middle schoolers. So you can imagine the chaos in that classroom. There weren't enough desks for all those kids. So I had students sitting on the air conditioning unit in the wealthiest country in human history in the 21st century children sitting on the air conditioning unit. And that got me mad. And it's why I ended up running for the state house so that I could stop decisions like that from ever being made again. And in my four terms as a state rep, I have fought tooth and nail for our schools, for our teachers, for our kids, for our parents. I led the fight against the governor's private school voucher program. Now the Trump administration and D.C. Republicans are pushing a federal voucher scam. So I want to take my experience fighting for our schools and our kids to Washington, D.C., where I think it's now needed more than it's ever been needed before.

Speaker 1 4:33

What does that fight look like once you are, you know, get to that point? What does the fight look like for you?

Speaker 4:37

I think it's fully funding the Department of Education. We've seen massive cuts to the department. They're trying to eliminate it entirely. It is ensuring that every single child in this country has enough to eat when they show up at school. You know here in Texas that our schools are sometimes the only place that kids have a meal in a day. And I know as a teacher that kids can't learn reading, writing, and arithmetic if they're hungry. They can't learn reading, writing, and arithmetic when they are unwell, whether that's physically or emotionally or spiritually. And so ensuring that all of our kids are healthy and ready to learn has to be a top priority. The last I would say is you mentioned ensuring that we've got qualified teachers in every classroom. This is also something I'm passionate about. It's something the federal government can do to incentivize the best and the brightest to go into the teaching profession, to get certified, and to be on a track to earn six-figure salaries because right now we are we are nickel and diming the most important professionals in our community. We have teachers driving Ubers at night to make extra money. We got teachers selling their own blood plasma to make ends meet. And that's unacceptable in the wealthiest country in the world. So I want to make supporting our teachers and our students a top priority as U.S. Senator.

Reaching Gen Z Without The Spin

Speaker 1 5:55

I want to stay in line with young voters, specifically with Gen Z. They're tired of all of this. Yeah. The back and forth with politics, many of them disillusioned with the process process. A Harvard Youth poll shows young people's approval of congressional Democrats has dropped sharply. And a lot of them say the messaging doesn't land and the party doesn't really stand for much. When you hear that kind of frustration, how do you plan to engage a generation that feels again disillusioned with the entire political process?

Speaker 6:21

Well, one, I agree with them. I know we're millennials, so maybe we're not considered young people anymore, but we're still young people. We're young people. And that's right. And like I feel a deep frustration with politics uh in our country. The politics as blood sport, politics as trolling and owning, politics as total war. Uh it tears families apart, it ends friendships, it leaves us all feeling terrible all the time, and nothing gets done. Right? You elect uh one party to power and they don't seem to accomplish anything. You give your vote to the other party and they also screw you over.

Cleaning Up Politics With Real Reforms

Speaker 7:01

And so what I'm trying to do is focus us not on any one politician or any one party, but on the system itself. I don't want to treat symptoms, I want to cure the disease. And so I'm putting forth a comprehensive political reform platform. That's getting big money out of our politics, banning super PACs so billionaires can't make unlimited secret donations to our political campaigns, uh, banning members of Congress from trading individual stocks and enriching themselves while they're in office, uh, putting in place term limits so folks aren't making a career out of public service, and banning gerrymandering nationwide so we can have free and fair elections in every community. I think if we clean up the system, I think we can restore faith in our government and have a government of by and for the people instead of a government of by and for the billionaires, which is exactly what we have today.

Speaker 1 7:51

I tell you this sometimes, and I don't want to harp on a word, but when some folks hear the word reform, they're like, okay, reform, folks have been trying to reform this whole thing for a while.

Speaker 7:59

Yeah.

Speaker 1 7:59

What would you say to individuals when they hear that word and they're looking like, okay, well, that hasn't worked all these years. What do we do now?

Speaker 8:06

Well, I think we want to build on a track record of progress. You know, progress sometimes comes way too slow, and it can be uh painfully, frustratingly slow. But we have seen when working people come together across race, across gender, across religion, across culture, and we build power together that we can change this country. We saw it in the New Deal, we saw it with the Great Society, we saw it when we passed the Affordable Care Act. Again, those those those reforms didn't do enough, but they got us to where we are today, and it's our job to build on top of them. And it's the work that I've done in the state legislature in a very difficult environment to work as a Democrat. I've not just fought Republican extremism, I've been able to stop it. I've single-handedly killed harmful bills that would have hurt my constituents and people all over the state. And then I've also been able to work across the aisle to get stuff done. I passed the first ever cap on insulin copays in state history. I'm a type one diabetic who struggles to afford my own insulin. When I was first diagnosed, I went to Walgreens to get my first 30-day supply, and it cost me $684. And I was able to cap that at $25 using the power of our state government. I was able to pass the biggest early childhood bill in recent memory. And most recently, I passed a housing bill that's going to bring down costs for young people across the state. Again, we have to do so much more, but progress is possible when we come together and we win elections.

Speaker 1 9:33

You just mentioned or alluded to health care costs, and I really want to dig a little bit more into that.

Lowering Health Care Costs With Medicare

Speaker 1 9:37

67% of Texans are struggling economically and are worried about health care costs is one of the top issues, what a recent poll just uh showed here. So if you're elected to the Senate, what would you do to bring down health care costs for families who already feel stretched thin?

Speaker 9:50

Well, this is personal for me. As I mentioned, I'm a type one diabetic who has struggled to afford my own insulin. And so I know how personal this issue is. What I want to do is I want to allow every single American to be able to join Medicare. I want to finally ensure that we've got universal coverage in this country. This recent decision by DC Republicans to raise premiums on millions of Texans is going to lead to folks dropping off their insurance. And I'll just say that's going to cost everybody more money because those folks who don't have insurance, who can't afford their checkups, can't afford their screenings, they're going to get sicker and then they're going to show up at the emergency room. And you know who pays for that? All of us through our property taxes. So it it benefits everybody if we provide more coverage to more Texans. And I think providing that option to join Medicare could provide finally that uh universal coverage we've all been working for for so long.

Speaker 1 10:44

Yeah, and I just want to say, as a new entrepreneur, I'm part of that 67%. Okay, so I understand these health care costs.

Speaker 10:49

And Texas Republicans' failure to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act means a lot of Texans rely on these Affordable Care Act subsidies. So this is going to hurt Texas in particular. The estimate is two million Texans may lose their health care with these premiums skyrocketing. And I feel like sometimes we sanitize this discussion by talking about premiums and deductibles. But when people lose their health care, people die.

Speaker 1 11:13

Yeah.

Speaker 11:13

And so the estimates that I've seen is that because of this decision by DC Republicans, 51,000 Americans will die every year needlessly because of this policy. So this is life and death stuff. And again, it highlights the moral imperative we have to win this election, reverse these decisions, and finally provide universal care to every Texan.

Speaker 1 11:33

I want to stay in line with economics for just a second. Nearly four in 10 Texans say their family is worse off than they were a year ago. Yeah. When people hear campaign promises, they're thinking about groceries, rent, prescriptions, we talked a little bit about that. What's your message to Texans who feel like they're falling behind?

Speaker 11:48

Our whole campaign is about lowering costs. And it's not just the cost at the grocery store, it's the structural costs in the economy that are holding working families, middle class families back. So that's things like the cost of housing. It's the cost of prescription drugs and healthcare. It's the cost of child care, which is now more expensive than college. I've got a uh a baby niece who's about to turn three in a couple months. My sister, her mom, and my brother-in-law, they're struggling to find an option that they can afford. I mean, it is outrageous to see what young families have to pay just to get their kid some quality care during the day. So if we can restructure this economy so it can work for regular people again instead of just billionaires, then we can start to lower some of these costs and allow families to get ahead and live that American dream.

Speaker 1 12:35

American dream. Have you read my questions? No, because I didn't send them to you, but we're gonna go straight into

Border Security With Humanity And Oversight

Speaker 1 12:40

the next one. Immigration. Yes. Okay, is another issue that uh consistently comes up with uh Texas voters, especially here. Uh and when we watch communities of color targeted in these rates by federal agents, yeah. All right, uh, what does a workable immigration policy look like to you, one that balances border secure security with humanity and doesn't disproportionately harm black and brown communities?

Speaker 13:00

Well, as I mentioned, I taught almost exclusively black and brown kids in San Antonio. I taught a lot of undocumented students. And so they and their families are the ones being targeted by this administration and these unlawful ICE raids. Uh once we win the Senate majority, a top priority has to be launching a full investigation, top to bottom, into ICE, including its leadership. We have to haul these masked men before Congress so the world can see their faces. We've got to ban them from wearing masks, we've got to ban them from kidnapping people off our streets without a warrant. We've got to require them to disclose their identity, to identify themselves like any law enforcement official. I mean, this is lawless behavior. No more secret police, no more disappearing people. This is the United States of America. And we should we should ensure that we've got a country where we as citizens are not afraid of our government. We should have a country where our government is afraid of us. And that's not what we have today. And ICE is terrorizing communities across this country, and um, and we need to put a stop to it. I think the way to do that is to win a Senate majority so we can finally prosecute any abuses from ICE and change this agency holistically, comprehensively, top to bottom.

Speaker 1 14:16

Just saying, they're asking for ID, but we can't ID them, but that's another conversation. But uh anyways, okay. We have talked about voter concerns broadly. Yeah. When you zoom out, what are the top two or three issues your campaign campaign is actually built around and the priorities you'll be focused on day one in USNA?

Speaker 14:32

So the first day of the campaign, I said that the biggest divide in this country is not left versus right, it's top versus bottom. And I mentioned earlier that we have to stop focusing on personalities and we have to focus on the system. Uh, and because the system itself is what's producing these outcomes, this extremism and this corruption. And so what I would prioritize is comprehensive political reform. Again, that's getting big money out of politics. That's banning gerrymandering so we can have real, free and fair elections in every community. We're not going to make progress on childcare, on housing, on prescription drugs, on public education, on immigration until we reform the system itself, until we ensure that this government works for us instead of the people at the very top. Because that's what we've seen over the last 50 years. We've seen billionaires co-opt the system and rig the rules for their benefit. And it's at our expense as regular working class people. And that is what has to end if we hope to make progress on all the other issues we care about.

Speaker 1 15:31

What does a law or new rule, what does it look like to say you can't take that kind of money? That kind of money can't be in our government. What does it look like for like, I mean, bare bones, yeah, someone not like you and I, who does not follow any of this stuff, but knows, like, hey, when these billionaire companies are giving all this money to politicians, the politicians give back to them in one way or another. So can you explain that to someone who's like, y'all talking a lot, but I'm trying to hear you.

Speaker 15:57

Yeah, no, you described it perfectly, right? You um, these billionaires aren't giving money to politicians for no reason. They expect a return on that investment. And it's why I have never taken corporate PAC money as a state legislator and why I'm not taking corporate PAC money in this race for the U.S. Senate. Our campaign is entirely funded by people, people giving five, ten, fifteen dollars at a time. And by the way, we're raising historic amounts of grassroots money. So it should prove to every politician that you don't have to take that corporate PAC money. You can run a campaign that is people powered. And then once we get into office, there are common sense rules that we can pass. We can lower the limits on campaign contributions. We could cap it at $100 per contribution. We could also ban the loopholes that allow billionaires to give secret, unlimited money. So that's something called super PACs. And again, it's just a loophole in the system. We could close that loophole if we wanted to. It's pretty easy. Um, we could also put in place more ethics rules so that members of Congress aren't turning around to become lobbyists right after they leave office, or make sure that they're not enriching themselves, engaging in insider trading, which we see, frankly, in both political parties. So these I know that they seem like pretty basic ideas, but they're not being passed in Washington. And it's because the people getting elected are beholden to that corporate PAC money, to those special interests. It's why I'm running a people-powered campaign so that I can get to Washington, do the people's business, and not the billionaire's business.

Speaker 1 17:21

Okay. You know, folks don't hold you to that all.

Speaker 17:23

Yes, as they should. And I and I'll just say voting for me and walking away is not an option. Being a citizen in this country requires a lot more than voting. You have to hold me accountable. I work for you. You, you and the people watching, you're my boss. I'm your employee. And just like in any company, you wouldn't just hire someone and walk away. You would make sure that they're hitting their goals, that they're performing, that they're doing what they said they were going to do, uh, that they're uh they're fulfilling their their job responsibilities. That has to be the case here. So I I I am asking folks to hold me accountable, not just on the campaign trail, but absolutely when I get into

Showing Up For Black Voters Year Round

Speaker 18:00

office.

Speaker 1 18:00

I want to ask you this. There's this assumption, and and I've seen you respond to this, but I want to hear you uh this evening. There's an assumption in uh democratic politics when it comes to the black vote that it's always guaranteed. What are you doing to make sure black voters feel respected, engaged? You just mentioned not just on a campaign trail, but counted on in every election cycle.

Speaker 18:22

I think we saw in the last election that we can't take any community for granted, but particularly black voters. Um assuming that anyone is going to show up and vote for you as a candidate or show up and vote for your political party is a deadly mistake in a democracy. And it's our job to go out there and compete for every voter and to listen to their concerns and then provide solutions that can make their lives easier and better. And so there is no way to win the state and to be an effective senator without listening to, showing up for, and investing in black voters all the time, not just a couple months before the election, but throughout the cycle and then once you're in office. I think, again, I would say you should never believe anything a politician says. I think you should look at what a politician has done because past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior. I really do believe that. And so I have eight years in the state legislature to show. And I want people to look at that record and evaluate me on my record. Don't listen to the debate or what I'm saying on the campaign trail. Just look at what I've done because that's the best indicator of what I'll do. And I have shown up for black folks in my community time and time again. I led the quorum break over the summer to protest the racist redistricting map that would have diluted the voting power, the hard-earned voting power of black and brown Texans. Uh, I have fought for quality public schools and affordable health care and affordable housing for everybody in my community, but particularly for black folks. And then when a unarmed black man, Javier Ambler, father of two, was murdered by the Williamson County Sheriff's Department for not dimming his brights, I worked with his family, his sister, Kimberly, in particular, to pass Javier Ambler's law that bans reality TV show policing. Because the night that Javier was killed, those sheriff's deputies were followed by a reality TV show called Live PD. And the research is very clear that when you have these reality TV show programs like cops, like Live PD, it encourages more violent interactions between law enforcement and constituents, particularly black constituents. So we banned that in the state of Texas. It was the only police reform bill to pass that session. Tragically, the George Floyd Act didn't pass, but our bill was able to pass. That is what it means to go to the mat for black voters in our state. And that's exactly what I want to do as U.S. Senator.

Speaker 1 20:45

I want to ask you this, and it's it's pretty direct.

Speaker 20:47

Yeah, that's okay.

Speaker 1 20:48

Pardon me for it. Uh a recent University of Texas poll shows black voters overwhelmingly have a very favorable view of your opponent. Yes. Okay. Congresswoman Crockett is who I'm real uh speaking of. If you don't currently have that level of support, how do you plan to close that gap? And what changes if you don't close that gap?

Speaker 21:04

Well, I have deep respect for Congresswoman Crockett. She and I served together, um, we're friends and colleagues. Uh, so I understand um why uh there is support for her, uh, particularly among black voters, given her historic candidacy. Um there are some politicians who would look at that number and say, this is not where I'm gonna spend my time. I'm taking the exact opposite approach. To me, that's indication that I have more work to do, that it's my job to introduce myself to black voters across the state. It's why I've met with black uh faith leaders in Central Texas, black business leaders in DFW, black community leaders in Houston. It's why we're we're um joining black-owned media, and it's why we're gonna keep reaching out to these voters, listening to these voters all over the state. Um, and even if I don't earn their vote in the primary, I want to be their senator. And so I've got to do that work now and not wait for the general election.

Speaker 1 21:56

Last question here. At the end of the day, why should Democratic primary voters choose you over? Congresswoman cracked.

Speaker 22:02

Yeah, you know, I think I bring something unique to this race, and that is a track record of fighting back against Republican extremism and winning. I was able to flip a Trump district that no one thought was winnable. I was able to build a big coalition, a big tent to actually win a tough seat in a general election. And then once I was in office, I went toe-to-toe with my Republican colleagues. You people have seen the viral videos of me calling them out. But I've also been able to work across the aisle to get something done. And I think we want a nominee and a senator who can do both of those things, who can fight back and deliver. And I think I have a track record of doing that. I'm gonna put that forward to the voters in this primary. I hope to earn their trust and their support. And then I hope that we can go on to win this race in November.

Closing Argument And Final Wrap

Speaker 1 22:48

Any other questions? Any other questions that I didn't ask that you want to address? I think so. You're pretty comprehensive. Okay, that's a wrap.

Speaker 22:56

Wonderful. Thank you, thank you, thank you. That was great.

Speaker 1 22:58

Yes, thank you. That was great. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.