Rep. James Talarico mulls U.S. Senate bid as his profile rises amid Texas Democrats’ redistricting standoff

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State Rep. James Talarico has inquired with television stations about potential Senate ad rates, according to two sources with knowledge of his requests — the most concrete step he has taken yet toward running for statewide office.

Already a Democratic rising star, Talarico, a fourth-term representative from Austin, has been ubiquitous since Democrats decamped to Illinois Sunday over a Republican plan to redraw Texas’ congressional map. The 36-year-old has appeared everywhere from network television to podcasts to Washington newsletters, flooding the zone with discussions of the redistricting clash.

He logged 25 interviews in the first 24 hours of the quorum break and reached 9.8 million viewers around the country through his TV hits alone, he told the Tribune.

Talarico, a seminary student and former teacher, has built a large social media following, including on TikTok, through his criticism of Christian nationalism as a progressive Democrat and devout Christian himself. A number of Talarico’s widely circulated clips show him confronting Republican colleagues on the House floor during the legislative session that ended in early June. Shortly after, he revealed his interest in a possible 2026 Senate run.

His star rose further in July when he was a guest on Joe Rogan’s popular podcast, having a nearly three-hour conversation with the comedian.

Rogan, who endorsed Trump in 2024 and has ripped Democrats’ messaging as out of touch, told Talarico in the episode that he should run for president.

On Tuesday, Talarico told The Texas Tribune he had intended to decide about the Senate race this week, but the quorum break pushed back his deadline. He said he is still undecided.

“I was elected by 200,000 people in Central Texas to do this job, to fight for them in the state Capitol, to be kind of like their lawyer in state government,” Talarico said. “And I intend on doing that job before I start applying [for] other jobs.”

Talarico could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.

Despite suffering blowout losses in 2022 and 2024, Texas Democrats are buoyed by the prospect of a 2026 Senate race that could give the party its best shot of winning a statewide office in Texas since then-Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s narrow loss to Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018. Democrats hope to recreate a similar political climate in 2026, the first midterm cycle under President Donald Trump since O’Rourke defeat by 2.6 percentage points — his party’s best finish in a Senate race in Texas in 30 years.

If Talarico enters the race, he would face a primary against former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas, who ran against Cruz in 2024 and lost by 8.5 percentage points. Talarico has only ever been on a ballot in the Austin area.

Allred, Talarico and other potential Senate hopefuls met in June to discuss the race; Allred launched his campaign shortly after.

Talarico and other prospective candidates will need to decide whether to enter the race by the Dec. 8 filing deadline. The primary is in early March.

Republicans, meanwhile, are locked in a messy primary fight between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, who has handily dispatched several Democratic challengers over decades of statewide service, and Attorney General Ken Paxton, whom public polling has shown could be vulnerable in a general election.

“If we Democrats in Texas can’t beat Ken Paxton, if we can’t meet the moment and organize people across our state and build a big coalition, then we don’t deserve to win,” Talarico said on the “Higher Learning” podcast on Tuesday, one of his many media hits this week. “But I do think this will be a huge moment for us in our state.”

He went on to tell the hosts he would discuss with his family whether to run for Senate “once we get past this quorum break.”

“I do think we have a moral imperative to beat Ken Paxton,” Talarico said. “And I do think I have certain things I can offer my party, but more importantly, the state of Texas. But that’s also a huge decision — a huge life decision.”

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