The choice is obvious. Both Republicans and Democrats should prefer a servant leader over a self-serving crook.

Democrats always proclaim Texas is in play. This year Republicans actually agree.

Attacks on Texas Senate candidate aren't just about him. They're an attempt to crush progressive Christianity.

Dan Cogdell, a lawyer who represented Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for nearly a decade over accusations of corruption and securities fraud, interviewed James Talarico on his podcast.

Cogdell asks these questions:

“So what is specifically different about your campaign and why should people not only vote for you but donate their time and their money?”

“All right, so as let's ask you at least one kind of hard question. Name a real issue - immigration, energy, gun control - where you would vote against traditional Democratic leadership.”

“So let's talk about education…What needs to change?”

“Are you going to try to win over some of [Paxton’s] supporters?…How you going to do that?”

“Can you outline your policy platform in about a minute or less for us?”

—

Transcript

[Aaron] Howdy, howdy. We are back for a special episode of Cogdell Law Uncensored. I'm your host, Aaron. With me always, producer Tommy in the back. Star of the show, Dan Cogdell. And our special guest, Mr. James Talarico. Mr. James, thanks for joining us.

[James Talarico] Thank you for having me. I’m honored to be here.

[Dan Cogdell] You can't say I'm the star of the show when we have Talarico on.

[Aaron] Star of our show. He's a ‘special special guest’.

[DC] Very special. All right, so let's get down to it. James, Texas hasn't elected a statewide [democratic] individual since 1994. That's before my 30 year-old-plus son was born. So what is specifically different about your campaign and why should people not only vote for you but donate their time and their money?

[JT] I’ve been on the campaign trail for eight months now. And I've gone to every corner of Texas - from Beaumont to El Paso, from Amarillo to Brownsville, and everywhere in between. And I have been shocked by the number of people turning out at our rallies, at our town halls. I can't tell you the number of people who have come up to me at the end of these events and whispered, ‘I’m not a Democrat.’ Like they're in the witness protection program. And the number of young people who have been coming to our events, donating, volunteering. I mean, it's unprecedented. There is something happening in the state of Texas. I get the sense that people are hungry for a different kind of politics. One that's rooted in old-fashioned values of honesty, integrity, service - some things that we've gotten away from in recent years. But I really do believe that those old-fashioned values are about to make a comeback in 2026.

[DC] That's outstanding. All right, so as let's ask you at least one kind of hard question. Name a real issue - immigration, energy, gun control - where you would vote against traditional Democratic leadership.

[JT] I've been bucking my own party since I got elected in 2018. I flipped a a Trump district in Williamson County, Texas. A county that was so red it hadn’t voted for a Democrat…

[DC] Wow. I was not aware of that.

[JT] That's right. Round Rock and Hutto and Taylor and Georgetown. These are all cities that I won. And I did that by being independent. I'm a proud Texas Democrat. This is Lyndon Johnson's Senate seat that I'm running for and I'm proud of that that legacy. But I already have a religion and I already have a sports team. So, I have no problem sharing hard truths with my own party.

So let's just take the first issue you mentioned - border security. I called out Joe Biden for failing to secure our southern border. And I got a lot of heat in my own party for doing that. But I remember talking with my colleagues in the Legislature who represent border communities and they told me about the utter chaos caused by President Biden's policies. And the Democratic Party - we're the ones that should be about making government work for people. And our immigration system is a prime example of government not working for people. And so I'm a Border Security Democrat. I believe we've got to have a sane, orderly process to ensure that we know who's coming into our country. And I'm all for welcoming immigrants who want to work hard and live the American dream, who want to make us richer and stronger as immigrants have always done. But I also think we have to keep out folks who mean to do us harm. And public safety is the most important thing that the government does. More important than public education, more important than public health. Nothing matters if we're not keeping people safe. So that's where I'm at on immigration.

On energy, I think we need an all-of-the-above energy strategy. We have to protect good paying oil and gas jobs. I have had family members who have worked in the oil and gas industry. I went to Texas public schools funded by Texas oil and gas. So, I owe a lot to the industry. And I know that some of these jobs keep whole families afloat. And so I want to protect our status as an energy leader here in Texas. That also means investing in renewables. We're number one in wind and solar - and those are good jobs too. I want us to be number one in batteries and geothermal. I want us to leverage our energy expertise as a state to really lead the country and the world into the future.

And then you mentioned guns. I am a believer in the Second Amendment. I don't pick and choose between the Bill of Rights. I believe in the Second Amendment just as much as I believe in the First. We have a right to bear arms - to protect ourselves, our families. We have a right to own weapons for sport or for hunting. But like any freedom in the Bill of Rights, it's not absolute. You have a freedom of speech, but you can't yell ‘Fire!’ in a crowded building. You have a freedom to assemble, to protest, but you need a permit before you start a rally on a street corner somewhere. The same is true for our Second Amendment. We’ve got to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals. We’ve got to make sure that we've got safe storage laws and background checks so that we're keeping everybody safe. My granddad, my Grandpa Talarico, taught me how to shoot in Harper, Texas on his ranch. And the thing he emphasized the most was safety. How to how to operate a firearm safely. And so I think that's a common value that we all share in this conversation is ‘how do we how do we defend and protect the Second Amendment while also keeping everyone safe.’ And it's going to be a balance. But right now we have we have extremes on this issue. We have people on the left who are trying to take away people's guns and we have people on the right, like the NRA, that don't want to see any regulations. And so what I'm looking for is kind of a middle path, a common sense path, to defend our constitutional rights and also protect our safety.

[DC] Outstanding. So let's talk about education. You mentioned it. So best case, Texas is middle of the pack educationally speaking. We're what 25th in education overall, 38th in fourth grade reading, 44th in eighth grade reading, and 34th in eighth grade math. What needs to change? And what do you propose to do about it if elected Senator?

[JT] Well, I think we should all be outraged by those numbers.

[DC] 100%

[JT] I'm an eighth generation Texan. I believe in Texas exceptionalism - that this is a special state. It's a special place with a special spirit. And I think that our education system should be second to none. I think we should be leading the nation in educational outcomes. I was a teacher before I ran for office through Teach for America. I served on the west side of San Antonio, in one of the poorest ZIP codes in our state. And I saw how decisions made in the Legislature in the Congress hurt a lot of poor kids in the state. Kids who have so much potential. Who are children of promise. And yet our underfunding of public education, our education policies have held them back. I had, at one point when I was a teacher, 45 students in one classroom. 45 students in one room. There weren't enough desks for all those kids. So I had students sitting on the air conditioning unit. In the wealthiest nation in human history, in one of the wealthiest states, in that wealthy country, in the 21st century. Kids sitting on the air conditioning unit. So I want to be a voice for education reform in our nation's capital. I think we got to focus on a few things.

One is teacher pay. Both raising the floor for all teachers so that the starting salary is competitive with the McKenzies and the Deloittes of the world. If we want to recruit the best and brightest coming out of our colleges and universities, we have to have a competitive starting salary for teachers. And then on top of that, I want to create, like I did here in Texas through our school finance reform bill that I helped draft, pathways for our best, most effective teachers to earn six-figure salaries because this is the most important profession. No offense to the legal profession, but we wouldn't have lawyers if we didn't have teachers.

[DC] Oh, I totally agree.

[JT] So everything starts with a good teacher in a classroom. And that means we’ve got to pay our teachers what they're worth. We’ve got to professionalize the field. And we’ve got to ensure that we're recruiting the best and the brightest.

The second thing I'd focus on is Early Childhood. The first thousand days of a child's life are the most important when it comes to brain development. I just became an uncle three years ago. My baby niece Jane turned three at the end of March. And you can tell how much is happening in her brain and how much she can absorb and learn. It takes me forever to change my ways, and for a for a little kid like that - they're able to absorb so much information and their brains are so malleable. It's something like a thousand neural connections are formed every second in those first three years of a child's life. And so having high-quality universal Early Childhood education for every kid in the country regardless of their ZIP code, regardless of their skin color, could be a game changer.

The last I'd prioritize is this discipline crisis in our public schools. I had good control over my classroom. I had a good veteran teacher who told me, ‘If you don't have control over your classroom, you don't have anything else.’ And your kids aren't going to learn if there's chaos in your classroom. We obviously have a mental health crisis among young people in this country. It's not being treated. I think ensuring that there are more counselors and more mental health professionals to help our young people process everything they're going through and giving our teachers training on how to manage a classroom effectively. Because it really is that being a teacher is a management position.

And so I think all three of those things are the most urgent priorities facing our education system.

[DC] That's great stuff. You know, James, I hear consistent tropes about you being way too liberal for Texas, that you're pro- sex surgery for minors, and on and on and on. How do you respond to that?

[JT] Well, just on that particular accusation, I oppose gender reassignment surgeries for minors. I think what's happening is the people that are in power know that there's a backlash to the extremism and the corruption in our government. And so they're going to use a a tried and true playbook to get out of this - distraction and division. That is how corrupt public officials stay in power. They divide us by party, by race, by gender, by religion, by culture so that we don't notice that they're picking our pockets, that they are closing our public schools. It's happening all over Texas, including in my district. They are gutting our healthcare. I mean, you've seen how premiums have just skyrocketed across the state. They are cutting taxes for themselves and their rich friends while they raise taxes on working people. So, this is the oldest strategy in the world, divide and conquer.

And I think Texans are they are waking up to the fact that we're all being played, that we're all being pitted against each other by the algorithms and the news networks and the and the crooked politicians. And I think what people are hungry for is a campaign that's going to bring us together.

[DC] And that is exactly why I am supporting you. As you know, I defended Ken Paxton for years in the impeachment trial and in state criminal cases. But in my view, respectfully, I think Ken has lost sight of his core mission - which is to represent the people of Texas. And unlike Ken, I believe to my core, James, that you believe in unity over division. And that you know how to assemble not only Democrats but independents and Republicans. And we need that right now. We need it more than in my lifetime. And I'm old as dirt, but we need unity. We don't need any more division. And that's why I'm supporting you.

[JT] Well, one, I believe that everyone deserves good representation. And everyone deserves a good lawyer. Ken Paxton has a criminal record. I have a legislative record. I've served for four terms in the Texas House of Representatives where I've brought Democrats and Republicans together to solve problems. I mean, that's the only reason that I ran for office was to solve problems. I'm not interested in pitting people against each other. I'm not interested in selling out for mega-donors and special interests. I want to serve.

And last night, I thanked Senator Cornyn for his many years of service to this state. He and I don't agree on everything, but he served this state honorably, and he and I both still believe in this old-fashioned idea of service that these that these positions of public trust are about serving our neighbors, not serving ourselves, not serving our mega-donors, but serving the people.

[DC] And I think we got to get back to that. It's remarkable that you thanked him for his service. I mean, good for you. So, let's go there. Are you going to try to win over some of his supporters?

[JT] Absolutely.

[DC] How you going to do that?

[JT] I think that people are hungry for a Senator who's going to deliver on the things that we care about. They want a Senator who's going to lower costs, the cost of housing, the cost of child care, the cost of prescription drugs, the cost of groceries and gas. And they want someone who's going to unify the state, unify elected officials to actually get those things done. I have a track record of doing that. I think the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior.

[DC] Well, let's go there.

[JT] And I want people to look at my record.

[DC] So, as a State Rep, what have you passed in the Republican Legislature and what does that say about your ability to operate in a Republican-led Senate?

[JT] I have passed 60 bipartisan bills in just my first four terms. And they've been consequential bills on teacher pay, on housing, on child care, on prescription drugs. You may know that I'm a Type 1 diabetic. I was diagnosed when I was 29, which is which is pretty late in life to be a Type 1. And I remember I got out of the ICU. I was lucky to be alive, to be honest with you. I went to Walgreens to pick up my first 30-day supply of insulin. This new medicine that I now needed to live every day, right? And that 30-day supply of insulin cost me $684.

[DC] Wow.

[JT] I didn't have that kind of money. I put it on a credit card and I soon learned that that Texans with diabetes, some of them were rationing or skipping doses. Some of them were dying because they couldn't afford their insulin. So when I won that race in Williamson County, I brought Democrats and Republicans together to beat Big Pharma and their lobbyists. And we capped insulin at $25 per prescription. That's in the state of Texas. So politics is it's dirty. It's soul sucking at times, but there are moments if you bring people together that you can actually save people's lives. The fact that there are people walking around in our state because of a bill that I passed through the Legislature just it makes all of this worth it in my mind. And just think about what we could do at the federal level if we brought people together to actually serve Texans.

[DC] Speaking of the gut checks, my former client Ken Paxton's calling you ‘Low T Talarico’. Trump's calling you a vegan. I mean…

[JT] I'm an eighth generation Texan. I know Kim Paxton's not from Texas, but my family has been here since it was Mexico. I've been eating barbecue since before Kim Paxton's first indictment. And I think if the best they have is lying about me being a vegan, I feel pretty good about our chances in November.

[DC] Look, James, I know your time is very precious. So, I'll leave you with this last question. Can you outline your policy platform in about a minute or less for us? Just so if we only need to know three or four things about Talarico?

[JT] I’ll go fast…

[DC] No, take all your time, but give us three or four shots.

[JT] The first thing I would prioritize is getting big money out of our politics. Overturning Citizens United, banning Super PACs and corporate PACs, banning members of Congress from trading stocks and enriching themselves while they're in office. This is the rot at the core of this whole broken system. I know it sounds like inside baseball, but until we fix the system itself, we're not going to make progress on all these other issues.

And then once we do that, I would immediately prioritize repealing these crazy tariffs so that we can start to to reduce food prices, which Texans are feeling the pain every time they go to the grocery store.

They're also feeling the pain at the pump. And so I've already proposed that we suspend the federal gas tax, which would immediately drop the price of gas by 18 cents a gallon. And then I've also said that we should suspend the federal diesel tax, which this crazy new war in Iran has increased the price of both gas and diesel. But when you have diesel prices going up, that increases the price of everything because every good you buy has been shipped by diesel.

So, those are three things that I would prioritize as soon as I get to Washington as the next US senator from Texas. Texans need relief. And there's only one candidate in this race who has a track record of actually fighting and delivering for working people rather than himself. And that's why I'm that's why I'm doing this. And that's why I think we're going to be successful in November.

[DC] Well, it's an honor to have you on our show. Thank you.

[JT] The honor is all mine.

[DC] Best of luck.

[JT] Thank you, sir.

[Aaron] Appreciate it, James.

[JT] Thank you.

The Texas-related content:

“One crucial difference in these four races is that Alaska and Ohio are mostly competitive because Democrats have nominated top-tier candidates, while Democrats are competitive in Maine and Texas because of the Republican Party’s weaknesses — whether it’s Maine’s usual tilt against Republicans or a shaky Republican nominee in Texas. If Democrats win in Maine and Texas, it might ultimately be in spite of their candidates, not because of them.”

“In Maine, Republicans have perhaps the nation’s single strongest Senate candidate in Susan Collins…”

“On the other hand, Ken Paxton, Texas’ attorney general, could be the weakest candidate for Senate in a battleground state. Of the 12 candidates in these six states, Mr. Paxton is the only one who underperformed his party’s statewide ticket in his last election, in 2022 — and that was before he was impeached, sued for divorce and pulverized by tens of millions of dollars in negative advertising from his own party. He’s the kind of Republican who can cost his party a race in a reliably Republican state.

The polls have shown Democrats ahead in Maine and Texas all year. The reason is obvious enough in relatively blue Maine in this Democratic-leaning year, but in Texas the story is partly about demographics. National polls show Democrats making enormous gains among Hispanic voters, which could send Texas leftward and into contention. Add in Mr. Paxton’s liabilities, and suddenly Texas looks like a prime Democratic opportunity.

But can Democrats take advantage of these two opportunities? The Democratic candidates, James Talarico in Texas and presumably Graham Platner in Maine, have impressive strengths but also potentially deal-breaking weaknesses that are only beginning to be put to the test.

In Mr. Talarico, Democrats have a youthful and articulate candidate who emphasizes his Christian faith. But some of his past pronouncements, like saying that God is nonbinary and that there are six biological sexes, may alienate the conservative and religious voters he might need to win.

These are the kinds of issues or character questions that might be significant to the voters needed to win — moderate conservatives weighing whether to buck Mr. Paxton in Texas or the Maine voters who usually choose Democrats but have made an exception for Ms. Collins out of respect for her record and service.”

National Democrats on Wednesday unveiled their most ambitious list of targets in the Texas House in years, adding a dozen districts, on top of three previously announced seats, to their battleground docket for the fall midterms.

Twelve of the Texas districts targeted by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, an arm of the national party that focuses on state legislatures, are currently held by Republicans. If Democrats were to flip all 12 — the same number they netted in 2018 — and hold onto all their current districts, they would be one seat shy of an even split in the lower chamber, which has been under GOP control since 2003.

Republicans currently hold 88 seats to Democrats’ 62 in the Texas House; 76 seats make a majority.

At James Talarico’s first rally after Ken Paxton became his opponent in their US Senate race, one of Texas’ most prominent Black leaders, Rodney Ellis, acknowledged he had supported Talarico’s opponent, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, in their hard-fought Democratic primary.

“That was then, this is now,” Ellis said on Wednesday. “There’s too much at stake to be petty.”

It was a notable vote of confidence from Ellis, a Harris County commissioner and former state senator from Houston. Yet it also showed how Talarico is still building inroads with Black voters nearly three months after they overwhelmingly favored Crockett, a bloc that the state representative desperately needs if he wants to have any chance at a historic breakthrough for his party in Texas.

Wednesday, May 27 | 6 – 6:45 pm CDT

https://www.mobilize.us/talaricofortexas/event/959079/

About this event

“The general election starts today. It’s time to take back Texas.

Join James Talarico, Gina Hinojosa, Chairman Kendall Scudder and Texas Together for a virtual organizing rally on the first day of the 2026 general election.

This movement has room for everyone. Make calls from your living room. Knock doors in your neighborhood. Talk to your friends and family about what's at stake. However you can show up, there's a place for you here.

You'll hear directly from James, Gina and Kendall about what's at stake for Texas families, and how we win together this November. More than a strategy session, this is a chance to connect with thousands of Texans who are ready to get to work.
RSVP today and invite someone to join you!”

Registration: https://www.mobilize.us/talaricofortexas/event/953347/

Date: Wednesday, May 27**,** 7 – 9pm CDT

Location: Rich's Houston**,** 2401 San Jacinto St, Houston, TX 77002

About this event

“Join James Talarico in Houston for a general election kick-off rally for U.S. Senate!

Gather with your family, friends, and neighbors to hear from James about taking his fight against Big Money and corruption to Washington. Together, we can win back power for working people in a system that’s rigged for the ultra-wealthy.

Learn how to get involved with our campaign, pick up some new merch, and get energized with us for the road ahead. The program will be short, and you'll have the opportunity to say hello to James after!

Doors open at 6:00 PM

We'll have security on site with us for the whole event.

Parking is available in nearby paid lots and garages surrounding the venue.

See you there!”

Excerpt covering the Texas CD35 race:

“‘They’re going into Democratic primaries and literally trying to boost the most extreme candidates and oppose the Blue Dog-endorsed candidates that, if they win, are going to beat the Republicans in the general,’ Mr. Gray said in an interview.

One Democratic candidate who has received a recent boost is Maureen Galindo in Texas’ 35th Congressional District, a seat redrawn by Republicans last year. Party leaders, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the PAC aligned with the moderate Blue Dogs, are backing Johnny Garcia, who has worked in the local sheriff’s office. Ms. Galindo raised less than $10,000 through March but narrowly finished first in the initial primary two months ago, advancing to a runoff at the end of May.

A bilingual, pro-Galindo mailer said she was a ‘progressive Democrat’ who would dismantle ICE and force Mr. Trump’s impeachment.

In a text message, Ms. Galindo suggested the money for the mailer had come from ‘a billionaire zionist who made the pac to sabotage candidates,’ using the type of language that has previously prompted charges of antisemitism, including from Senator Jacky Rosen, Democrat of Nevada, and Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, who called her ‘openly bigoted.’

‘Dems and Republicans uniting against me in the same week with the same message is evidence that theyre working together for the zionist billionaires that control our government and tax money,’ Ms. Galindo said in a message.

Some Democrats sought to censure Republicans for embracing a win-at-all-cost strategy, even when that means elevating an unfit candidate.

‘I think the Republicans need to answer for promoting an antisemite,’ said Brian Romick, president of the Democratic Majority for Israel PAC, which is spending in favor of Mr. Garcia.

On Tuesday, the Lead Left PAC began to reserve at least $80,000 in the Texas race, and the Blue Dog PAC announced plans to spend $450,000 in the race.”

The rocket company’s new semiconductor factory, called Terafab, is part of the billionaire’s increasing efforts to dominate artificial intelligence.

Local officials in the West Texas city said they are legally unable to comply with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s orders.

James Talarico, a rising star of the Democratic Party, is standing for the Senate in Texas. Can the 36-year-old’s faith help him win — and turn the powerful evangelical vote away from Trump’s Republicans?